Shading certain plants in the box?

kcunha 5/24/2012, 1:06 pm

With this heat I have some plants that are doing great (tomatoes) and others not so much. How can I shade certain plants and not others in the box?

hruten 5/24/2012, 1:28 pm

In a thread not long ago, Quiltbea said she uses cheesecloth as a floating row cover (or a cover you just lay over the plants. You can get larger amounts at amazon or a fabric store. The amazon.com one's tell you how much light is transmitted through the weave. I thought this might be applicable to you where just a few plants need help and a structure might be overkill. Hope this helps! Smile

quiltbea 5/24/2012, 3:05 pm

I just came inside from covering some spinach squares with cheesecloth.

You can actually just lay it right on the plants themselves, but I like to form a hoop with wire clothes hangers. Then I use clip clothes pins to attach the cheesecloth to the hoops. You can cover 1 square or several this way. If you want more cover, you can double the cheesecloth over. It lets thru enough sunlight for growing and rain, but cuts off enough to make your cool crops last longer in the garden before they bolt.

Shading certain plants in the box? Shadec10

You can get cheesecloth at a fabric store like Jo-Ann's.

**llama momma** 5/24/2012, 3:17 pm

Quiltbea --

Your idea of the wire hanger hoop/clothes pins works great. I'm using it to protect extra baby tomato plants in the non-square foot flower garden and a small ground cherry plant. Have a lot of feathery lightweight burlap thats doing a real nice job with the hoops. Happy plants = happy plant-momma.

quiltbea 5/24/2012, 5:02 pm

@llama.....Glad to hear it. I use the wire hangers and pins for several things.

Shading certain plants in the box? Insect10

Above: Here's lightweight row cover over cabbages after I noticed a few holes from flea beetles. It worked. No more holes and an excellent harvest later. I found 8 hangers for a buck at the local dollar store.

Shading certain plants in the box? 05-15-16

Above: When I put out new tomato seedlings, like these Velvet Reds, I use the hoops to cover the young plants for a few days so they can get acclimated to the sunshine and the wind, even though I've had them out hardening for a week. If there's going to be a frosty nite at the beginning of the season, I hoop over anything I don't want to freeze and pin old towels over them and tuck in around the bottoms. The hoops keep the towels from flattening the new seedlings.

kgooding 5/26/2012, 7:44 pm

I was reading some information on keeping your sugar snaps producing longer in the season. This is my first season gardening, but from what I read as it gets hot they will stop producing. Anyway, I read one suggestion to give them some shade and cover them but I'm not sure how to approach it and if I should bother. My peas have only been producing for about 2 weeks and today was a high of 92 so I'm a little worried!

**walshevak** 5/26/2012, 10:48 pm

extra water is supposed to help too.

Kay

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Shading certain plants in the box?

Shading certain plants in the box?

floating row covers

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What about on the trellis?

Re: Shading certain plants in the box?

Re: Shading certain plants in the box?


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