The Mini Greenhouses I Put Over The Swiss Chard Last Fall Really Helped

Bob Bauer

March 30, 2018 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

March 30, 2018

The mini greenhouses I put over the Swiss chard last fall really helped them make it through the winter. Not only did they not suffer from the freezes, but they stayed bird and bug free. It's great to pick leaves that are so clean that you don't even have to wash them. I sometimes spray my lettuce before I pick it so I don't have to rinse it..

Also I got a row of cauliflower direct seeded today, and had to exchange my hula hoe for a shovel, because the weeds are ganging up on me. I use the shovel like the hula hoe, on my knees, and find it takes much less effort on larger weeds and weed patches..

April 01, 2018

I lifted the board covering my direct seeding of cauliflower and found a multitude of sow bugs, pill bugs and millipedes. It's not always good to cover your row with a board if you are going to be attracting pests that eat the sprouts. I've had the millipedes eat the roots of an entire row of spinach once. It appears that the seed starting mix that I've used is porous enough that they can burrow down into it and stay below ground to eat and sleep..

Lots of my top soil is tilthy too so the pill bugs can hide next to the plants during the day and come out at night to eat them. Diatinatious earth is a method of controlling them but you've got to get them to cross it..

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