I dont even want to get into how utterly ridiculous some of the charts and maps can be.
Where you live you are just barely in zone 8A the only thing that puts you there is the Edwards plateau and the Balcones escarpment.
That little zone boundary runs almost right along with it.
Your county and mine are at about the same latitude but I am below the escarpment.
When I hear of freeze warnings on the news this is what I hear year after year.
Mason Llano Lampasas northern Travis northern Gillespie Burnet and Williamson.
Sound familiar?
Well anyway regardless of what people think, we do have to take chances down here if not we may lose the little window we may or may not have to get bloom set.
Without these chances we can lose almost if not a whole month of growing only because we were scared to take a chance only to have the heat set in and ruin our crop.
Even if the soil is a little cool and the plants are growing a little slow those roots are growing.
When the soil gets to 60 or so the plants explode because they have the root structure to do it and are established.
This doesn't take long in Central Texas.
Here is what I do I look for the red buds to bloom.
When that happens I can be pretty sure it wont freeze again.
It has only bit me once in many years.
I think that was three years ago I lost my crop I was out of town big deal plant over.
The other thing I do is I plant just about twice as many seeds and therefore plants as I need.
I select the best ones and plant them normally the first week of March one or two times in February.
If after the hay buckets or what ever doesn't protect them then I have the back up crew to take over.
I have never had to use the back up crew yet and they have been in a cold spot or two.
I cant begin to say how many times someone says to me, your planting a little too soon aren't you.
That same amount of times I have tomatoes and they say I dont know how you do it I cant seem to get any you must have a green thumb.
Or you cant grow tomatoes in Texas I am from Utah or Ohio and I never had any problems Texas sucks.
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