Spring Preparations

As I said in my last post, the weather is beginning to affect planting schedules in a serious way. In the region where I live, we are experiencing a very wet and cool Spring. We had a pretty nice March but April has been decidedly different. And that has forced me to take steps that I would never have considered before.
Once again, I took an inventory of what I had stored away and made a plan that would allow me to continue with the necessary plantings that I needed to get accomplished. After all, plants have a window of seasonality where they will grow proficiently. Outside of that, your crops will not perform as they are "wired".
On a side note, my brother called me this past yesterday and we ended up talking about our gardens and the dreadful weather. He related that last Tuesday his area had a hard freeze with a temp of 27. Most of his plants were dead Wednesday morning. He said that he was so frustrated this year with the weather, but questioned what could he do. I could feel and relate to his frustration.
So, with that in mind, I began my quest to adapt to the weather we are getting. I consider it a challenge to say the least. I gathered up my various structures and other implements to decide how I was going to place them in my garden.
I had beans and lettuce already planted in one bed so I had to get those covered. After measuring, I decided to put a Flowerhouse portable mini greenhouse over the beans. It is 5 ft. wide and 9 ft. long. I generally use it to harden off my seedlings but it fit the bill for protection. So I placed it and thankfully, it covered the already seeded area perfectly. After that was completed, I still needed to cover the lettuce seeds. For that, I used a solar logic mini hothouse which I have used to grow carrots in the winter before I had my greenhouse. After measuring that, it fit right between the Flowerhouse unit and my greenhouse. So, that took care of my planted bed as shown in this photo.

Next, I wanted to seed in two rows of lettuce and spinach in the next bed. And, given the forecast called for rains through next Tuesday, it had to be protected or the seeds would otherwise rot in the ground. Too much water is a very bad thing. The only thing worse is a hard freeze or appreciable snow.
After thinking it through, I decided to employ the adjustable fleece tunnel to plant the spinach. Then, I gathered up 4 of the rectangular cloches and my 3 bell cloches. I will use the cloches for my Bibb lettuce planting. I then lined up the tunnel along the one side of the bed and set up the cloches on the other side. I seeded them in Wednesday and watered them down for the next couple of days. Hopefully, these steps will keep the ground dry enough to allow the seeds to grow. Here is a picture of the setup.

When I finished with these set ups, I turned my attentions to my third bed which will be where I will be planting my tomatoes. I came up with a plan to slope the bed to channel the water off the bed. I raked the bed to effect a slope left to right in hopes of diverting the water into the adjacent garden path by topping them off with the garden plastic I used previously. I placed a run of walkway bricks on the high side, then laid the plastic over them and put bricks on top of the placed stones. Then I pulled the plastic taught on the other side of the bed and pinned them down with more bricks. This way, the water will drain off the bed. Or at least that is the hope. Here is a snapshot of the bed as it sat Thursday afternoon..
t shall be seen as to whether I am successful or just wasting my time. As I finish this post, it is beginning to pour outside. This will be the pattern for Thursday night through Friday afternoon. I will eventually wander out to see what the verdict is Friday once the downpours stop. The forecasts call for rain on Saturday then alternating days of showers and or rains through Wednesday. So it continues.
Well, that's all I have to say about my weather travails. Until next time, Happy Gardening everyone!