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Sounds as if you live in Oklahoma. I don't
know why they bother trying to keep averages around here. There is no
average. One year we might get an early freeze around the 1st of October
or in late September; the next year it might be late December before we get a
freeze. Some years we get barely a trace of snow, other years we get 10 to
12 inches dumped on us in March or April. Usually we can count on hot,
humid summers with temps. in the upper 90's but sometimes the push up to 110 and
every now and again we get a summer that temps. barely hit 90 most of the
summer. One thing you can pretty much count on, there's either too much rain or
not enough.
Claudia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 4:12
PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland]
Cardboard
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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