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  • From: Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] SEED STARTING SHELTERS
  • Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 08:16:49 -0400

Boy, the discussion has sure gotten 'off the ground' recently, hasn't it? Who started all this talk about the Bushes robbing us at the gas pump and the Chinese robbing us everywhere else? ;-)

Our weather here this spring has been record hot. It's the hottest May on recored in the Mid-Atlantic, which, if you were prepared for it, wouldn't be a bad thing for a gardener at all. We are also getting mini-droughts broken by what can only be called FLASH FLOODS or FLASH FLOODS with HALE.

This is my first year at this garden. I decided to go the permaculture route and use the tree line to shade my starting tables. I start EVERYTHING in flats and trasnplant a couple of times before we go into the field, so I have about 10 50ft long rows of pallets covered with flats as well as another 30ft of table tops. All of this is under the open sky, but in the mottled shade of a big Sycamore.

This week a 20 lb black snake dropped out of the tree onto one of tables, splashing plastic everywhere. Several times recent seedings have been destroyed by the unusually harsh rains. Debris of all sorts falls out of the trees and into the trays. It's very educationl, but it's becoming impractical.

I'm thinking about moving from under the tree and setting up a shade cloth hoophouse. My experience with shade cloth is that it does break the force of wild rain and that it is a good place to start seeds. The established flats we can leave outside in the shade (as necessary.)

I'm wondering what the rest of you do to protect your seeded plants and young seedlings this time of year when the hoophouse can be over 100degrees.

Thanks

Allan Balliett
Shepherdstown, WV




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