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dan_staley

Whoa...erm...WOWs

Here is a pic of my season extenders in one place for a class I taught & thought I'd bore share:

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Put the WOWs out today and the sun stuck around for awhile and warmed the water. Under them is one each of 'Stupice', 'Purple Calabash', 'Brandy Boy', and 'Bloody Butcher'. I will container one each of 'Razzle Dazzle' and 'Better Bush'. Sadly most of the fam are not big tomato eaters, so my plants are much reduced in favor of things folks will eat (and not having to look at Self-Watering Containers throughout the yard).

You can also see what happens when you grow garlic: for some reason you miss one or five and next year you get some freebies. That should be 'Siberian' over there, yummy and hardy.

Dan

Comments (5)

  • defrost49
    13 years ago

    Nice examples. I tried WOWs many years ago, thought they were too difficult to fill and they didn't last very long. I passed on a set of them last weekend ... but maybe I should have bought them.
    I bet the brick wall helps a lot, too!
    Would you list 1, 3 and 5, please? TIA

  • Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thank you. I put a 5-gal bucket inside the WOW, then use a funnel. The wall makes the garden work, surely. Only bad thing is the heat in July slows the tomato formation, otherwise there is something growing even in winter.

    o 1. 3/4 black poly pipe hoop, lightweight Agribon held by clips made from 3/4 black poly pipe. Hoops have ends cut at an angle and stuck into ground. Covers 'Tyee' and 'Bordeaux' spinach

    o 2. Soil warming mulch from Johnny's Selected Seeds. For peppers.

    o 3. Frame made from .24" cattle panel, covered with 1.5oz. row cover and held down with twine to keep cover from billowing in wind. Cattle panel was cut such that wire was left protruding to stick in ground. Covers 'Ruby Ring' onions from seed.

    o 4. Walls O' Water (WOW) covering tomatoes set out 4/21/2010, started indoors 3/6/2010. Vars: 'Stupice', 'Brandy Boy', 'Purple Calabash', 'Bloody Butcher'.

    o 5. Same as 1., except poly pipe is 1/2" as are clips. Covers yellow onion 'Gunnison' from seed.

    o 6. Seed germination blanket purchased at Lowes (much cheaper from A.M. Leonard which is where we'll get next batch).

    Dan

  • eaglesgarden
    13 years ago

    Dan,

    Have you considered any type of white wall covering in the heat of summer to reflect some of the light, so the wall doesn't stay as warm?

    Actually that probably wouldn't work too well, since it would just reflect the light back on to the tomato plants! lol

  • curt_grow
    13 years ago

    Dan; have you grown peppers in this area. I would think that the wall would keep night temperatures on the warm side and help keep production high? I have built a rock garden with this thought in mind.My rock garden is free standing and centers around a landscape boulder.
    eagles; I tried potatoes last year in 5gallon buckets in a south spot like Dan's with rock and a white painted house. It was too hot for them. Really to hot for all plants with all day sun and no shade.
    Curt~

  • Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Yes, curt, I have ~10 vars of peppers and we are still eating some from last year. Perhaps the best warm-season crop in that garden. Soil did not freeze last winter despite several nights double-digit below 0ºF.

    Dan

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