Re: plants new to me- anyone growing them?
- Subject: Re: plants new to me- anyone growing them?
- From: "Marge Talt" m*@hort.net
- Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 01:12:27 -0400
> From: Donna <justme@prairieinet.net>
>
> construction after the dirt moving activity, I will get one. When
we
> build the raised boxes for the veggie garden, you can bend a 10 ft
pvc
> pipe across them ( we did one!)and thought of covering in plastic
for
> the winter... water would be the problem. No snow would get to
those
> plants... how do you all get that to work? Don't they dry out
something
> fierce?
----------
Once upon a time, I rigged an 'A' frame over a couple of plunge beds
on either side of a fence and covered it with plastic for winter.
Left the ends open except when it was really bitter....this was
before global warming gave us the past several warmer than "normal"
winters. You need to leave the ends open for ventilation or the
inside heats up too much, even on a day humans consider too cold to
play outside comfortably.
Anyway, it was a real pain in the derrihre to tend as I couldn't walk
into it, and, yes, the pots will dry out if there's a spate of warm
weather and need to be watered. If the weather stays cold and the
ground and medium in the plunge beds stays more or less frozen, then
watering is not really an issue...what you are doing with the plastic
is cutting wind and keeping excess water from the pots.
I did it because I'd lost a bunch of pots of things to an ice storm
in uncovered plunge beds the year before. Ice built up in the tops
of the pots, and then melted and the pots were still frozen into the
plunge medium, so they didn't drain and I couldn't tip it out; many
plants did not care for cold water sitting on their crowns for a week
and let me know by rotting for me. I was not pleased.
Moral of story, if you create a covered plastic frame, make sure it's
tall enough for you to actually get into without too much trouble, so
you can tend the pots if you need to....rolling up a stiff plastic
side in a wind on a cold day so you can water or see if something
needs water is not a "fun" pastime. esp. if there is snow on the
ground.
You ought to get hubby to knock a cold frame together for you...not
that hard to do out of 2x10s. Or, get some bales of straw and make a
temporary frame. I like to line that with plastic to keep out mice
and slugs, who like nice straw bales (make sure there is bottom
drainage - poke some holes in the plastic). Fill it with mulch as
deep as you need to plunge the pots into. Then, make a wood frame
covered in plastic for the lid; use some bricks, blocks or bits of
2x4 as props to keep it open when weather is not too cold - or just
drape clear plastic over it, rolling that back when you need to open
it (rather a pain to do); when it gets really bitter, close top and
cover with black plastic and some old rugs or something and leave it
until weather breaks and then open it again. You can even just leave
it closed once you do that until spring, oddly enough. If, for some
reason, tho' you end up with a week or so of warm weather, best to
open it up IMO.
Easier to tend than a short tunnel, IMO. You can use the straw for
mulch or add it to the compost heap come spring.
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Editor: Gardening in Shade
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