We get some fairly strong winds that will wreak havoc on any plants even if I do plant them six inches below the top of the container so I am already planning to have my DH put up a two sided fence/wind break would that help the roots to not get hot?
The containers are black.
Windbreak isn't going to help cool the roots unless it keeps the container (but not the plant!) shaded from about 10 am onwards, which it almost certainly won't.
Yeah, if hte containers are black and you are in a hot summer climate then FOR SURE you should try to make some kind of something outside of them for insulation and reflection, otherwise it is hard on the plants or can even kill them. It is nice if your arrangement can be removed/reapplied with the planter already planted, because that way you can wait til you DO get high soil temps to put the insulation on and thereby benefit from warmth *before* that... but if it comes down to all or nothing, leave it permanently *on* not off.
A wooden surround built around the planters looks nice but is obviously more work; some people just make 'jackets' for them, or pile dirt or mulch up against/over the sides.
patchesnposies said:
Pat, what do you mean self watering? I was thinking of putting PVC down the side and watering them that way, bottom up.
I wouldn't do that with normal containers, you need the water to go all the way thru from the top not just run out the bottom having bypassed the upper part of the soil (which is where, face it, most of the roots will still be, especially early on)
Self-watering containers, or they mysteriously trendy new term 'earth boxes' which basically just means *big* self-watering containers, have a platform maybe 4-6" (or more) above the container bottom, with NO drainage holes in contrast to a normal pot (the bottom part under the platform is the water reservoir, which you fill all the way whenever you get the chance and don't ever let it run dry). The soil goes atop that platform (still fills the majority of the container) and there are various arrangements of wicking materials that bridge the gap from soil to water so that capillary action sucks the water up from the reservoir into the soil at whatever rate the soil needs it. Wicking arrangements can be felt or other absorbant materials in small planters, but are usually cylinders of soil wrapped in something water-permeable for larger containers (because of the larger am't of water needed to be wicked)
There are lots and lots of directions on the internet for making your own, try googling something to the effect of "make self-watering planter", if you have trouble finding things let me know. Your library may even have some books on it, there've been several useful ones published in the past 5 yrs or so (books on container veggies that contain instructions on making self-watering planters for them)
It is worth doing at least for some of them that will house the "thirstiest" plants or be in a location hardest to rig an auto watering system. Container plants really do use QUITE A HUGE AMOUNT of water, a decent-sized tomato plant can easily need watering several times per day even if it is in good potting medium in a good big container, and pretty much no veggies will do well with repeated drying out.
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
). You can stitch broken-up styrofoam into feedbags to wrap around livestock water buckets in the winter and that would probably also work for this purpose (do it like a channel quilt, you know? so the stuffing stays more or less in place and the whole thing is flexible)
