Squirrels and Frost go hand in hand

Our favorite pest, i.e. those dratted squirrels, are becoming more active. They hadn't done much digging in the garden up in September. But now that it is October, I have noticed quite a few holes in the middle of beautiful patches of brand new seedlings.

Squirrel Deterrent......sort of

I've been watching the squirrels sauntering through the garden, looking for the perfect place to carefully dig a hole and place the treasured nut they were holding in their mouth.  Even though it is a nuisance to move the netting every time I work in my bed, I'm glad I went ahead did it preventatively.  At least this way I don't come to the garden and get instantly aggravated at what was destroyed nor do I have to keep replanting!

The chilly temperatures Sunday morning jump started my thought processes - when is the 1st frost. Or the question really should be, when is the 1st frost usually (but not always).

The answer - October 31st. Though it can be sooner than the 31st and as late as Nov 15th. A light frost doesn't cause as much damage as a hard freeze. This year I'm probably going to just let nature take its course but I will fight the good fight for awhile with the lettuce since I just got it going.

If you plan to use a frost cover now is the time to think about it, acquire your supplies and construct your frame.  And while you are at it, do a trial run to see if you have everything you need to anchor the cover! There is nothing worse than putting it together and then getting a call or email that your frost cover has come untethered and is flapping in the wind or the whole thing has collapsed.

If you are interested in protecting your bed from the dratted squirrels or your plants from frost and freezes, here are links to posts I've done in the past.

http://greenmeadowscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/2012/11/simplest-frost-blanketrow-cover-to-use.html

http://greenmeadowscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/2012/12/bed-41-vickis-frost-cover-method.html

http://greenmeadowscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/2012/11/denises-frost-cover-tall-sturdy-any.html

Good luck in the squirrel wars!

Vicki
Bed 41 

Bed 41 (Vicki's Frost Cover Method)

My frost row cover structure is a cross between the easiest one (just lay it on the ground and anchor it) and Denise's where you build a very sturdy structure.  I searched on the web until I found what I wanted so I could show Vic since he was going to be the builder. Vic added the fence staple to the idea and this improvement made it work perfectly.  Not a single piece flapped in the 20-30 mph winds of Sandy during the 4 days she blew.

MATERIALS NEEDED (and can be found locally):
Galvanised wire and Fence Staples found at the Lowe's on Dallas Hwy near Publix on Aisle 16 - General Hardware
Frost Blanket found at Pikes with landscape fabric and landscaping cloth

9 gauge galvanised wire
Aisle 16, in Section 13: Hangers, Hooks & Wire. Maybe a third of the way up from the floor.
On the package it is called Multipurpose Wire, Single Strand, Item #52685  -  50 feet for $9.88. It will make 5 hoops (5 pieces of wire) - I only made 4 but had enough for a 5th hoop.

Fence Staples
Aisle 16, in Section 23: Construction Nails 
Item # 69233 Fence Staples   1 lb of 1 1/2 " galvanised fence staples is $3.46. Used 8 fence staples for entire project, one on each side of the bed for each hoop to sit in (only made 4 hoops so only needed the 8 staples.)

Frost Blanket
I used a frost blanket that comes in a roll  6 ft by 50 foot and is good for a light frost. This means this particular frost blanket/cloth provides 2 - 4 degrees of extra protection. You can find it at Pike's for $11.99. Or you can also order the light weight cover from Row Cover - Pine Tree Seeds for 33 cents a foot plus shipping. Or you can order a heavy duty frost blanket from Gardener's Supply Garden Quilt - 6' x 20'

The first thing we did was decide how far apart to make the hoops in the bed. They are spaced about 2 feet apart. The one thing you have to be watch out for is your placement of fence staples -  put in the bed away from the corner posts. Vic put in fence staples one on each side of the bed for each wire hoop (2 staples for each hoop).

 

Wire hoop put through the fence staple and pushed as far into the ground as it will go

Because my frost cloth was only 6 feet wide I placed my hoops inside the bed so it would be easier to cover and securely anchor the cloth to the ground. I also chose to have only 4 hoops this fall as that was all I needed. If I were to cover the whole bed I would use 5 hoops.

Notice the first hoop is to the right of the square post inside the bed!

To make the hoops be 16-18" tall in the center, cut the wire about 91 inches long (7 ' 7")
   If you make the hoops too tall in the middle, your 6 ft wide cloth will be too narrow and you won't be able to anchor it.

Push one end of the wire through a fence staple until it hits the ground. Then bend the wire hoop over to go through the 2nd fence staple on the opposite side of the bed and push it through until it hits the ground.

My frost cloth is 122" long (10 feet 2 inches) which covers the 6 feet of bed very nicely length wise with enough on each end to anchor it down firmly.  I also have enough cover on each side to pin down securely with rocks or landscape pins.

Originally I used landscape pins but now, I just use clothes pins (5-6 per wire hoop) and rocks. Everything has stayed in place very nicely. If you do use landscape pins, put twisties or something colorful on them that sticks up so you can find them which will make it easier when you want to pull them out.

 

My philosophy is many clothes pins is better than one!

Lessons Learned:

Next year, don't plant to the edge of the bed. I need to leave a 2 or 3 inch unplanted border on the inside of the bed so I can use rocks/pins to anchor my cloth without worrying about smashing the plants.

12 inch by 12 inch piece of lattice work

 

Think about how tall various plants will be so that plants that need more height get put towards the center of the hoop. I also will use something like this piece of lattice work to make the sides of the frost cover go up straighter for the first 12 inches. But don't use anything rough that would rub a hole in the frost blanket when the wind whips it around!

 

Netting over hoops defeating the squirrels

The wire hoops are an excellent support frame for putting bird netting over the bed and keeping the dratted squirrels out while they are in a frenzy burying nuts. As you can see in the picture below, you can just put the frost blanket on top of the netting when you need to.

 

When you need extra warmth inside, use hot water in milk jugs and strategically place them.

 

I found that water did not go through my frost cloth to my satisfaction. Luckily it was very easy to just unpin the end of the frost cloth (see picture to the left) and stick my water wand inside to water.    

As well, I have two methods of venting when the temperature goes above 50 degrees. If you leave your frost cover on too long when the temperatures are above 50 degrees, you create the perfect environment for disease to grow. You need air circulation to keep diseases from running rampant.


IMPORTANT:  depending on the frost cloth you use, only 85-60% of available light is getting through to your plants.Plants need light to grow and thrive.
Frost cover vented at both ends but
left over the frame.

 I just gathered the frost blanket into a rope that created ponytails at each end.

The clothes pins gave the ends enough weight they didn't fly in the breeze.

This method lets all available light in yet the cloth is still easy

to let down as needed.

 

 Updated October 22, 2013

 

Frost/Cold Report from the Garden 11-25

Last night was a good test of our cold weather defense mechanisms. Mike says the hoses were frozen when he got there first thing this morning! He also said there was a very thick layer of frost on everything. I know at 11:30 there was still a big chunk of frozen ice in the birdbath by the fence.

Seven frost structures of varying complexity were seen at 11:30 am

Denise's Super Structure with the truly cold defeating blanket kept her peas mostly untouched. Dalita's pea pods and flowers didn't make it through the cold even though they were wrapped in a light weight frost blanket. Over the next few days we'll see if the plants survived.

Since I didn't have the super good frost blanket I put jugs of hot water in my bed to give off a bit of warmth and provide a little more protection. I had five 1 gallon jugs spaced inside my structure which created lots of interesting micro climates. This morning the lettuce next to the jugs looked good however the lettuce next to the frost cloth looked rather wilted.  We'll see how it all works out over the next week.

 

Notice the new lettuce leaves to the right of the jug - they look very perky

 

 

 

I was in the process of opening both ends of my structure to let the air go through for ventilation.

