The Ryahlie Garden

Before and After Snow Storm

Before and After SNOW STORM in garden 🥶| Texas Winter Snow Storm

Texas Winter Snow Storm – I learned a lot about snow in the last few days. I’ve never experienced this much snow in my life. It was always a dream of mine to travel to a location with snow for vacation. This week, I didn’t have to go anywhere. The snow came to Texas for the first time in this quantity. We’ve had a few days of a snow drizzle during my lifespan but never this.

In the past, we barely had enough snow to make a mini snowman. I knew the garden would suffer, but there wasn’t much I could do to prevent damage. Our freezing temperatures were record breaking and nobody expected the aftermath. This Texas snow storm affected so many. Homes were without power for more than 36hrs, with indoor temperatures of 40°F. Many homes are dealing with bursting frozen pipes that caused major flooding. Please pray for those who are struggling, I’m sure repairs will be delayed and it is still very cold outside.

Snow Storm - Day 1

Check out the video below for full details!

Winter Storm Backyard OrchardThis is how I found my garden Monday, February 15th, 2021.  A 3″ cover that looked unbelievable for South Texas. I woke up the family at 7am to enjoy every second of it.  Previously, the little snow we have received has only lasted until noon, so I wanted to make sure we took advantage of this glorious day.

Snow Storm - Day 2-4

First, everything was fun and exciting – the girls played all day in the snow.  However, on day 2 at 8:45am, we lost power.  So many Houstonians had lost power since Sunday night and we were fortunate to have power until then.  Thankfully, we have a chimney and kept warm.  But unfortunately, most people didn’t and their homes were an average of 40°F inside.  

Late in the evening, we heard a pop sound coming from garage.  Hubs went to go check and our outdoor water line that connects to our outdoor kitchen popped.  Thankfully it was outdoor.

Our electricity didn’t return until Day 3 at 10:30am.  What an exiting moment!  While we struggled with no power for a little over 24hrs, others were on day 3 with no power AND no water.  We had our family over and we invited others to come use our showers.  

By the evening, we realized there was a large water stain in our garage ceiling,  We thought it was a water line, however we realized the water was coming from our clogged roof gutter.  It had rained quite heavily that day so water was running inside instead of down the gutter.  Luckily, we caught it early and created some holes in the ceiling to release the puddles.

Aftermath - Day 5

Garlic after snowI lost most of the vegetable garden except for the garlic and strawberries.  It was so painful to see all the damage but I stand by continued growth and I know it will be back and thriving soon. 

Most likely, I wont have peaches from Eva’s Pride peach because she was already done blooming and had forming fruit.  Also, other fruit trees that were blooming were Golden Dorsett apple and my Persian Lime.

The rest of the citrus on the side of the house look terrible and I know I’ve lost 1 Mango tree and the Avocado.  To see a before video, click here.

I hope I can find replacements but I’m sure our local nurseries (The Arbor Gate and Plants for All Seasons) have also been affected and there will be some shortages.   In the end, there was no way to predict this outcome and things like this happen all the time.  The only thing we do have certain is our perspective.  What I’m able to save, I will work hard on and what I can’t, I’ll start over.

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