The Maple Hill Hop 69

Welcome to 

The Maple Hill Hop.

This is a hop for folks who love the outdoors.

Feel free to post about anything that's going on

OUTSIDE

in your neck of the woods,
no matter the season.

(Please share only outdoor posts.)

*Please link back to Maple Hill 101.*

Our winter has been mostly mild this year,
but we recently endured a bit of a chilly blast.
With temperatures predicted around freezing,
measures had to be taken to protect our crops. 
 

The practice of covering up ornamentals was stopped years ago,

when the garden became more Florida-friendly and less at risk for damage with cold temps.

The native plants will take whatever Mother Nature can dish out,

but with all the food we have growing, 
we wanted to be sure that something would be harvested in the next few weeks.

Here's an eggplant that will soon be flowering.

It got bundled up in a sheet and clothespinned to keep the drafts out.

The stakes surrounding the plant help to support the sheet,

so that the plant's delicate leaves aren't stressed.

My lone Roma tomato plant got covered with a feed sack

and anchored with some bricks.

It had just shown the first flower the morning before.

Another feedsack protects a potted eggplant.

It sure came in handy to have these sacks around!

The new border of lettuce was draped in old towels.

The veggies in the square-foot garden and adjacent bed were snug as a bug.

Here's where we have more eggplant, lettuce, broccoli and thyme.

These bricks were taken from a footpath that I had just redesigned.  Oh well...
We also used some filled water jugs and terra cotta flower pots.

You use what ya got!

Looks like some strange stuff growing in this garden, huh?

The next morning, the welcome sunshine was able to
warm us up and dry the covers out,
so that we'll have them for the next time.
With the full moon coming next week,
this should be the last chance of a frost or a freeze for this season,
but it's always a possibility.
A quick check on the garden showed us that everything survived just fine.

We may just get some tomatoes yet!

Although we haven't experienced anything close to
what our northern neighbors have this winter,
we are grateful that Old Man Winter is on His way out.

What's been going on outside where you are?
HOP on!

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