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After the last two years I don't know if it's
POSSIBLE to adapt to our weather. 2006 growing season was the hottest on
record and totally without rain. 2007 was the coolest in 50 years, with
record rainfall. That said, I'm growing hot-weather plants in 1 gal.
pots in the Hoop House, and planting them when it's finally warm
enough.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 3:12
PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland]
Cardboard
No problem with birds here - apparently the quail don't
want anything but
bugs in the garden, and rabbits are fenced out. But we
need to work out
some frost protection this spring to get an earlier start
at the market.
Don't know if row covers will speed up red onion bulbing
even if they get
an earlier start. Day neutrals.
This year we're
expanding from four to eighteen carrot beds, with each row
of six beds
staggered a month apart. Last summer my floating row cover let
one carrot
bed dry out too fast, zero germination tho I misted it often.
I'm going to
try a 2x4 frame sitting just inside the bed frames, with 3.5
ml stapled to
the frame top so the plastic doesn't lie on the seed bed.
With very little
added heat, greenhouse tomatoes are going to be a little
trickier to push
from Feb to May - last freeze is sometime in early May and
markets start
around June 1st. We haven't used cloches but we can save
enough gallon milk
jugs to use as you do. That stick in the hole to keep it
from blowing away
is a nifty idea.
Apparently season extension is a very individual
thing and the variations
are endless. In our case double cropping depends
on our methods working.
How do others adapt to their own weather, and with
what crops?
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!
>
>At 6:38 AM -0500 12/28/07, Fargir@aol.com wrote, in response to this
post,
>>I recycle disposable soda bottle
>halves to sprout the
seeds, giving the first leaves a
>bit of time protected from mice and
slugs. These fit
>into holes cut thru the cardboard mulch -
seedlings
>are even better.<
>
>
I'm a bit slow today. Could you go into detail? 2 lt. bottles?
>Which half? Maybe, would it help with vine bores?
>Thank's.
Trying to keep typing to min. Slipped on ice 2 wks. ago and
>have a
hair line fracture in the r shoulder. hurts to type with r hand
>Peggy
in
Iowa
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