Hey guys, I had a horrible experience with hail this year and my garden took a beating. It was then that I made my mind up that I need to design or buy some sort of protection for my garden. This will need to protect my garden from strong winds, hail and hard rain. The area we live in here in Minnesota gets really, really windy and last year it was so bad it caused my tomato plants to all fall over even with the metal rods in the ground. The hail this year like I said above pounded my garden and I believe had something to do with this fungus that I now have to battle with on my plants. I did some research to try and find portable protection that I can put up and then take back down with ease. However, I didn't find anything. It then got me thinking that I could probably invent something to go over my garden that would have legs that fold in and fold back out to stick in the ground to hold up the protector. The top I was thinking can be made of heavy duty tarp or a very light weight plywood so it wouldn't be heavy for me to lift and put together. So after it was all put together, it would look like a large table with my garden underneath it. However, it doesn't help with the wind or hail blowing on the sides. So does anyone else have any ideas?. I need to get prepared for next year. I have a pretty long garden, so a green house type thing would not be long enough. Let me know if you guys know of anything or have any ideas. Thank you.
How about a nice, strong and sturdy poly tunnel? You could make it yourself to your own design and it would give all round shelter to your garden. Do let us know what you decide on and maybe (hint, hint) show us photographs of the end result.
I would check the internet for hail cloth and see what you come up with. There are quite a few for sale. Some of the ones I saw would also help break up heavy rain. I have tried to protect my garden from wind storms and it not easy without a ridged structure and sheathing such as a green house but maybe someone else can give you some suggestions on what you can do. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
A box type shelter from wood, a lid that removes on nice days. I and other tropical plant growers use fleece, if its really bad weather you can double the fleece x 2. A Basjoo Someone asked me who is under there? HAHAHAHA! Would something like that work for yor plants Sharalyn? K