To tell you the truth, herein lies the truth, it was Njoasis that I took his suggestions to heart. It worked, and I have been storing my citrus in a very cool room with no heat with no issues ever since. I work feverishly to keep that room no higher than the 50's to low 60's, even if it means keeping a window cracked open on the much warmer days until the sun returns sometime in March. If I was to bring the temps up, I had better make sure my trees are getting more than 8 hours of direct sun in a sunny south facing window or its bye bye trees. Mike

I don't know where all the fig experts are but I'll share my experience... My garage is attached to the house and I don't know how cold it gets. I can only say that when it's cold outside I need a jacket if I'm hanging out in the garage but it's always tolerable. As far as the figs waking up or leafing out.... it has been my experience that figs are very hardy. My first year with figs I didn't know that I was suppose to protect them so I left them outside and they survived just fine until we dipped down to 19 F. The next day the branches were black but in March new branches starting coming up from the root ball and the dead ones were removed. The new branches gave a few figs the same year. The next year I put them in the garage but wasn't sure when to put them outside so while I was waiting for our last frost date to come around (April 15th) it still leafed in March even though it was in complete darkness. Frank, here in Georgia we've only gotten down to the mid or low twenties and in 2012 we were in the clear by the end of February meaning that we did have low overnight temps but not low enough to kill anything so I'm going to move a few of my mature figs out and hope they wake up to get an early start but I'll bring them back in if out temps are expected to dip to the teens. My younger figs will go out to the unheated poly tunnel at the end of Feb. Rob, if your figs do leaf in the garage they'll be okay but you'll need to provide either grow lights or sun light. If you allow the leaves to stay in the dark too long direct sun will burn the young leaves and if you do move them out you'll need to be prepared to protect the young leaves from frost. It's quite a balancing act! Hope this helps!

Many people think that it is a sin to let a plant die but the "Grow @ Kill" method might be best for winter harvesting of annuals like basil. It grows from seed readily and it will thicken into a very nice initial mat of vegetation if given a little light and water. From the 4" stage is where it starts to go downhill. I'd suggest harvesting the entire flat of thickly planted basil at that 6 week stage and starting all over again in the cycle. The costs (and aggrevation) will be far less for the harvest that you get and the leaves and stems will all be succulent and usable. You can get a pound of sweet basil seed for under $30 and that will last for years with this method of growing. Also only an inch (+/-) of soilless media is sufficient to accomplish the task. One shoplight can keep you going year round in lots of annual herbs.

That is so beautiful! You could do what a lot of us do that don't want to bring those big pots in the house over the winter (that would be me!), we keep them in small greenhouses on our patios, in the garage under grow lights, or in an outbuilding with lights and a portable heater for rare nights that go below freezing. Hope it has a long, happy life in your care.