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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Should We Keep Politics Out Of Gardening?

I'm not so much asking a question as telling one of my solutions. My garden is along an East facing concrete block wall and though shaded in the afternoon there is still considerable heat coming off it during the summer.  

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Two years ago I stopped someone picking up election signs and asked if I could have some.  They said yes and I got enough to do most of my garden.  Through procrastination and adult life I didn't manage to get them onto the wall until late June.  My tomatoes were growing OK but they were leaning away from the wall and you could really feel the heat when close to the wall.  I mounted the signs on the wall to kinda insulate it from the sun in the hopes of reducing that reflected heat. 

It worked really well as within two weeks the difference was noticeable.  The plants had started growing more upright and appeared to take on a new life.  This year I got some more and expanded the coverage to the entire garden.  Took less than two hours and I'm hoping it helps to grow a bumper crop of tomatoes.

Pictures attached hopefully.  You can use all of this if desired but please, no name or e-mail address.  Thanks.

Now if I could just figure out what's wrong with my peach tree I'd be set.

1 comment:

  1. I just hosed off then painted the block wall white.

    I had to do it in two installments about a week apart. West facing on my side. My neighbor was amazed at the temperature difference between the painted versus unpainted half of the wall between weeks. The vegetation on his side responded favorably as well.

    People were concerned that there would be too much reflected light burning adjacent trees. Instead the solar intensity seemed to promote greater growth (or the cooler area with less radiant heat coming from the wall or both). Once you get enough growth next to the wall (grapes) it is no longer much of an issue.

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