Topic: flipping wind

[Ant]

with the strong winds currently we have lost a few squash plants and sweetcorn with snapped stems, the carrot fleece was flailing sadly in the wind.

Short of making things even more robust, what methods do you use on an exposed site?

Windbreak fences, small bushes?

Ideas?

[betula]

Don't  use fences ,use shrubs but make sure they do not block the sun from your beds. ;D

[Ant]

was thinking of doing our fruit down one edge, just to slow the wind down a bit. We have some gooseberry bushes on our other part plot we could use.

Hmm, what other small fruit bushes are there?

[star]

Black,red and white currants, step-over apple trees, plum on pixie rootstock, raspberries. ;)

[Ant]

I have just been informed by Sparkly that we have a blackcurrant and redcurrant bush in the garden in pots.  :)

Could use rhubarb as well, we have loads of that  :)

[betula]

Not sure that rhubarb would me much of a windbreak ;D

[Ant]

it does if you eat enough of it! oh hang on....  ;D ;D

Doesn't need to be tall, just needs to slow it down a bit across the plot.

[saddad]

If you are not feeling aesthetic windbreak fabrics are great... tend to come in a garish orange though! Close weave/mesh is great and can be got in a neutral dark green!  ;D

[Suzanne]

I use the 5L plastic water bottles with the bottoms cut off. I have ten squash plants out at the moment which are still small enough to be vulnerable to wind damage - so each covered by a bottle cloche - a bamboo can pushed through the hole in the top to anchor them down and soil built up around the signs so the wind cannot get under them.

[Old bird]

I reckon the force of the wind was hurricane force here in Minehead.  It did untold damage round the town - my raspberries took a real hammering - but apart from that I had no damage to speak of - although the polytunnel is looking more precarious each time we have these easterly winds!

Old Bird

 ;D

[Powderfan]

Huy Guys and Gals

I too have suffered with some bad wind!

I went to my plot yesterday to find some of my potato plants snapped off almost as though they had been trampled on, but they were randomly scattered spots rather than a a trail, also no foot prints so I shall have to give the old boy and his dog (next door plot) the benefit of the doubt.  My corn and squashes survived ok and so did my pea and bean plants.

Michael

[jaqz]

same here,
winds have blown down the broad beans and im told my peas are sitting in water  >:(

Going over tonight to see the damage,

Should i dig them up till the ground dries out a bit??  ??? ???

[dtw]

You could dig a big hole near them for the water to run into.

[loopyloulou]

ive got much the same problem with wind, but i reckon the raspberrys sound like a good option! we lurve raspberrys :) might take a few years to get them going tho as i dont have oodles to invest sadly, any cheap and cheerfull options? would pallets modified and sunk into the ground be an option? or ive got some cheap bean canes and some blue lattice stuff that i could probably wind round it to slow the wind down, not the most attractive or effective but im hoping its better than nothing :)

[ninnyscrops]

Not everybody's taste, but globe artichoke plants make a great windbreak - could always leave the buds to open (if you don't want to eat them) for huge flowers  :)

[manicscousers]

we've used beach mats  ;D

[Crystalmoon]

Im new to all this growing lark & have been experimenting with different ways t protect my crops from the wind. I made some fleece tents/wind breaks with cheap fleece from wilkinsons & bamboo canes which lasted for a couple of storms before needing repairs. Then I tried pvc, again cheap from wilkinsons, & that survived for about 4 days bad weather. I patched it up with bubble wrap & sofar this seems to be the strongest option. All in all I reckon I should have invested in good quality heavy duty fleece from a garden centre as the cheap stuff seems to get very weak once it has been soaked by rain or watering.