As I woke up today, it was raining and very windy. Not a good day for sure. Then, I checked on the long range forecasts for my area (Maryland). Another not so good, very bad report to paraphrase a title from a very popular children's book. About a week or so ago I saw a report that we would get appreciable snow from DC to New York and beyond. I didn't pay it much mind then. But, it is now inside the 8 day window with all of the major forecast models in agreement. WHAT? This certainly can't be true. But, alas it is. Right now, it is calling for lots of snow in the central PA region while the Mid Atlantic will get 2-4 inches. On the 21st of April no less! And following that, it is predicting temps falling about 20 degrees below normal until the beginning of May. Oh Bother is right Pooh!
So, after perusing the various podcasts I track, I decided to do a mental inventory of the various "tools" I have that will help with all this nonsense. It was just too nasty to look for them in my garage and shed. For about a half an hour or so, I listed 9 items I could use to protect my plants outside during the next 2 weeks. Here is my arsenal in my war with nature. I know, my handwriting is wanting but hey, it gets the job done.
So, it appears from the listing and few other items I discovered again (love those by the way), that I can do this! At least I hope so. I think the plant it bug has really got a hold of me and it has to be dealt with. I only plan on planting the usual suspects for Spring plus maybe beans. But if we just get unseasonably cold weather, precautions have to taken given the lows predicted.
I decided that I needed to rearrange the cloches I put into the garden and set my new bell cloches up for cabbage plants. The rectangular ones will be for the beans which will give me about 18 plants in a row. The bell ones will naturally be for 1 cabbage plant apiece. I grabbed the new cloches and went out to the garden to set them up and do the reset on the existing ones. Upon inspection, I discovered the new ones had an area where a fabric stake could be used but it wasn't perforated yet. I used a knife to cut a small hole in them and then cut some old wire hangars to use as the plant stakes. Here are a few pictures of the cloche where I cut the hole, the knife I used and the staples I made from the coat hangars.
As I write this, it is evident that tonight will give my cloches a test as the winds have decidedly picked up. Accuweather has wind advisories till 6PM but my money is on later than that.
Here is how the bed looks now after placing the three bell cloches and rearranging the rectangular ones. I may give them tomorrow to sit and let the sun heat them up. Warm soil is the object here.
Here are close up pictures of each of the cloches.
When I took the picture of the bell cloches, they had only been in place about 10-15 minutes under a bright sun. It is very encouraging that they had already started to heat up. If these work out, I may buy more as they are pretty sturdy and the plastic they are made out of seems substantial.
I couldn't get everything I had hoped to get done when the skies cleared as this wave of storms was fast approaching with some fury. I was just getting the third bell cloche cut and into place. Again, just a weird day for sure.
I still have those projects to get done for the peas, cukes and tomatoes. And, I just added a few more so this should be an interesting week. That is, if the weather cooperates. That's all there is at this point in time. I'm sure everyone is getting anxious to get the season started - especially with the stay at home orders. Hopefully that will right itself shortly.
Until next time, stay safe and healthy and Happy Gardening everyone!
Post a new thread about this blog entry:
