Oh Sheet!

Last night we had freeze warnings. The prognosticators were right. It got down to 24 degrees, a record low for the date. Old sheets protected the flowers. For the vegetable garden, we decided to experiment with an idea we had seen on TV. We noticed that whenever freezing conditions hit the South, the orange growers would spray the trees with water all through the night to keep the fruit from freezing. Bing heard them say that the ice that formed on the fruit makes a covering that keeps the tissue from freezing. So, at 3:00AM, Bing got up and started the sprinklers that operate on lake water on the whole garden. Rising at 7:00AM, we anxiously checked the thermometer- 29 - degrees - and peered at the ice sculpture out back. The fence, ground and plants were encased in ice. We had a sinking feeling. Then, as the ice melted, the plants didn't have that dead, collapsed look. They actually seemed healthy and succulent. Wow! - what a gift. Now we're supposed to get back into the seventies and our growing season may be extended for a couple more weeks.