This Week in the Garden: Freezing Weather Prep and Lettuce on a Budget

It’s supposed to get really cold next week. I’m sure the plumbers will stay busy fixing busted pipes from the freeze. A little work now might save you from some heartache – and a plumbing bill.

Of course, you should wrap your exposed pipes before the freeze. But you can buy yourself some insurance by installing a few Freeze Misers. These little devices are designed and built here in Texas. They screw onto the end of a water faucet. You turn the faucet on, and when the temperature dips below freezing, a valve inside the Freeze Miser opens and allows the water to drip.

Instead of running your faucets continuously and dripping water on the ground, the Freeze Miser drips just enough to keep the water from freezing inside your pipes. The colder it gets, the more it drips. When the temperature rises, the valve shuts off.

You can install a plastic T on the end of the faucet and screw the Freeze Miser to one side. That way, you can keep a water hose attached to the other side of the T all winter long without having to unscrew the Freeze Miser every time you want to use the faucet.

Several hardware stores in the area sell them. I’m not sponsored by Freeze Miser or anyone else who sells them. I just think they are a really good product.

In other news from the garden, we received about 3.5 inches of rain so far since the first of the year.

My wife Janessa bought a six-pack of Romaine lettuce transplants and another six-pack of arugula last week. Lettuce seed is really small, so greenhouses usually plant several seeds in each cell of the tray. Many gardeners, myself included, often plant the whole cell and thin out all but the largest seedling.

This time, Janessa decided to divide all of the seedlings. We ended up with 36 Romaine lettuce plants and just about as many arugula. I believe she paid $2.99 for each six-pack. That comes out to about 8.3 cents per plant. Compare that to the cost of Romaine lettuce at the grocery store. H-E-B sells a three-pack of organic Romaine heads for $3.91.

Who says you can’t save money by growing your own vegetables? Now I just need to figure out a way of protecting them from the cold!