Get ready for more rain tonight

A big storm is headed our way according to the local news reports. It should hit us with a lot of rain and wind sometime after 7pm.

I think I will cover my citrus trees with some frost cloth Sunday night since they are just now starting to burst with new growth. The new growth is what will burn really easily with a freeze. I think everything we have in the garden should be ok without covering. The broccoli and cauliflower are getting HUGE!

ARTIC BLAST hits Arizona February 2nd 2011 - Artic cold wind brings belo...

Frost and freeze plant damage in our Arizona landscape - January 2011

WIND!

Had a nice rain roll in yesterday which dropped  a lot of rain. Now we awake to a huge wind storm!

This wind is really blowing hard and it's super cold! We are bracing for mid 20's tonight and the way it looks right now  I'm thinking this wind is here for a while  also. The wind is making it very difficult to cover the garden with the frost cloth.

Cold frame images for the small raised garden

Here is our completed cold frame for the frost cloth during the winter. I will also use this for the shade cloth during the summer months.

I've only had to use this once for a frost and it worked great. It was very easy to drape the frost cloth over this structure.

Here you can see how I used rebar inside the 1/2" pvc to keep the pvc pipe from bending.

This image shows the use of pvc caps on the 1/2" pvc pipe frame. I drilled a hole just below the cap to run the wire through. If you do not use a cap, the frost and/or shade cloth will tear from the tops of the pvc pip; they are sharp.

Raised garden frost coth frame with landscsape wire, pvc and rebar - Part 2 of 2

Here is the second video of our Arizona raised garden bed frost cloth frame. This video shows our larger raised garden bed and how easy it can be to make a frame for hanging frost cloth during the cold winter months here in Arizona.

Raised garden frost coth frame with landscsape wire, pvc and rebar - Part 1 of 2

A video showing our raised garden bed frost cloth frame for our Arizona winter garden. Very simple and easy to make.

Frost cloth frame is now complete

I have completed the frost cloth frame for both of our raised garden beds. I made a video and will post it here soon.

Frost cloth frame idea #1

This was my first idea for a frost cloth frame for our smaller raised garden bed.

I bought 10' sections of 1/2" pvc pipe for under $2. I cut 4' pieces for the corners and then connected the entire 10' section of 1/2" pvc pipe along the length side of the raised garden.

Although the bright white color of the pvc pipe is unsightly, it seemed like it would work great. There is some slight sag in the middle of the 10' sections, but nothing to worry about. I did not use any glue when constructing this frame.

This is how I attached the 1/2" pvc pipe to the wood raised garden bed. I only used one for each pvc post, but am going to be adding one more at the bottom for each pvc post.

After finishing this frost frame project, I had some things I wanted to change. First, I am going to shorten the pvc posts since I will not let any plants reach that height anyway. Second, I will remove the 10' sections of pvc pipe running lengthwise and replace it with wire for a better look. I could have painted the pvc, but with out extreme summers the paint would more than likely flake off really fast.

I will post more updates on how the frost frame is coming along. Just a quick side note: This frost frame worked like a champ and may be great for your garden, however my circumstance within an HOA community makes me think that I need something a  little more incognito :)

Frost cloth time - The frost and freezing weather is here now!

The past few days have been really cold here in the valley. Just in time for the frost, I purchased my frost blankets for the raised gareden beds. I found mine at Lowes.

Next step for me is to design a system that will allow me to hang this frost cloth over the plants with ease. It takes the fun out of things when hanging the frost cloth takes hours, lol

I will post some of my trial ideas for the frost cloth frame soon.

One other thing to say, remember that you can always use a bed sheet to cover plants and smaller trees if needed. I went to the Goodwill and purchased a few king size bed sheets for some of our more frost tender  plants.