2012 PNW gardens progress

[dice]

Whoa, above 70F today, I feel like I am on vacation in Hawaii.

60% chance of rain tomorrow, though, and 70% the day after.
I see pictures of the northeastern Pacific Ocean on the news,
and it is almost all clouds from here to Japan and the Phillipines.

I have not had to water the garden or my containers even once this
year. (In fact, one cannot adjust the plants with a soil drench,
because they are not taking up what is in the soil or container mix
anyway at these temperatures, and they certainly do not need
more moisture in the soil. Instead, they need to grow roots to reach
what nutrients are already there, but at these temperatures there
is little incentive for the plants to grow roots. They can get all of the
water that they need with roots 6 inches long.)

[Jeannine Anne]

First off.. Tania, you be careful, you need to get better, Stan has a theory but we don't want you to test it !! You are a very important lady.

I went through the lung check just a few weeks ago and found I was working on 61% capacity.. finally trying to accept I have asthma although neither of the meds they gave me are doing any good but I am determined to try. Maybe it is as simple as that and they may work well for you..


I also believe we will get tomatoes this year...I believe, I believe..

Today we were going to do the poly roof over ours, we have the plastic, the white pipe, the hold it clips, the reebar etc and we were stuck here all day waiting for a delivery that is scheduled but still as not arrived.

Tomorrow it is going to rain again.

We are truly being tested this year.

I heard yesterday , usually we have had 99 days of sunshine by this time of the year, we have had 41.

It has to break sometime.

Take care Tania.

XX Jeannine

[johnnytwofingers]

I was quite cheered up after yesterday's relatively nice weather, and then today, raaaaaaaaaaain. By the looks of the sky this is going to be absolute non-stop all day, and its actually raining harder than normal.

I dug around in the closet and found a puny little tarp, so at least I have a couple of my plants covered....poor things. I feel better for them now though.

Has anyone seen any large, clear (or semi clear) tarps at any stores before? I'm starting to wonder if a person shouldn't just tarp them up at the start of the season and leave it like that, but would want a clear tarp so they can still get a bit of sunlight.

[Tania]

yep, it is called 'greenhouse poly/plastic'

Trevor, your tarp cover looks very neat! I totally understand how you feel.
It is raining so hard here in Anmore. The forecast says the rain may stop on Wednesday...

Dice, you had 70F on Friday, wow! Our record was 67F, and we are back to upper 50s again. Crazy weather this year, what can I say.

Slugs have been breeding happily in our compost pile. Yikes.

[janezee]

HHH here today: cloudy, 65ºF, (16C?), and 85-95% humidity. I wish it would just rain, get it over with, and get warm. The mosquitoes are eating me alive as I weed, prune and mow. I have so much work to do since I got home from Seattle. I was already 6-10 weeks behind because of the fibromyalgia flare caused by the fall in April, but now, I feel like I'm even further behind.

I need a wife.

Once upon a time, in Rhode Island, I had a business called Rent a Wife. I did all kinds of odd jobs for people. Yard sales, personal shopping, painting, prepping houses for sale, organizing, small home repair, anything a wife would do. Only I got paid for it.
Now, I need me as a younger, more able person. <sigh>

Anyone nearby who could help?

Just started raining here. Now, I don't have to water. Woohoo! Will it be sunny tomorrow!?!?!?
Doubtful.

I guess it's time to empty another wine bottle for a slug trap.

j

[Tania]

Jane, looks like your place is warmer today, I am jealous!

I would love to help you out, as long as you've got no rain there

[janezee]

johnny, I have some objects called "Versa-tarp" that my husband bought about 30 years or more ago. One part looks like a plastic coin about the size of a half-dollar, and the other looks like a figure 8. You put the coin part under the plastic and lay the larger part of the 8 over it. Basically, you pop the 8 over the coin. Then you tie down the other end of the 8. I've been using them for years. You could improvise something similar, I'm sure, using cable ties or rope or.......
They probably have something similar on the market by now.

j

[janezee]

Oh, yeah, Tania, we'd be like 'Dumb and Dumber,' except we'd be 'Gimpy and Gimpier.'


I really appreciate the thought, but I think that we'd both better focus on getting healthier!!!

I didn't realize until recently that you're near Coquitlam, where I have some very dear friends whom I haven't seen in several years, due to health problems on both sides. I hope to visit this summer sometime, and I'll be sure to give you and Jeannine a heads-up when/if I can make it to Canada. It's been so long since I've been there. Back in those days, the Loonies were called 'dollarettes.' Now, I think we're almost at par.

Thank you for the thought!!!!!

j

[johnnytwofingers]

Originally Posted by janezee

johnny, I have some objects called "Versa-tarp" that my husband bought about 30 years or more ago. One part looks like a plastic coin about the size of a half-dollar, and the other looks like a figure 8. You put the coin part under the plastic and lay the larger part of the 8 over it. Basically, you pop the 8 over the coin. Then you tie down the other end of the 8. I've been using them for years. You could improvise something similar, I'm sure, using cable ties or rope or.......
They probably have something similar on the market by now.

j

Thanks Janezee, I actually saw something like that advertised today, nice to hear from someone that they actually work, will have to try ordering some.

I'm amazed how well the tarp is working, my plants looked droopy and sick from the constant cold rain, a couple hours under the tarp and they look nice and dry and healthy, now have to figure out how to get my pots covered, nothing to hang a tarp from there. Any great ideas out there?

[velikipop]

Build a small hoophouse using PVC pipe from Home Depot.

[johnnytwofingers]

Originally Posted by velikipop

Build a small hoophouse using PVC pipe from Home Depot.

Is it realistic to build something like that that would be tall enough to fit over tomato plants that are say 4 feet high?

Another thing I'm concerned about is wind, ocassionally I can get fairly high winds up on my balcony.

One idea I had was simply running some strong string and making a tent structure of some sort and putting the plastic over top of that, but I'm concerned the plastic could tear too easily that way.

I think it might be getting too late in the season to do anything major for this year, but come next spring I'd consider doing some sort of a more major project. I'm sure there are examples somewhere on the internet of various approaches people have taken but not sure where one would look. Anyone know any forums that have really good content on makeshift greenhouse design? Or maybe there's a well known solution you guys already know of but I am just ignorant of it?

Here are some photos I posted of the area I'm dealing with:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showpost....66&postcount=1

[janezee]

It may be impossible for you to get them there, but the cattle panels would give you structure, shelter, and wouldn't blow away in the wind.

j

[velikipop]

Sorry, didn't realize that you were on a balcony.

[dice]

Maybe a tomatoport:
http://sell.lulusoso.com/upload/2011...et_carport.jpg

That one is kind of fancy and permanent-looking. I was thinking of
a simple lean-to design with something clear and rigid. Fiberglass
panels would block a lot of light from directly overhead, and I do
not know how long vinyl panels (the corrugated type like people
cover carports with in California) would hold up. (Polycarbonate
sheet like in the picture is kind of expensive, but it should hold up
for at least a decade.)

[velikipop]

Yes, that would work for sure. I wouldn't have to build my ark to deal with the deluge!!!

Alex