Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Campfire Soapbox. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Season Extender Ideas In The Garden
Topic Started: Mar 18 2005, 10:22 AM (79 Views)
Little Kopit
newfoundland
Chris said he lost his tomato seedings. Now, down in Texas, that can't be a big deal. You just start new ones. There's lots more growing time there, right?

Up here in Newfoundland, in fact all of Atlanitc Canada, & I'll bet much of the northern U.S., losing one's seedings is serious business.

1. A garden blanket. I start my beans two weeks earlier when I cover the area with this blanket.

A sample of the garden blanket is here: Also called Floating Row Covers or there is a brand, reemay.

In the fall I cover my tomato plants to keep the frost away. To be sure if it's going to dip to -5 or so, I have to get out lots of real blankets, if I want more tomatoes, squash.......

2. Plastic mulch. 6 mil plastic can be used around tomatoes, direct seeding corn, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, ... Not for cabbage & cousins, beans, spinach, any root crops..... Helps with the weeds too.

:cool:
Lynne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Heathertee
Member Avatar
Heather-Central Connecticut
Lynne, I am a big user of floating row cover and find it works great to keep the birds from eating the blueberries, as well as protect from the frost earlier. I got it from Lee Valley Tools, my favorite garden supply site.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
mychrissy
Member Avatar
Chrissy
The floating row cover would be something I could use for my small plants that are outside during the winter season. It's got to be lighter than using bed sheets, right?
Good information.
Chrissy

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Heathertee
Member Avatar
Heather-Central Connecticut
Oh goodness, yes, Chrissy, it is like fine gauze. But it really keeps the bugs out, and protects from light frost.
Look at the site I gave the link to. It's in there under climate control.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Little Kopit
newfoundland
Chrissy, It lets both light and water through. I leave the 'sheets' of it up at the edges of the garden during the summer, rather than bring it inside. Then if an evening gets cool, yet I want to sit and just enjoy the evening dusk, waiting for the toads and the bats, listening to the loons, I just grab one of these 'sheets' and put it around me. It's amazing how warm you can be. But don't count on it keeping plants safe below -3'C.

:cool:
Lynne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
cmoehle
Member Avatar
Chris - San Antonio TX
I used to build greenhouses--just wood and plastic--and grow year round. I was working at home then.

I should have covered my plants when I heard a norther was on the way, but....

Like Lynne says half are replanted now--track of dark dirt across the carpet, rich dirt crumbling between the keys.
Politics is the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order.
--Barry Goldwater
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Heathertee
Member Avatar
Heather-Central Connecticut
I always wanted a real greenhouse. My aunt in Gustavus, Alaska, has one and it does very well but still she cannot grow tomatoes in it; they just get mildew and rot. No eggplant either, but they can have green things all winter.

I had great luck using a wooden box about 3'X1'X1' to grow baby lettuces last year (mesclun). I poured in a whole bag of Miracle-Gro potting soil and seeded it thickly. When the little plants were about 5" high, I cut them with scissors. They kept coming back with a vengeance! I cut them all May, June and psrt of July and then they began to bolt. I figure they saved me about $50 or more for an outlay of less than $10.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Little Kopit
newfoundland
Sylvia triggered some other thoughts re. sources in Canada:

Since you're there in ON, I use William Dam Seeds from some stuff. They are especially good for different types of starter containers, sea weed powder supplement, fish food plant food and gherkin seed. Now that is a cucumber which just IS!!! my favourite.

So, besides William Dam, I also Vesey's (in first post here), & Rawlinson. Article about Rawlinson Rawlinson keeps very low overhead, but their packets are small.

I've been using all of these for years and years and years.

:cool:
Lynne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
« Previous Topic · Home · Next Topic »
Add Reply