Ezzirah

The past 2 years I planted much like the OK Fact Sheet states. I would make a tench with a "V" shaped hoe, lay in potting soil, drop in seed and cover with a thin layer of potting soil (for small seed) and then water with a 2 gal. watering can 2 times a day. The same method works well with my garden soil but it crusts over pretty badly. I think this year a screen may be needed to keep the insects from the seedlings. The grasshoppers are so bad here that I plan to start my seeds in newspaper tubes in an aluminum pan and keep covered with as old aluminum window screen. I think Dawn is using row cover or frost blanket, which I think would be better, but I dont have any.

Larry

Ezzirah,

Well, I'd say there are a couple of ways to approach it.

You can skip planting anything that needs to be planted now, and wait and plant real cool-season greens like lettuce, spinach, collard greens, mustard greens, etc. in September when it is cooler.

Or, you can go for it and plant now, on time as much as possible, and hope for the best.

I like the way Larry plants, and I go farther and water the ground thoroughly with a soaker hose the day before I want to plant. Then, I make the little trench and plant.

If your soil crusts over like Larry's soil and like mine, one way to get around that is to plant your seeds but then cover them with a layer of fine compost or fine potting soil like Miracle Grow instead of the clay-based garden soil. However, you'll have to screen the potting soil first to remove big chunkcs of bark and sticks that would sit on top of seeds and keep them from emerging.

If you have a high level of pests there in your yard, and this is especially true if you have grasshoppers or other leaf eaters like blister beetles, you likely will need to put floating row cover over your seeded area (or your transplants if you use them instead of direct seeding) to keep the bugs from eating the plants the very moment they emerge from the soil.

Larry and Ezzirah, I have a huge roll of floating row cover in my garage and it is more than I'll ever use. If you'll e-mail me your snail mail address via the GW "my page" link, it would be my pleasure to send you some of it so you can try it out and see how it works for you. It not only keeps pests off the plants but also will protect them from some frost, which extends your gardening season. Remember that in the fall we often have a first frost or hard freeze that then is followed for 4 to 8 weeks of milder weather, so if you can protect your plants that first cold night, your garden often will produce for a long time after that. It's been so long since I bought this row that I am not sure what it was labeled for, but I think it was labeled to give 4-6 degrees of cold protection, and it definitely does that. I have put down a double layer before and had it protect plants down into about the low 20s, which is more protection than I expected from it.

Using floating row cover has changed my gardening life. It allows me to get the garden going earlier in winter and early spring and keep it going later in fall and even into winter. I use it more and more every year.

Ezzi, Gardening is full of risks. I'm just grateful that my garden isn't our sole source of food, or some years we'd look like we were on a starvation diet. I tend to always try to plant something even in a drought year and even if it is only in containers or if I plant it late or if I plant it with protection. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

If, by chance, your area's water utility implements water restrictions as some areas in the state already have, that might be a problem.

I lay down drip irrigation (T-tape) after I plant and that puts the water right on the ground in the root zone of the plants. Without that irrigation, I don't know what I'd do. Overhead sprinkler irrigation wastes a lot of water because much of the water evaporates in the air before reaching the ground. Putting water on foliage in these high temps also encourages disease.

It is hard to get fall garden plants started in July and August without some method of covering the plants because those fresh green plants are so tempting to hungry insects and even birds.

Good luck,

Dawn

Dawn, thank you very much. I just got in from cutting 3 furrows in my north garden to plant some seeds I have on hand. I had to take a picture of my soil because it is hard for me to believe, I am in an extreme drought area, the burn ban is still on, I recieved 7" of rain in July, my soil has a thin green mold on it and just now getting dry enough to plant. This is the first time this has ever happened to me, I seem to live on a green island that was in a brown sea a month ago, and I dont have to go very far in any direction to get off my green island.

Larry

Larry:

I hope you'll take Dawn up on her offer. Once you start using floating row cover, you'll never stop. As Dawn said, It helps with so many different issues, from insects and disease, to protection from sun or cold.

In September, I broadcast a packet of mesclun seeds in a 4' x 8' raised bed, and cover the bed with row cover. The lettuce bed produces salads from Oct to May. The seed costs about $1. Fresh lettuce costs $3-$5 per 8 oz box from the grocery store. I haven't done the math, but using row cover on the lettuce bed allows us to eat fresh salads for more than 6 months, at a cost of about 01./day.

I use row cover to protect young seedlings from bugs, heat, wind, disease.

Seems like we are having similar weather. We've been in moderate drought for over 2 years, had nearly 8" of rain in July, highly unusual. Some counties are reporting late blight on tomatoes. I talked to our county Extension agent, he recommended a scouting program & spraying tomatoes every 7-10 days and after rain.

The unusual rainfall led me to wonder if we are moving into an El Nino pattern. Time will tell.

Larry:

I hope you'll take Dawn up on her offer. Once you start using floating row cover, you'll never stop. As Dawn said, It helps with so many different issues, from insects and disease, to protection from sun or cold.

