the Austin Garden | Texarctica: diary of an austin gardener (Studebaker)

original painting by Linda Anderson

by Renee Studebaker

Snowmageddon. Texarctica. Snowpocalypse. Whatever you call it, it was a rough ride. And sadly, it’s not over yet for a lot of folks who are still struggling with water and power issues and all the related after-effects of six continuously frozen days and nights.

I was one of the fortunate few who had power for most of the week, and I was without water for only one day. In the days leading up to the Big Freeze, I thought a lot about my gardens and wondered whether frost covers would do any good.

Here’s an account of how Austin’s Big Freeze played out in my little garden-centric world.

_______________________________________________

Wednesday, Feb. 10 – I harvest broccoli, cauliflower, kale, fennel, and lettuce at Smith Elementary (photo below) and pack the vegetables into baggies to give to students and their families. Then I cover the beds with row cover, flannel sheets, old curtains. I’m out of covers when I remember the potted Meyer lemon. I cover it with five overlapping child-size aprons.

Thursday, Feb. 11 – Wondering if I really want to bother with frost covers at home. I’ve been considering a garden redo, and the coming freeze would give me a clean slate. On the other hand, I’ve got healthy vegetables, flowers, herbs, and perennials growing in the front yard. I decide not to cover them. Late in the day it starts to rain. Good. We need the rain.

_______________________________________________

Friday, Feb. 12 – A cold north wind is biting hard on my face in the late afternoon as I cover two large beds in my front yard with double layers of frost cloth. Yes, at the last minute I changed my mind. But the back yard is on its own. Quietly hoping though that the Loquat trees back there don’t die. They’re so big and beautiful, and I love their fruit.

Before bedtime, I move a few of my favorite potted plants from the yard to the bathroom. Meyer lemon, kumquat, Dianella, pineapple guava, a couple of variegated Americanas, and a Manfreda undulata 'Chocolate Chip.' It’s 30 degrees outside.

My little rescue kitten, Frida, is trying to eat the Dianella (toxic!), so I keep the bathroom door closed. It occurs to me that I won’t be showering for a while because the bathtub is full of potted plants.

_______________________________________________

Saturday, Feb. 13 – Temperatures hovering around upper 20s most of the day. Hoping I laid enough bricks around edges of the row cover at Smith. Row covers should be snug against the ground so they trap the warmer air underneath.

_______________________________________________

Sunday, Feb. 14 – Light snow in the afternoon. Temperatures in the teens by evening.

_______________________________________________

Monday, Feb. 15 – 6.5 inches of snow on the ground by the time I wake up. Temperature is dropping. I remind myself that snow, especially dry, powdery snow, insulates the ground and provides a warmer space for plants or animals huddled underneath it. (All About Snow)

It has been calculated that 10 inches of light snow can have an insulation value of R18, similar to a 6-inch layer of fiberglass insulation. Snow also feeds the soil. Snowflakes absorb nitrates from the atmosphere and then release those nutrients into the soil as the snow melts. (Snow: poor man's fertilizer)

_______________________________________________

Tuesday, Feb. 16 – It’s 8 degrees around 7 a.m. Overnight, freezing rain.

_______________________________________________

Wednesday, Feb. 17 – I wake up early to the clicking sounds of my frozen pecan tree branches bumping into each other. Then a moment of worry about my neighbor’s big elm tree and its heavy limbs. The sound of rushing water interrupts my thoughts. The pipes to my washing machine have busted and are spewing water.

I throw on warm clothes, grab my water cut-off tool and head for the front curb. The turn-off valve won’t budge. I pour boiling water over it, and it loosens. A neighbor offers to help cut and cap my busted pipes so I can turn water back on to part of my house. OMG, really? Yes, he says, that’s what neighbors are for.

While working on pipes, we hear a huge crash coming from the other side of my house. I hurry outside to find a huge ice-covered elm tree limb sprawled on the ground along the length of my house. It missed my roof by only a few inches.

Thursday, Feb 18 – The water is back on. Yay! When the temperature reaches 32 late in the afternoon, I decide to peek under one corner of the frost cover in the front yard. I see bright green fennel fronds (photo above). I pick a few to add to my pot of vegetable soup and then tuck the covers back in place. I wonder if the covered plants will freeze tonight now that most of their snow blanket has melted away.

_______________________________________________

Friday, Feb. 19 – When temps reach 32, I return the potted plants to the outdoors and remove the frost covers from the front yard. I am surprised to find that many of the vegetables and flowers have survived, including the fennel, Swiss chard, kale, lettuce, arugula, green onions, calendula, blackfoot daisies, and prairie verbena. The thyme and parsley look good, too. And it’s hard to believe, but the calendula and verbena even managed to hang on to their blooms while under the cover. Apparently the 6-inch blanket of snow on top of doubled frost covers created an igloo effect.

_______________________________________________

Saturday, Feb. 20 – Plants that were not covered are coming out of their frozen comas and starting to show damage. Large potted agaves look melted. Sandwanka viburnums have toasty brown leaves. The mandarin orange tree looks bad, too. Some of the small trees and shrubs may recover, but it will be weeks or even longer before I’ll know for sure.

_______________________________________________

Sunday, Feb. 21 – I remove the frost covers at Smith Elementary and find that the broccoli, cauliflower and collard plants appear to be alive and well. The onion starts I planted in January look fine. Carrots and beet seedlings look good, too. The Lacinato kale and bulb fennel plants are damaged, but I think they might regrow. The sugar snap peas are goners. The Meyer lemon under the aprons is iffy.

Tuesday, Feb. 23 – Working on this garden column and taking pictures of plants. Can’t stop thinking about the Barbados cherries (above). I’m pretty sure I’ll have to cut them back hard so they can start over from the roots, but that’s assuming the roots have survived.

I just don’t know yet. My yard birds and butterflies love those little trees. If they don’t grow back, I’ll buy replacements. Maybe I’ll start a new stand in the back yard in place of the viburnums, which I doubt will make it.

Once again, I remind myself of the beauty of a clean slate.❦

Longtime Austin gardener and writer Renee Studebaker is a retired newspaper journalist who now teaches children how to grow and cook vegetables. (photos also by Renee)

People from the Clouds: this very special March 8 meeting of Austin Organic Gardeners will feature Sam Beautysta Lazer from Oaxaca, Mexico, "a Zapotec man armed with a PhD in sustainable manufacturing, heritage weaving and farming skills." Sam will weave a story connecting the cycle of nature's elements that create the beauty of the food to the hand-woven tapestries of the region. 6 p.m. Free. Zoom link Facebook ❦

Green Corn Project news: after a success last fall, this noble group of volunteers will again be selling lots of fantastic young veggie plants at Boggy Creek Farm on Feb. 27, and March 6, 13 and 20 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Usual Covid protocols apply) Green Corn ❦

________________________________________________

Small, sustainable family farmers and ranchers in Texas urgently need your help. After an unprecedented week-long freeze, even our most hardy farmers have met their match. The Texas Organic Gardeners & Farmers Assoc. has launched a worthy fundraiser. Go Fund Me ❦

Save Hancock from privatization: Let's preserve it as an open green space. Rather than a golf course, we believe it should be 50 acres of beautiful rolling parkland in central Austin. (Snowy scene above on Monday afternoon, Feb 15.) Please sign petition: Hancock Conservancy Poll. ❦

________________________________________________

Central Texas Gardener: some beautiful writing by Linda Lehmusvirta about gardening through last week's snowy nightmare, with spirits lifted by a joyous visit from crowds of cedar waxwings. Powerless: KLRU ❦