 Definitely I made sure I left the bird netting in place to keep the squirrels out!

 

 

                                                                 Vicki

Denise's Frost Cover Structure

Denise and Rick (Bed 29 & 25) have a great frost cover system. Their system is tall enough that large plants such as cabbage, broccoli and other cold weather crops can be covered easily. The sides of the structure go straight up as well.  Rick created a PVC bar to put over the tops of the poles that are hold up the trellis for the peas. (This is important because you don't want anything rough or pointy sharp that can rub a hole in your frost cover!!)

The frost blanket Denise is using came from Gardener's Supply -  The Garden Quilt  It is an excellent size for using on large plants as it is 20 ft x 20 ft and is good down to 24 degrees. This size blanket easily goes over the trellis for her snow peas with room to spare. Territorial Supply also has really heavy duty Frost Blankets/Row Covers - Territorial Seed Frost Blanket  Whichever you buy, just be aware that a 6 foot wide blanket will NOT be wide enough to cover your ribs length wise (end to end.) You will have to piece it together if you use 6 foot wide cloth which is very tedious and not as secure.

Denise's Most Excellent Row Cover Structure with Blanket for Bed 29

 

This picture shows the ribs of the structure for Bed 29

Materials Needed to make the ribs
The ribs in Bed 29 are taller and used these materials to make one rib.
    (The height from the ground to the top of the hoop ranges from 36" to 42" tall)
10 ft section of 3/4" SharkBite PEX tubing (plumbing supply section  $4.98 @ Lowe's & Home Depot)
1/2" inch standard rebar (2 ft section - $1.97 @ Lowe's, $1.60 at Home Depot)
   (the plumbing tube needs to fit easily over the rebar you choose)
Rick cut off 1 to 1 1/2 feet of tubing to form ribs of the desired height to fit the frost blanket Denise wanted to use. However, you can use all of the tubing if you want.

The ribs in Bed 25 are shorter and a different size tubing was needed to get it to bend properly for a short rib.
   (The height from the ground to the top of the hoop is 27" in this bed but you could make your ribs taller)
10 ft section of 1/2" SharkBite PEX tubing (plumbing supply section  $1.60 @ Lowe's, $2.85@ Home Depot)
3/8" all- threaded rod (2 ft sections $1.97 @ Home Depot)
  (the plumbing tube needs to fit easily over the threaded rod/rebar you are using)
Rick cut off a 2 foot section of tubing to form these ribs. You can use all of it if you want.

 

Rebar with tubing sliding down onto it

 

Pound the rebar into the ground so that approximately 6 inches is above ground. Do this to both sides of the bed. Stick the end of your tubing rib over the rebar and push the tubing all the way into the ground  (approximately 11" to 12" depending on the hardness of the ground/depth of soil in your bed.) Then put the other end of the tubing on the 2nd piece of rebar. One rib is now constructed.

 

PVC  structure

This is the "structure" that Rick created out of PVC pipe and fittings to hook over the stakes holding the trellis in place. Notice the ROUNDED corners that prevents wear and tear on the frost blanket!!

The last piece(s) you need are clamps/clips to hold the frost blanket attached to the ribs of tubing. You can order the  Territorial Garden Clip System  from Territorial Supply but they are rather pricey.

 

If you enlarge the picture you can really see the white clip that Denise is using that she got from Territorial Supply. As well, notice the clamps with red handles that were used to secure the excess fabric to keep it from flopping in the wind. The rocks she used are wrapped over and over in the bottom of the fabric.

Or you can make your own. Per Rick's instructions buy a 1 foot long piece of 3/4" white hose. Cut the white hose into 1" pieces. Cut one side of the hose piece. Make a 2nd cut and remove a small slice of the hose to form a C shape (but more closed than a capital C).  This forms your clip that you will use to clamp your frost blanket to the ribs. You want a small piece to be removed so you can easily clip it on the tubing rib but not so much that it doesn't tightly hold. Create one and test it out before you make all of the clips.

