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!

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

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.