In September, I broadcast a packet of mesclun seeds in a 4' x 8' raised bed, and cover the bed with row cover. The lettuce bed produces salads from Oct to May. The seed costs about $1. Fresh lettuce costs $3-$5 per 8 oz box from the grocery store. I haven't done the math, but using row cover on the lettuce bed allows us to eat fresh salads for more than 6 months, at a cost of about 01./day.

I use row cover to protect young seedlings from bugs, heat, wind, disease.

Seems like we are having similar weather. We've been in moderate drought for over 2 years, had nearly 8" of rain in July, highly unusual. Some counties are reporting late blight on tomatoes. I talked to our county Extension agent, he recommended a scouting program & spraying tomatoes every 7-10 days and after rain.

The unusual rainfall led me to wonder if we are moving into an El Nino pattern. Time will tell.

Larry, You're welcome, and I hope you've emailed me to take me up on my offer to send you some row cover.

The original roll I bought was huge. I probably cut off half of it and used it. Ever since then, and it's been a few years now, I just keep reusing those pieces over and over so the other half of that roll just sits there gathering dust. I'd like to see some of it be put to good use in your garden.

Hi Pam,

Congrats on your amazing rainfall! That is so wonderful in most ways.

I am so sorry to hear late blight is hitting plants in your county. To me, that's about the worst news anyone could get about their garden. I hope you can keep it off of/away from your plants.

Regarding El Nino--I haven't gone to any of the weather websites for an update lately, but after we went back neutral this spring, I later heard that they were expecting an El Nino to begin developing in late summer. I hope that one is, and I hope it is a really strong one. Every time I look at my dry parched garden, which is obviously every day, I think to myself "where's a good El Nino when you need one?" If one develops between late summer and the beginning of winter, I'll really start looking forward to next year's gardening season.

Dawn

Jeez, I hate double-posting! Sorry.

Dawn, I checked the climate sites this morning, they were updated today. Although we are still officially "El Nino neutral," the surface sea temps continue to increase so they say "Chances increase for El Nino beginning in July- September 2012."

I guess it's too early to know for sure, but it's getting more likely.

Here is a link that might be useful: ENSO Cycle: Evolution, Current Status & Predictions

Pam, You and I were thinking alike. I was wondering what the powers that be were saying about the developing El Nino. Interestingly, (likely because drought is important to professional fire and emergency management personnel too), when I went to read the Southern Area's morning fire situation report, they mentioned El Nino too.

Here's what they said:

"Extended Seasonal Weather Outlook and Fire Risk Assessment (Updated July 19): A strengthening El Nino pattern
continues to emerge across the Tropical Pacific, with the warmer than average water moving west from South America into central Pacific Ocean. There are indications that this El Nino will eventually mature into a weak to moderate episode. For the Southern Area, this will mean a dramatic increase in rain events as compared to last year, especially during the late fall and winter....."

and then I deleted much of the next few lines that dealt more with today's fire risk across the south, and then they also said this about the expected El Nino:

"The El Nino episode that is currently developing will likely become a more significant player during October, November, and December. This episode is expected to be short lived with the drier La Nina condition expected to return by late in 2013."

It bothers me that are expecting only a weak to moderate, but a weak or moderate one would be less damaging than a severe one.

Since the new ENSO outlook is out (thanks for linking it), the southern area likely will update their discussion of El Nino in the next few days. Their August update at the first of the month may reflect the latest data.

Dawn

Dawn, Thanks for the fire report from the SACC site - lots of good info in one place!

The fact that climate experts can predict temps and precipitation several months out - with fair accuracy - is changing the way we do so many things. The experts aren't always dead-on accurate, but they are good and getting better.

The rain stopped so I have a window of opportunity to weed, seed, plant and mulch - and it's only 80 degrees!!

Dawn, Thanks for the fire report from the SACC site - lots of good info in one place!

The fact that climate experts can predict temps and precipitation several months out - with fair accuracy - is changing the way we do so many things. The experts aren't always dead-on accurate, but they are good and getting better.

The rain stopped so I have a window of opportunity to weed, seed, plant and mulch - and it's only 80 degrees!!

I have used row cover in a limited way for a number of years but had never bought a large quantity until this year. I had used it to cover young plants in the Spring when we had an unexpected cool spell. I covered things early, then before I went to bed I filled 2 liter bottles with hot water and placed them under the row cover. Potato plants that were not covered got nipped and the covered crops didn't, so I feel like they worked.

I grew some eggplant under row cover one year as an insect protection and it was OK except something saw it blowing in the wind and decided to jump through it and made several big holes. I think it was cats.

