First freeze in Austin!

Ok, we had our first freeze here. It got into the 20's the past couple of nights. I covered the new larger bed with plastic. Everything seemed to do just fine. However, the tops of a couple of the plants got nipped.

My neighbor also covered his conventional beds. He has also been spraying Neem oil to keep down the caterpillars. Alas, the combination of my neighbors neem oil and my nice cozy plastic housing seems to have attracted every caterpillar on the block. They had a great little party in my cozy shelter. While my collards did just fine against the cold, they were no match for the little buggers. So... a nice dose of neem oil on my plants as well. EAT THAT YOU LITTLE BUGGERS!!!!

I went ahead and removed the tall okra plants from the smaller IBC tote bed attached to the new large bed. I also harvested the basil, a nice eggplant, and several jalapinos. This works out since I have been wanting to clear that bed anyway  and start afresh there.

In that particular bed I have a large sized heater element meant for tropical fish tanks. It seems to have been just enough for the fish to survive. However, in my other IBC tote system I did not have time to score a heater. Yep, you guessed it, I woke up to a tank full of fishcicles this morning. No worries though. This was expected. They were all still quite fresh, and a couple even did a meager kick when I fished them out of the tank. They will be the main course for a few meals in the future. Easiest fish harvest ever!