Keeping crops covered at night + colors & critters of autumn

plastic sheets over artichoke and broccoli at night

plastic over fence to cover broccoli plants

broccoli covered with mesh sheet, with grow bags in between plants

greens covered with glass shelves

radish covered with glass pane from old fridge

mattress spring holding up swiss chard

blueberries with red leaves

figs covered with blankets & tree covers

cat in the woods

pear trees with yellow leaves

Early spring: how I'm covering the flower garden & Fruit trees

Many of the flowers this Spring are blooming three weeks ahead compared to previous years. The fruit trees such as Pears, Nectarines, and Peaches are blooming in the garden as well. With the fruit trees I covered almost all of them with Agfabric with a drawstring that you see in the picture below. 

For the trees that were blooming, I double wrapped them with an additional garden cloth or blanket. With the biggest pear tree that had blooms and the nectarine with blooms, I covered them with two cloth fabric sheets and a plastic sheet. With the fig trees, I covered them with plastic and the fabric cloth on the outside. For the flowers like Hyacinths and Tulips that are blooming early, I have covered them with plastic sheeting and plastic cloches to retain moisture and heat throughout the night. This week it will be below 20 degrees amid some risk of snow/early frost warnings, so I am keeping the fruit trees and flower and garden covered as well as the polytunnel garden as you can see in the last photo. 

Plastic sheet covering Tulip/hyacinth/crocus/flower seed mix bed

Tulips protected with recycled dog cone

Hyacinths covered in small plastic tub with foam sheet over top & refrigerator glass shelves

Plastic over cabbage plants

There are 2 holes in the 'reservoir' center to slowly drip rain water

What's growing on in the Winter Garden 2017

Now that Spring is closer upon us in the US, I'm cleaning up the garden mounds to be mulched soon. Today I'm starting some seeds indoors in my mini greenhouse with grow lights. Some of the plants I will be starting is a Artichoke, Lettuce, Brussels, Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and I want to pick up some Radish seed to start growing them early indoors. Then towards mid-March or early April I will transplant these in the garden. Before I transplant though I want to have composted and mulched the mounds and made polytunnels to protect the plants. Afterward that point, I will start Tomato and Pepper plants indoors to be transplanted in May. I hope to have mulched and composted the mounds for these plants, then in May I will directly sow Squash, Melons, Gourds, and other things in the garden.

As of now, I have been growing a couple of rows of Arugula, Collard greens, lettuce, and carrots in the Hugelkultur garden. There is some cilantro and Red Russian kale growing among the greens as well. Because here in Kentucky the winter has been mild, the greens have been growing with little protection from now in the beginning of February from September. All I have used to protect the greens from the cold and snow is cloth row covers like garden canvas. I have been able to have greens to eat in salads or eaten fried. I also harvested a couple of carrots that I noticed were a decent size to pull up. Today I had a surprisingly long carrot that was growing in one of the garden mounds. Below are photos of the winter garden and the carrot harvested today.

collards

 

collards

lettuce

carrot harvested

row of Carrots

row of Arugula & Collards

Cold front in late Spring: Row covers & recycled bottle Cloches to protect garden

As you can tell, I have used many different materials cover small, young plants. Although I imagine the Brussels sprouts and Broccoli to be quite hardy to these weather conditions, there are tender greens sprouting like lettuce, spinach, kale, which I want to ensure protection from snow and frost that may accumulate. And using the plastic and row covers will trap some heat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

recycled item to protect broccoli

recycled item to protect broccoli

 

 

 

I made sure to cover the flowers too, except the Daffodils and Scilla flowers--there are too many clusters around the house to cover. I did cover the Hyacinths and Tulips, one with an old plastic fish tank and the others with recycled refrigerator shelves.

 

tulips covered

 

Hyacinths covered

 

Today's cold weather was a contrast to the sunny, warm weather we had for the last two weeks. We had freezing winds bringing in snow, which came as quite of a surprise. Quickly I cut bottles to put over the starter plants, then James and I covered the four Hugelkultur mounds with transparent plastic and row covers to retain heat through the cold night. The forecast predicts temperatures to drop to 24 degrees F tonight and tomorrow night.

 

row covers on Hugelkultur mounds to protect young plants