Comments on: Solstice snapshot

By: Margy

Margy — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:09:32 +0000

Thanks Tom – I may try something next fall but a little shorter. I will need to install the supports to my beds so I’ll try one to start with and see how it goes. It would be fun to have some winter lettuce or chard. – Margy

By: Tom Read

Tom Read — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 17:58:56 +0000

Hi Margy,

Thanks for your thoughtful questions. The wind blows hard here, too, sometimes, so the overhead wood structure is held in place by screws at each end and baling twine positioned in the centre as a guy-wire. So far, so good.

Watering is via a drip watering system, supplemented by hand-watering from a hose or watering can. I don’t use much mulch for water conservation in summer because it just becomes bug habitat, and the top few inches of soil can serve as mulch anyway.

Hope you’re having a good growing season out on the lake!

–Tom

By: Margy

Margy — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 16:19:46 +0000

I like the design of your garden fence with crossbeams. You can suspend row covers from it easily it seems. I would like to try something to cover my beds for extended use in the fall and early spring, but I am afraid the wind would destroy anything but the most sturdy. We get some pretty strong wind storms up at the cabin and the floating garden is right out in the middle of everything. How do you handle watering underneath? By hand? Does it stay moist for extended periods when the weather is cool? – Margy