Row Cover Problems

I've done a good job of staying out of the garden this week so far. Tuesday I was out gleaning. Wednesday I did get the dog walked before it was hot, but after harvesting some veggies I was chased inside. We got into the 90s and I'm such a heat wimp. Today I went into the garden before walking the dog which meant I got some work done, but oh the walk was so drippy. It wasn't that hot mind you, but the relative humidity was about 80%. Blech! So I'm once again inside in air conditioning. Not to lower the temperature, but to lower the humidity. I didn't do everything I needed to get done this morning. I still need to do some serious weeding in spots. But that will wait until tomorrow.

What I did get done today was deal with all my row cover issues. I put a row cover on my onions earlier this year to protect them from the onion maggots. And my how they have grown. I think they are the healthiest they have ever been. But as you can see the tops are straining the row cover. The tops have long since pushed past the row cover hoops.

They were strong enough to pull the row cover up from the soil. Which means the onions maggots will have a chance to get in again. They have three generations here in the northeast. The first wave came out in May. But the second wave should peak in a couple of weeks (1960 GDD base 40F). So there are probably a few out now. I had to get that edge tacked down. So I took another row cover that I'd used earlier in the spring and cut it in two lengthwise. Then I hand sewed it to this one. Now it is wide enough to stay down when the onions push up. If I'd known I needed such a wide piece I would have done it on the sewing machine earlier in the year. But I didn't want to take it totally off and risk an influx of flies.

The onions are just starting to bulb up now. In a couple of weeks I expect I can start eating some of them. I really want them big enough to be worth picking. I have plenty of bunching onions that I'm not eating so I don't need them for green onions. But I want those bulbs.

My second row cover issue was the zucchini and the cucumbers. According to the GDD the borers ought to be out now. But the cucumbers are just starting to run (well the earlier planted ones at any rate). So they need to be uncovered. Not good timing on my part.

So I moved my row cover back to let the cucumbers out. And I made sure that all edges of the row cover are fully tacked down. The zucchini aren't blooming yet, but I expect them to start soon. I'll either have to ignore them for a few weeks, or I'll have to try to lift up the row cover in the early morning and try to hand pollinate every couple of days. I really hate the squash vine borer.

The oldest three cucumbers (the rest I had to reseed) were starting to get very long and climb the inside of the row cover before I moved it. So they needed their trellis up. I swear I had more 6' tall T-posts. But I can't find them anywhere. I had to remove the 4' ones from my plum tree and use those instead. I tied some bamboo to them so they would be tall enough. I don't have all the lines up, but I'll add them as the cukes get bigger and need more height.