making temporary covers for young plants

t-ham · May 9, 2011

Good morning folks,

I just wanted to share something I've come up with for frost protection.

I work in the residential construction trades and I'm always on the lookout for left over material that I can adapt to use in the garden. Here in NY the building codes now allow domestic water supplies to be installed using material other than copper pipe. One is a vinyl-type flexible line that comes in blue and red(to signify cold and hot lines) and is sold in large rolls. The plumbers always have odd lengths left over that are too short to use and usually get discarded. I take anything that is 3 or 4 feet or longer for use as hoops to drape plastic over. I stick a 12" section of rebar(or anything else that fits) in each end and presto, giant croquet hoops. I don't use wood around here because we have severe termite problems. I've actually had termites pour out of the end of a wooden stake like water when I pulled it up at the end of the year.

If you know a plumber who does new construction or additions and renovations you might ask them if they use it or have any leftovers they could save for you. It is about 1" od and lasts decades longer that sections of garden hose(it better if they plan on installing it in my walls). And the price is right.

There is also a flexible electric conduit to protect wire for direct burial outdoors that works well, it is grey and looks like the old BX cable you see in houses before Romex came along. It is smaller in diameter than the water lines but you can still fit a section of 1/2" rebar in the end. I actually paid for this, it was on the clearance table at an electrical supply house, 25' for 4 bucks. Again, designed to last decades.

Tom

salix · May 9, 2011

Welcome to T'ville, Tom. Great minds think alike! Although I have to confess that I actually bought a 100 ' coil of some black plastic waterline material. I keep that and a stack of 2' rebar in the garden - and make tunnel houses with a row of your croquet hoops and floating row cover. Keeps out the cabbage butterflies, carrot rust flies, onion maggot flies and a couple degrees of frost when needed. Even though the materials were purchased, they were reasonably priced and will certainly last till the end of my gardening career.

t-ham · May 9, 2011

Salix,

Thanks for the kick in the kiester. I was only thinking about starting the season early and extending it past the time that any self-respecting veggie would call it a day. Never thought about using it as a barrier for satans minions.

Like I said in my intro, I work as a carpenter during the week and at a group home for the developmentally disabled on weekends(no, I don't have any days off) and it just so happened we were picking up material for a roof repair and a skylightectomy today and got myself a pallet. There is a thread on making a vertical pallet garden that I read this morning before work and now all I need is a garbage can full of compost from the town compost farm and I'm ready to go. If you haven't read my intro, I am restricted to about 150sf in the back yard of a townhouse so "vertical" is VERY appealing to me. When it comes to computers I am, well, let's say challenged, so I'll let you find the link yourself. I can tell you with the utmost confidence that the post is most definitely on the T'ville site, other than that, you, my friend, are on your own.

Thanks for making me feel welcome,

T

salix · May 10, 2011

Hello again, Tom. Yes, I was also interested in Gary's posting re: the pallet garden. I usually scrounge pallets to make compost bins... Nice to have a new use for them. By the way, if you are involved in another skylightectomy - they make wonderful lids for cold frames, or just wind barriers. Just sayin'...

t-ham · May 10, 2011

Salix,

Yup, I know what you mean. Ever since I got the gardening bug I just can't look at windows and skylights the same anymore. They're all just coldframes that haven't been born yet. I have 2 vinyl casement windows in my shed right now. Unfortunately if I were to construct something where the windows opened out, the cranks would be on the inside. It's a shame to waste their ability to open and close but I might have to use them as stationary panels.
No sense rushing into these things so I'll think about it some more.

May 9, 2011	#1
t-ham Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: rockland county, ny, usa Posts: 36	making temporary covers for young plants Good morning folks, I just wanted to share something I've come up with for frost protection. I work in the residential construction trades and I'm always on the lookout for left over material that I can adapt to use in the garden. Here in NY the building codes now allow domestic water supplies to be installed using material other than copper pipe. One is a vinyl-type flexible line that comes in blue and red(to signify cold and hot lines) and is sold in large rolls. The plumbers always have odd lengths left over that are too short to use and usually get discarded. I take anything that is 3 or 4 feet or longer for use as hoops to drape plastic over. I stick a 12" section of rebar(or anything else that fits) in each end and presto, giant croquet hoops. I don't use wood around here because we have severe termite problems. I've actually had termites pour out of the end of a wooden stake like water when I pulled it up at the end of the year. If you know a plumber who does new construction or additions and renovations you might ask them if they use it or have any leftovers they could save for you. It is about 1" od and lasts decades longer that sections of garden hose(it better if they plan on installing it in my walls). And the price is right. There is also a flexible electric conduit to protect wire for direct burial outdoors that works well, it is grey and looks like the old BX cable you see in houses before Romex came along. It is smaller in diameter than the water lines but you can still fit a section of 1/2" rebar in the end. I actually paid for this, it was on the clearance table at an electrical supply house, 25' for 4 bucks. Again, designed to last decades. Tom

May 9, 2011	#2
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	Welcome to T'ville, Tom. Great minds think alike! Although I have to confess that I actually bought a 100 ' coil of some black plastic waterline material. I keep that and a stack of 2' rebar in the garden - and make tunnel houses with a row of your croquet hoops and floating row cover. Keeps out the cabbage butterflies, carrot rust flies, onion maggot flies and a couple degrees of frost when needed. Even though the materials were purchased, they were reasonably priced and will certainly last till the end of my gardening career.

May 10, 2011	#4
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	Hello again, Tom. Yes, I was also interested in Gary's posting re: the pallet garden. I usually scrounge pallets to make compost bins... Nice to have a new use for them. By the way, if you are involved in another skylightectomy - they make wonderful lids for cold frames, or just wind barriers. Just sayin'...