I just spent an hour and a half dragging potted plants inside, covering planters with sheets, and hastily constructing the saddest greenhouse ever. All this is in anticipation of the Great Cold Snap of '10, which is forecast to sweep all joy and pleasure from our lives with its 40 mph winds and temperatures in the teens. It won't even have the decency to bring us any interesting winter weather, like freezing rain or thundersnow.
I hope everything makes it. Well, everything won't, because I couldn't cover everything without stripping the mattresses. But I hope lots of stuff makes it. I especially hope the lettuce survives; it exploded after we took some trees out a few weeks ago and they started getting more light. The entire planter might cough up a side salad every two weeks or so before, but lately we've been eating it every day without making a dent.
So: Will the plants live, grow, and thrive? Or will they freeze, shatter, and die? Will the cold north wind tear up the plastic sheeting or just make it flap around annoyingly all night? Log on to our website at starsandgarters.com--that's double you double you double you dot stars and garters dot com--in the next few days to find out.