Last year was the true test though. I didn't have much row cover left last year and didn't get new until March. When the cold temps threatened in the Fall last year I had some very large hot pepper plants that were covered with peppers but not yet mature. I sort of made a fence around the area with tomato cages and wrapped the entire thing with row cover. I pinned it to the cages, and in several cases had to pinch up areas to cover up holes. Then I threw a piece of greenhouse film over the top. It didn't reach down the sides, and the sides had only row cover. I laughed at how bad it looked and it was just before Halloween. The peppers stayed pretty and green until after Thanksgiving with just that little bit of cover.

This year I had plenty of row cover so we made hoops and covered the hoops with row cover. I grew summer squash and broccoli under cover to keep it insect free until the squash started to bloom and needed pollinators. The squash was touching the row cover by the time I removed it.

The one that I bought this year is not the most lightweight one, but is the second thickness sold. I think it is supposed to let through 85 percent of the light. That seems to be enough in my garden. When I planted winter squash, I put the row cover over the bed and left it totally covered until they bloomed. This was the second crop in this bed and by then the sun was so strong and the temp so high, that I just pulled up the side of the row cover so pollinators could go in, but left the top to aid in protection from the sun. I put up some long legs and covered my peppers that were burning up from the sun.

The original intent of row cover was to lay on top of the plants (float), but that is my least favorite way to use it. I like it suspended above the plants and not touching them at all. In the Eliot Coleman books he uses it inside high tunnels, but suspends it above the plants on wickets made of wire.

Since I find it increasingly difficult to garden in the summer, I plan to experiment more with cool weather growing this year. The problem is that it stays too hot in Summer to get Fall crops in the ground in time to produce, so I am hoping that I can move the planting dates to a later date, then extend the growing season with a little protection from the first cold weather. I know I can do this with lettuce, Chinese cabbage, and spinach which I have grown in containers, but I hope to plant in the ground this year, or at least raised beds, and try a few new things.

So what I am saying is that although row cover isn't cheap, I find it very useful for many different purposes. In Oklahoma, some years are wet, some are dry. Some of the time Spring is warm, then turns cold again. In Fall, we almost always have cold weather for a few days, then Fall weather again for weeks. Row cover helps to bridge the gap when the weather changes quickly. It's not like having a greenhouse, but it offers a few degrees of protection from the cold and apparently cuts enough of the suns rays during the hotter weather to help the plants survive.

If you garden on a limited budget and have a garden only to try and supplement the food budget, then it may be too expensive to experiment with. I have been able to use mine for more than one year, but that is not a sure thing because it is very thin.

It is 107 here right now with no relief in sight. While I was missing winter pretty bad my husband read an article to me that said to expect winter to be wetter and colder than usual with ice storms and power outages. It sure is hard to think about checking generators for winter when the temp is 107. May the COOL be with you.

Pam, Eighty degrees? How wonderful that must be! It is 109 right here right now.

Don't get me started on temperature forecasts. Ever since last year, they can't get ours forecast within 3-5 degrees. Yesterday our forecast was for 100. We hit 109. I know that some of the forecast models do not forecast temperatures with wonderful accuracy...but nine degrees difference? Ridiculous! I am just tired, tired, tired of it. So, I look at my NWS forecast in the morning and automatically add 5 degrees to it, and that's usually pretty close to what we actually have.

Carol, Letting it float isn't my favorite way either. When I have draped it over tall tomato cages when expecting a late cold night, it still floats just enough that my garden appears to be inhabited by ghosts.

I think the way I will have to work around the cats' desire to sit on hoops covered with row cover may involve putting woven wire fencing over the hoops and the floating row cover over the woven wire fencing. That's the only thing I can think of that might keep the cats from jumping up on the row cover and then falling through it and destroying it and the plants underneath it.

Today I caught a cat trying to sleep on top of the floating (and it actually is floating, not on a hoop) row cover over a flat of seedlings. I only had to yell at him once to get off of it, but the seedlings beneath him were squashed.

With El Nino returning we can feel pretty confident we'll have some cooler weather and some moisture, and I am feeling pretty happy about that.

It was too hot on the highway today and lots of people were having car trouble. Tim and I took out a fire truck and went and rescued stranded motorists and took them to town to get them into an air conditioned building. Every day is more hot and more miserable than the one before. When I first got into the fire engine, I didn't feel like the air conditioner in it was working, but then after I was out in the hot air on the side of the highway, I decided the AC in the engine was working just fine!

Dawn

One day a couple of weeks ago my husband and son met half way between his work and our house so neither of them had to make the long drive. When our son started to leave that location, his truck wouldn't start. They got him started and he went home. Next day he learned that his battery was shot and the folks at the parts house said it happens frequently when the weather gets this hot.

Dawn, Thank again for your kindness!

I have never used a row cover, but I can certainly see the benefits. It seems since I moved everything into raised beds it is harder to keep them as well watered as in the ground. Definitely a new way to garden, but a lot of it survives for some reason! LOL. What little tomatoes did make it though the stealing did ok, but I couldn't keep up with the heat and that got 'em. *sigh* I hate this heat, it is crazy!