Organic Gardens Course #9: Protect your crop from excessive heat and cold and keep it balanced

Find out how to water your vegetable garden saving water and what to do to make it healthier

protect your crops from the cold and heat

When it comes to the care and maintenance of a vegetable garden, the key word is balance. This must happen with regard to the insects that live there (both the beneficial and the harmful - the harmful ones serve as food for the beneficial ones) and also when thinking about protection against intense wind, rain and cold.

The garden is an agroecosystem, an ecosystem modified by man to grow agricultural products. Despite being a little corner of nature in your home, it is modified, as there is the addition of fertilizers, pest and disease control, and practices are applied to help the plants develop.

But what practices influence the agroecosystem?

Two items are related to the agroecosystem: biodiversity and the biotope. Biodiversity is the variety of living beings present there and, by increasing biodiversity, the health of the agroecosystem is improved.

Biodiversity is related to the biotope, which is a determined area with constant conditions where certain sets of living beings live. The biotope is made in a region of the garden that receives the same intensity of sun and water (you must water it) as the rest of the plantation, but you must not move in this area. In other words, nothing is planted, just observe which communities live there, which weeds grow, as the insects and weeds that exist in the biotope will certainly be in the garden too. The biotope should be done in a space that is left over in the garden and there is no ideal size - it can be done in a bed next to where seed cultivation has not worked, for example. It is important because it works as a basis for comparison with the garden's environment, and in the biotope it is possible to verify which insect species are developing in a balanced way and which insects can become a pest.

Garden maintenance

Maintaining a vegetable garden involves several requirements, such as supporting certain plants, watering and protecting crops from excessive cold, wind and heat.

bracing the plants

Some plants need a support to grow, such as tomatoes, peas and passion fruit, and you can make this support simply and easily, still leaving your garden full of charm.

bracing the plants

Necessary materials

  • Bamboo sticks of approximately 2 meters;
  • String.

Procedure

You will have to make holes on the side of the garden to place the sticks and join two of them to form trellises along the planted area. On top of these trellises, place a long pole joining them all together and tie with string. As your plant grows, you will need to tie its stem to bamboo to support it. You can also provide support using a fence or grid.

watering the garden

watering the garden

There are several ways to water a vegetable garden, here we will teach you two easy and inexpensive ways you can do it at home.

In a PET bottle, drill holes along its frame and in the cap as well to fit the hose. Secure the hose to the cap with electrical tape. So, just place the bottle on a high support so that the water reach is greater, or you can use it on the floor.

You can also drill holes in the hose and leave it in the middle of the vegetable patch to irrigate. This technique is very suitable in very hot places or where there is a shortage of water.

It is possible to use rainwater to water vegetables, find out more here and help save water.

Remember that watering your garden when the sun is too strong is never convenient. The ideal is to do this early in the morning or in the afternoon, when the sun is already low.

Protecting the garden from the cold and wind with tunnels

To prevent the cold and wind from harming or slowing down the growth of vegetables, tunnels can be made with plastic on top of the planted area. This technique works well for shorter plants, preventing wind erosion and protecting against the cold.

When the plants are big, you can change the tunnels for larger tunnels or even put plants that do not lose leaves (perennial) in the part where there is more wind, but this technique is only to protect the garden from gales.

Protecting the garden from the cold and wind with tunnels

Materials

  • Bamboo or wicker sticks;
  • bricks
  • Transparent plastic 2.5 meters long and 1 meter wide;
  • String.

Procedure

The bamboo poles will serve to support the plastic, then define the height of the tunnel. If your garden needs a lot of protection, it is advisable that the height be lower and, as the vegetables grow, the height of the tunnel can be increased.

Make holes in the earth, place the bamboo poles spaced in a bow shape, and on top place another pole joining the bows and tie with string. Then place the clear plastic on top, roll up the remaining edges and place the bricks on top to secure the plastic to the side of the tunnel.

To water the garden, simply remove the plastic covering it and then put it back in place. However, pay attention to the amount of water, because with the plastic covering the vegetables, the water evaporates, condenses on the plastic and falls back on the plants.

Ideally, leave the garden open while the sun is high and cover it when the sun starts to go down.

Protecting the garden from the heat

Protecting the garden from the heat

To protect the garden from the heat, it is very common to use shades, which are very common shading screens in plantations and parking lots. These screens, in addition to protecting from the excessive midday sun, are also good for mitigating the consequences of rain and hail.

Materials

  • Sticks or pieces of wood or bamboo;
  • Nails;
  • Screen.

Procedure

Drill holes in the ground around the beds and place the sticks/pieces of wood, joining them at the top with other pieces of wood and nailing together to make a support like a roof. Finally, nail the canvas to the sticks to secure.

Covering the soil with leftover leaves and dried stems also helps protect it from the cold, wind and heat. If your garden is in a region that suffers a lot from cold and wind or with a lot of heat, use a thicker layer of coverage, this will help to mitigate the effects of these agents.

See below the video this article was based on. The production was done by Borelli Studio and is in Spanish, but has Portuguese subtitles.



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