In the ground early, wish me luck

marc-in-pa 3/28/2012, 1:18 pm

Starting year 3 now with SFG. Following a mild winter here in Pittsburgh, my impatience to grow has captured the better of me. I put lettuce and spinach in the ground a week ago. Along with some encouraging words for the seeds, I built the them a floating row cover. First time using one or building one. The frame is from a discarded mattress that is bent over, covered by garden cloth, and attached to the frame with some spring clips.

In the ground early, wish me luck Floati10

In the ground early, wish me luck Floati10

In the ground early, wish me luck Garden10

Also planted 3 test squares (spinach and lettuce also) outside of the floating row cover for kicks.

Lettuce and spinach have broken ground under the cover. No lettuce but spinach is starting to come up in the unprotected squares, but not as robust.

Had a frost on Monday night. Tarped the garden and all is OK.

Curious to see if this really gets a big jump on the growing season for cool weather veggies.

quiltbea 3/28/2012, 1:37 pm

Your cool weather crops should do well. I sowed some the other day and already they are starting to sprout outdoors. We had 20s the last couple of nites but the plastic protection is doing its job.

Your garden in looking good. Welcome to the forum.

marc-in-pa 3/28/2012, 2:51 pm

Thanks Bea. I haven't posted for a while. Nice to be back... I'm sure I look like a newbie because I posted in wrong topic area. Duh.

quiltbea 3/28/2012, 3:33 pm

In that case, welcome BACK!

BackRiver_SFG 3/28/2012, 3:36 pm

marc-in-pa wrote:

What a nice set-up! I am looking to build a fence around my garden as well. My dog now likes cucumbers and takes a peek in my gardens for them. The little rabbits love my garden greens too.

I love your garden. Looks great! good luck with the early planting! I did too.

marc-in-pa 3/28/2012, 3:58 pm

Thanks. From what I can tell from your profile pic, looks like you put thought into your set up as well! Very nice. Love that angled cold frame.

Good luck with the fencing. For us, it was either enclose the garden or put out a deer and rabbits eat free sign. We back up on woods and they would be more than happy to liberate anything that comes out of the ground.

BackRiver_SFG 3/28/2012, 6:12 pm

My cold frame helped me out too the other night. Very high winds and the temperature got into the upper 20s. I ran a heating pad out to the cold frame too. Not sure if it helped or not, but this picture is from this morning. Have a great season!

In the ground early, wish me luck File-23

In the ground early, wish me luck File-23

**RoOsTeR** 3/29/2012, 7:53 am

Looks great Backriver In the ground early, wish me luck 3170584802

I have been fighting putting anything out yet as our weather usually isn't this warm (especially overnight) this time of year.

**RoOsTeR** 3/29/2012, 7:55 am

marc-in-pa wrote:Starting year 3 now with SFG. Following a mild winter here in Pittsburgh, my impatience to grow has captured the better of me. I put lettuce and spinach in the ground a week ago. Along with some encouraging words for the seeds, I built the them a floating row cover. First time using one or building one. The frame is from a discarded mattress that is bent over, covered by garden cloth, and attached to the frame with some spring clips.

Also planted 3 test squares (spinach and lettuce also) outside of the floating row cover for kicks.

Lettuce and spinach have broken ground under the cover. No lettuce but spinach is starting to come up in the unprotected squares, but not as robust.

Had a frost on Monday night. Tarped the garden and all is OK.

Curious to see if this really gets a big jump on the growing season for cool weather veggies.

Really nice looking set-up marc Very Happy

marc-in-pa 3/29/2012, 9:57 am

Really nice looking set-up marc

Thanks Rooster! I modified the fence last year to put gates that swing out from the sides. I thought being over 6 feet tall that I would be able to easily reach into the outer squares, they are 3 deep, from the center aisle. WRONG. There is wisdom in Mel's design in only having to reach in 2 squares from any given location. Putting in the side gates solved the problem.

In the ground early, wish me luck Gate10

In the ground early, wish me luck Gate10

The boxes are 3 feet by 9 feet each, arrived at by cutting down 12 feet boards. Building the fence into the boxes was more economical and space saving than enclosing the area. Sometimes I have deer nibbling at the fence but at best they get a few snap peas here and there.

It's been a great and tasty hobby this SFG thing!

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In the ground early, wish me luck

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" Deer and rabbits eat for free! "

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