Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Row cover is done....for now.

Since i only ended up having enough hoops for three full rows (out of 5), i only needed to cover those three.
It was not too difficult really, or complicated, but it did take a lot of fussing.  If i had an extra person to do little things like hold one end of the row cover while i pulled the other end taut, i would probably have smoother looking rows.  But it certainly is functional and i don't think it looks all too bad.
Someone driving by won't think i have garbage in my yard.

The hardest part of it was cutting it to the right length without wasting a whole bunch of it at the ends.I thought the wind was going to be a real problem, but it actually helped.   I had started earlier today when there was no wind, but about 20 minutes after i got out there- it started to pick up. I thought it was going to be more trouble,  but the wind really made it easier to drape the cover over the hoops and release the folds.
Sometimes the wind got too frisky and blew the cover out of my  control, but it was easy to straighten it back out.





Those binder clips are great!




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Waiting to go in


When i got them all finished (or as finished as i felt like them being) , i planted the hardy stuff:


Kale- Red Russian
Broccoli- Gypsy
Pak Choi-  Brisk Green
Collards- Vates
Kholrabi- Early Purple Vienna
Cabbage- Point One
Swiss Chard- Bright Lights

Add that to the parsnips,  3 types of radishes and the two types of carrots and i almost feel accomplished.

Of course, this means i have to do another plan...
see this:

Yeah, its blurry and it makes my eyes hurt too, but what i mean is that since i had to cover only 3 rows and still plant out some early stuff, i had to rearrange things by which rows were ready to use.
 So all the brassicas and suchlike went into the same row. Since they are one of the veggies most readily attacked by bugs, they needed the row covers immediately.
That means that Row 3 where most of them were scheduled, will not be where they are put.  They will have to go in Row 2.
So, yeah...more shuffling.
Glad i enjoy it....wish i had more time!

Got the electric fence done today too. Just one strand for now- i will have a total of 3 when its done. I need to go turn it on, its 8pm and the woodchucks come out in the morning so i should turn it on before bed.  I put lots of marking flags on it. I don't want to zap people, just groundhogs and the cats that try to use the garden as a litter box.


The tomatoes will go in Row1 soon.

Almost done reading "Root Cellaring",  great book so far!

Almost 10pm.  I need to go to bed and try to sleep!

2 comments:

Faith said...

Wonderful job! I simply adore that program for garden planning. That is a cool printout!

~Faith

icebear said...

it was definitely an interesting project! i hope the Remay lasts more than a year, but if not i have enough for next year still on the roll.

I am really enjoying using the GrowVeg program, the print-outs do come out nice. My only problem with it is that it does not seem to have a 'full screen' mode where i can view only the illustration and not the toolbars. at least i have not found it yet if it exists. I am working from my little netbook since my full size laptop is toast. I use my daughter or hubby's desktops for re-plotting, but i can reference it on the netbook easily enough.

I think i will buy the program subscription for a year trial. i want to see how it goes through crop rotations and successive plantings. I may need it for a few years to get the knack of it, but its very helpful- i do wish they had flower version, i could really use help in that area!