Protecting Your Investment

As green thumbs, we need to exercise every method available to protect our plants. Here are some options that really worked.

Launch Gallery

Have you ever had one of those “ I ’m SO glad I did that ! ” or “ NOW I know why I did that ! ” bit ? The late time of year blizzard that rack up the north Texas area this preceding weekend was a firm reminder of how we as dark-green quarter round have to prepare for the unexpected . This mean putting whatever measures we can give into protect our garden ’s valuable , specifically seedling and transplants .

If you get most of your transplants yourself like I do , you sleep together what a huge challenge it is , but also what a huge reward it is as well . I sometimes feel like a surrogate forefather to them , having seen the plants since before they were even born as seeds . To watch them sprout , get transplanted into larger pots , put out in the real world , and finally grow to the gunpoint of producing fruit is really a humbling feeling . I also experience IMHO that this is one of the things that sets you aside from “ average ” gardeners — or as one of my horticulture sidekick said — makes you agardenerrather than just a “ landscaper ” .

It is this devotion that ultimately shell you when some of what you ’re grow gets deflower or destroyed . Overwatering , disease , sorry soil , pest , drought , extreme temperatures , wind , beast , children , ( even a Weed Eater in my case ! ) have all involve their bell on starter plants .

So it last without saying that you have to expect the unexpected , watch the conditions reports like a mortarboard , and once in a while like a gambler in Vegas , roll your die and wish well for the honorable .

Here are some of the protective measure I had in place in time for this weekend ’s unusually late Charles Percy Snow event , and what happened as a result . All of the stories had a glad ending .

Screen or Row Cover Fabric CoveringSoon after I finished build my raised beds last year , I began build a wood - put “ lid ” for most of them . This had one purpose – to serve as a cuticle against pestilence and potentially damaging conditions . I use both screen textile and commercially - useable floating row masking material for this . I was amazed as to how efficient this was last tumble . Itvirtually eliminatedpest damage on my greens and beans . My friends , this isbeyondorganic pest ascendancy , as you have eliminated having to apply anything to your plants . The construct is frighteningly simple-minded — if the bugs ca n’t reach the surface of your plants , they ca n’t harm them !

This covering two-base hit as not only a wind - breaker , but in the case of this weekend , kept the 4 - 6 inches of C off of my fresh transplanted veggies that I put my heart and sweat into getting to this spot .

Cloth CoveringAgain , in the event of this weekend , it went over the screenland textile as a lower-ranking layer of protection against the inhuman wind and snow . subsequently this Spring as well as in late Summer , it will simulate “ tint ” to shade - love jet like lettuce .

Plastic CoveringIn this casing , I used painting declarer ’s pliant plastic film in the two garden plots I manage in my local residential district garden . They blocked the excessive tip that seems to be normal out there , and in this weekend ’s case , blocked snow and sham a little greenhouse , keeping the industrial plant warm than outside . alas , a couple of my community garden neighbor had planted tomatoes , peppers , and even squash transplants in their plots last week . spoiled idea . Totally unprotected under 6 - 8 in of C. P. Snow , the plant became instant fatalities .

Wall - O - WatersThese are theultimatein cold protection . I ’ve had these set up in my community garden plots for a couple of weeks . As enough C to shroud your feet get along down overnight , they easily protected the Lycopersicon esculentum flora inside of them . The let in photo in this post prove this beyond dubiety .

moth-eaten FrameI built this over two years ago , but it did n’t really serve obligation as a cold shielder until this time of year . It ’s proven itself night after night as an amazing cold shield . As an added bill , I put an old allayer over it last night , not realizing that it would be almost completely covered in blow this morning . Again , the photograph are the “ pudding ” in my trial impression .

If you have put your pump and perspire into your plants , it ’s a no - brainer to protect them with whatever you have at your disposal . It is n’t rocket science or overly expensive . It ’s but great piece of judgment .

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Photo/Illustration: All photos Greg Holdsworth

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