You need to make sure ALL pieces of your blanket are clipped down, clamped down, etc. Use rocks to anchor the bottom to keep the cold air out and to keep the wind from ballooning your structure. You may need heavy clamps to hold some of the extra fabric together on the sides.

(This post was updated Nov 26, 2012 with Denise's comments/corrections and a picture of the clamps & clips.)

Different Kinds of Frost Covers

The garden is looking kind of interesting these days! I took this picture Saturday morning to show all the kinds of frost covers that are popping up. Sunday morning I'll take another picture that will hopefully show more frost covers as two more popped up just before dark.

 

Dalita, Katrina and Denise used different methods of covering.

 

Friday I did a post about how to create a frost cover using the method that Dalita and Katrina used. The next post will have the method that Denise (Bed 29)  used which is tall enough to cover large plants. The final post will be on the method Vicki (Bed 41) uses which is good for lower growing plants.

Simplest Frost Blanket/Row Cover to use

Wednesday, Pikes on Barrett Parkway still had some Frost Cover/Frost Blanket/Row Cover available. It is stocked where they keep the bird netting and landscape fabric. The frost blanket they carry only provides 2-4 degrees of protection. For a hard freeze like Sunday morning you would have to put 2 or 3 layers across to achieve the amount of protection needed. A roll costs $9.95 and is 6 feet wide and 50 feet long.

The simplest way to use a frost blanket/row cover is to just wrap it around a plant like I'm doing here. It does help if you have someone to help when it is windy!



Dalita's peas being covered while a breeze is blowing

In the case of Dalita's peas, the vines are tender and the weight of the clothes pins drags the cloth down and somewhat compresses the vines. They recover quickly once you take the wrap off but if you need to leave it on for multiple days it could be a problem.

Rocks were used to anchor the cloth to the ground

Clothes pins anchor the loose end to the rest of the blanket

 The other easy way to use a row cover (no construction necessary) is to spread it over a bed like I've don on Bed 37 (Master Gardener Bed.) However there are drawbacks to just laying it on top. 

In the case of the MG bed, the Frost Blanket isn't really wide enough to cover all the mature broccoli and collard plants in the entire bed. The blanket is only 6 feet wide and there are tall plants throughout the entire bed. This means the frost blanket will have to be cut in two and anchored down, folded over, pinned together, etc to make a seam. It can be done but it is harder.

You can use a sheet but sheets are heavier and compress the plants more. Also, if there is wind it will flap and beat the plants up more than a special light weight row cover/frost blanket will.

Use rocks, landscape pins, etc to anchor the row cover down on all sides and ends.

Notice how the back side is not really covered! This is a staged picture.

Frost Tolerance of Vegetables

Hi Everyone,

What an amazing idea to use a blog to communicate among the gardeners!  Kudos to those who have put this together for us.  

I thought it might be nice to post something regarding the frost tolerance of vegetables since the cool weather to come is inevitable.  I found this link on the website of Botanical Interests and it has some excellent guidelines of what your vegetables can withstand.  Please remember that these are only guidelines though, and if in doubt, you may want to cover.   http://www.botanicalinterests.com/articles/view/26/Frost-Tolerance-of-Vegetables  

And on a related note........

One of the most important things I have learned over the years is to realize that not all frost blankets are created equal.  Let's just say I learned that lesson the hard way! Wind chill is a factor.  It is wise to look for those that have a temperature rating listed on them.  As an example, protects plants down to 24 degrees or provides 4 to 6 degrees of frost protection.  This provides you with an idea of whether one blanket is enough or do you need an extra layer.  The blankets do work incredibly well and if diligent in your covering, many vegetables will continue to produce all winter.

Low or high tunnels are extremely easy to construct and if you look at Vicki's (Bed 41) or mine (Bed 29) it should get some ideas flowing.  I can't wait to see what we all come up with!  

Has anyone found some good pricing on frost blankets?  Pikes did have them on sale two weeks ago for $6.99.