Re: [tomato] Mulches

William McKay (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Sun, 21 Feb 1999 20:50:16 PST 

We do not generally have much aof a problem with wind in New England, 
but I heard something which might help in your situation.  Suggestion 
was to plant a cover crop in the fall (example was winter rye).  In the 
spring, instead of turning it all ink leave a stand of rye every 15 or 
twenty feet to serve as a wind buffer.  Later in the summer, once your 
tomatoes have grown & are more hardy, mow the rye.  (I have tried to 
convince my brother the farmer to leave a rye buffer between every row, 
figure out a way to mow it mechanically, and use the cuttings as a 
mulch.  He says plastic is easier?

Bill M in E. Mass


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>Howdy,  been reading with interest the info about different types of
>mulches.  Tried different types over the years most without any
>significant improvements.  The spring here, is often accompanied by
>serious winds, and despite hardening off efforts, plants used to get
>beat up pretty bad.  Last few years been using two gallon black pots,
>which I get from a local flower shop, the pots are fairly thin plastic,
>with no holes in the bottom. (I think they get cut flowers in them)
>These pots I cut the bottoms out of, and bury them about half ways down
>in the soil.  The tomatos, inside the pot, barely reaches the rim, 
hence
>they're protected from the wind, I feel the black pot, with the soil
>piled up around it, provides additional heat.   Anyway, this seems to 
be
>working well for me, I used to take the pots off when the plants became
>established but the last few years, just left them on, trenching around
>them for irrigation.  Of course the pots are re-usable, which is nice,
>since I generally grow between 200 and 250 plants.  Look forward to
>reading more info on growing tomatos.  Good luck, Tom
>
>


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