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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Cardboard

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Cardboard
  • Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:38:13 -0700


How about a string of Xmas lights in a cold frame? We picked up some
planning to try this. Has anyone done this?

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 12/28/2007 at 12:26 PM yarrow@sfo.com wrote:

>My garden has a dozen or so plastic gallon water bottles with the
>bottoms cut off. I put a stick in the center to keep each one from
>blowing away or falling over, and I use them to cover seedlings. From
>about Oct-Nov to Apr-May, the birds are eager to eat every new green
>leaf, including self-seeded kales, so if I want winter vegs, I need
>to cover them. A few years ago, when my first winter broccoli crop
>was getting munched, I used lots and lots of Sluggo (the nontoxic
>iron-based stuff), thinking it was slugs. But then, while I was in
>the garden, I saw birds hopping onto (what was left of) the broccoli
>stems and taking small bites. (I didn't use Sluggo at all this past
>year.) Sometimes I see slugs or snails inside the tiny "greenhouses."
>
>Last year I took the covers off the snap peas when they were 3 feet
>high, thinking they were big enough to fend for themselves, and in a
>couple days they were eaten down to bare stems. So now the pea
>trellis stays under row cover all winter and spring.
>
>This year the birds started eating the fennel/finocchio when it was a
>foot high, so I covered them up again.
>
>The clear plastic bottles are also good for protecting new seedlings.
>I live in a year-round gardening climate (Calif.), but even when the
>temperature does not get down to freezing, a layer of frost covers
>the plants most mornings in the winter. The bottles keep the frost
>from settling on the plants, protect them from the wind, and keep
>them a little warmer during the day. I always leave the tops/caps off
>the bottles so that air can circulate, and this does not allow enough
>frost in to make a difference. When the plants outgrow the cloches, I
>uncover them (seems to be ok so far for kohlrabi and broccoli raab)
>or else add row cover or something similar.
>
>In Iowa, if you have a small garden (as opposed to a farm) and don't
>have a greenhouse or cold frame, look up http://wintersown.org/
>-- it's a method popularized by a Long Island gardener who was eager
>to plant seeds when the ground is frozen. She uses any plastic
>container, punches holes in the bottom for drainage and in the top
>for air, fills it with soil, and plants seeds. If the container does
>not come with a clear top, she uses clear plastic. She even plants
>tomatoes this way!







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