I have claimed my new plot in the community garden!

Thanks for you comments Eileen. I hope you husband is able to get a lottie soon!

I just re-read my previous post. I think the term is hugelkultur, not kugelkutur! I'm not sure what I would be doing with noodle pudding in the garden!! To my American ears, the difference between Hugel & Kugel is slight.

 

Hiya Cayuga. Yes, I saw the posting and have read about it. There are some folks here that do that...and in Britain as well I believe.

 

So....my plot is progressing. I have the whole thing in plants now (20X20 feet): Lettuce, beets, bunching onions, peas, beans (pole & snap), winter squash, cantaloupes, kale, tomatoes & 1 struggling rhubarb!! It's been a lot of work, but it looks great.

I am experimenting with row covers, initially to protect transplants from sun scald, now to protect small plants from bugs. I put mosquito netting over the snap beans when I saw the baby leaves were being eaten. They are now growing just fine. I also have a row cover over the young squash as I hear the striped squash beetle is vicious. I guess I shall have to remove them to water.....any body else experiment with row covers? White material versus mosquito netting?

 

Yay for you! I use row cover all the time. I actually planted 30 tomatoes and the same distance row of zucchinis (maybe 25, I am not sure) in mid-April. We put it on to protect from the cold weather and bugs until the leaves are pushing against the cover. Then we remove it so the squash can get pollinated and to put the tomato cages on. The zucchini are now producing picking size fruit and the tomatoes have golf sized fruit on them. Everybody else is just planting up their garden.

 

Hey Carolyn, You're the woman I want to speak to! I am impressed with how early your fruit is. So, how tall are your row covers? I am making them myself out of 1/2" PVC pipes. One row cover is maybe 20" high. Is that high enough? I ask because I am about to make a third row cover.

Maybe I should put a row cover on the tomatoes. They are still only 8-12" tall.

I have also read that squash will produce earlier if I use black plastic over the soil. Here in NE it still gets cold at night. what do you think of that?

 

Hi Netty... all you need to do is ask. We buy a bundle of wire hoops that are 5' long. We can make the tunnel lower or higher depending on how far apart the hoops are spread. We buy the row cover on a roll and for this we use a 7' wide one. You need to weight it down not peg it down. If it gets windy the pegs will pull through the fabric and your row cover is all ruined or gone. We also have a plastic layer which we lay plastic in the garden for every crop most of it is 3 feet wide. your plot is small and you can trench the plastic in by hand. Spread it out and hoe a trench at the edge of where you plan on burying the edge, then (you need two people to do this) pull it tight and fill the trench in burying the edge of the plastic, starting opposite each other on end end of the piece..
new planting from this past Friday 5/29 of cukes and zukes. peppers to the right and melons to the left.



This is what they are looking like from being planted in mid-April. Covered with 1/2 oz poly cover.

the pollination isn't the best for the first few if the cover is still on when the blossoms open. the bottom right one is the poorly pollinated one here. see the funny tapered shape?
tomatoes planted on the same day as the zucchinis.
after they are pushing up against the row cover and the weather is suitable forecast we remove the cover and put the tomato cages on.
these are the wires that we push into the ground. They are sturdy and last for years.

Yes, cover the squash, they like it warm.

yes, cover the tomatoes if you can for another week or two.

By the way... can you tell I finally have a new computer? I can finally post pictures again. I haven't done that for a year or more, I think.

 

Here are more recent photos of the community plot. As you can see, I need to work on my row covers!!!






This is a photo of the lettuce & beets on the right, peas on the left.



a freckled lettuce. Great, isn't it?




Beans under mosquito netting.




As you can see I need to perfect my row cover technique!! I have row floats more than covers.

 

You have done a great job. The plants are beautiful and they really aren't complaining about your row cover job, I can see it in their growth. Well done!

 

Whoa! How did I miss this post? Your garden is looking great.

I got cloth this spring for row covers. They worked great and lessened the white butterfly larva damage. The covers are off now but am wondering about using them again this fall to extend the season.

 

Thanks Jewell. Glad to hear you've had a good experience with row covers!

 

Wow Cayuga!---That muni plot is looking great.
Your veg is coming along very well, don't you think?
It is a pity that you have to cover your plants, but when the pests come, one doesn't have much choice.

I use row covers sometimes depending upon what I am growing and the type of material I use depends upon what I am combating. The configuration of the covered area can also vary for me. Sometimes I use the pvc hoops and sometimes I make sort of a cage-like affair.

Like Carolyn said though, sometimes you must make it possible for pollinators to pollinate and that means either a covering with large enough holes or to periodically remove the covering for several hours at the time. If the holes in your netting are large enough, you can give water tight through the netting, so that you do not need to remove the net to give the water---it's all extra work. You know how it goes with gardening....never enough time. hahaha. I have to try and do planning sometimes so that I can reach my goals during the day. You know--so that there is ample time for the pauses.