I'm back and solarizing

tomatoguy · July 5, 2012

I guess it has been a few years since I have posted here. I have been very busy during gardening season with night shift work. I have also been playing music on weekends, so I have had little time to post about gardening. I had been planting in my raised bed garden for the past 6 consecutive years and decided it was time to amend my garden and solarize, to get rid of disease spores and nematodes. I got lucky on the weather. We have had the worst heat wave, in my lifetime, the past 10 days, here in Tennessee. We broke an all-time record with 112 degrees, a week ago, and the daytime highs are still above 100. That, combined with practically no rain for the last three weeks, has made the weather ideal for solarizing. I plan on leaving the clear plastic sheeting in place for about 6-8 weeks. I'm not sure what I will do after that. Cover with black plastic or landscape fabric? Plant a cover crop? I may need to cover first, if I do plant a cover crop, since my solarizing will end in August. Please let me know, if you have a suggestion.

I wasn't planning on gardening at all this year but a co-worker convinced me to try some of his Holy Land plants. I have 5 of them in large (30 gal.) containers. I would like to see any comments on this variety. The plants set several fruit before the heat wave but none in the last week, due to the extremely high temperatures. The plants look great, so I am sure they will start setting fruit again, eventually.

tomatoguy · July 5, 2012

By the way, I am now in Zone 7A. I haven't moved but the zones have. Maybe I can order those black Elephant Ears, now.

July 5, 2012	#1
tomatoguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Rockvale, TN Zone 7A Posts: 526	I'm back and solarizing I guess it has been a few years since I have posted here. I have been very busy during gardening season with night shift work. I have also been playing music on weekends, so I have had little time to post about gardening. I had been planting in my raised bed garden for the past 6 consecutive years and decided it was time to amend my garden and solarize, to get rid of disease spores and nematodes. I got lucky on the weather. We have had the worst heat wave, in my lifetime, the past 10 days, here in Tennessee. We broke an all-time record with 112 degrees, a week ago, and the daytime highs are still above 100. That, combined with practically no rain for the last three weeks, has made the weather ideal for solarizing. I plan on leaving the clear plastic sheeting in place for about 6-8 weeks. I'm not sure what I will do after that. Cover with black plastic or landscape fabric? Plant a cover crop? I may need to cover first, if I do plant a cover crop, since my solarizing will end in August. Please let me know, if you have a suggestion. I wasn't planning on gardening at all this year but a co-worker convinced me to try some of his Holy Land plants. I have 5 of them in large (30 gal.) containers. I would like to see any comments on this variety. The plants set several fruit before the heat wave but none in the last week, due to the extremely high temperatures. The plants look great, so I am sure they will start setting fruit again, eventually.