If I were ever to design my absolute dream property, it most definitely would include a fully walled garden. The wicked wind here is very hard on plants, and they could use the shelter.
Absent a surrounding wall for the entire garden, however, I make my own mini-walls.
A few weeks ago when I showed you the milk jugs that I use as mini-greenhouses for the newly transplanted cabbages, there were a couple of plants surrounded by rocks that I promised I would talk about later.
Today is the day. Hooray! (I love accidental rhymes.)
Four of those jugged cabbages were big enough that they were starting to press against the sides of the jugs.
So I decided the time had come to remove the jugs.
I do this very carefully, kind of rocking the jug back and forth to loosen the soil. Because the jugs are sunk down into the mud when they're placed, if I tried to just yank the jug out quickly, the whole plant would be likely to come out with a chunk of dirt. That's why I have to be careful.
Freedom!
Although the plant is obviously much bigger at this stage, there is still a possibility of frost here through May, along with days of strong, drying winds. That's why I prefer to give them a little bit of protection for a little bit longer. And to do that, I build walls around them.
I have a pile of large rocks (originally collected along our roadside) that stay in the garden all year that I use for just this purpose. All I do is set the rocks in a circle around the plant.
Cabbage Stonehenge.
I don't build up the height, so it doesn't completely enclose the plant, but it's enough to give some wind protection. In addition, the rocks absorb our very strong sun and heat up during the day. That heat radiates back from the rocks at night, thereby giving the plants inside the rock circle a few degrees of protection from below-freezing temperatures.
I'll do this with all the cabbages and kohlrabi this month as they grow and I remove the jugs. It's not necessary for the plants like tomatoes and basil that will go out when it's warmer, but the little walls are just enough protection for the cabbage and kohlrabi to carry them through until frost-free and less windy days.
3 comments:
Walls. When I fantasize about winning the big lottery (which, of course, is impossible because I never play), the first thing I buy is some land with a house. The second thing I do is pay somebody to build a wal-- a very tall wall with electricity at the top to keep out the deer and bears. Then I would plant lovely fruit trees and a garden inside the wall. Then our beehives would also go inside. A garden without deer sounds so very, very luxurious.
And I had to laugh at you brining rocks INTO your garden. I cannot even imagine how many tons of rocks we've taken out of ours. I'm not joking when I say tons. We had several large rock piles that were removed with a tractor after we noticed the copperheads frequenting them.
Rocks and deer-- the bane of our gardening existence.
I figure that the high walls around the British gardens of the great country homes were first build up centuries ago to keep out deer. Bears, not so much!
We make a windbreak with old pallets nailed together with those skinny metal posts inside to keep it upright. Frost usually isn't a problem after February, but I bury my plants in hay when we hear it's going to be below freezing (a rare enough occurrence that it's newsworthy). I might borrow your milk jug idea instead next time -- if temps past for more than a day or two, I'm worried I'll lose them due to lack of light.
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