Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

Or you could bottle some sun and send it to W. Washington in exchange for rain. We are trying desperately to garden here. With temps 10 plus below normal, we are just now getting gardens in. I do hope they will have time to grow this summer. Just a clue how slow stuff is. The raspberries only have about 6" growth on them at this point. Even the nettles and thistles are slow. Usually by now we've had to do at least 2 pasture sprays for them.
SharonM
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Kennard &
To: MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 12:51 PM
Subject: [MittleiderMethodGardening] Pros & Cons of Shading

Grace and peace to you,
In listening to the last Garden Doctor interview with Mr. Strohmeyer from AZ (zone 9b ?)I was led to believe that he was using some shading in his garden. Central Texas (Austin zone 8b)has had drought and some 100 degree temps already. What are the pros and cons of shading and how and when is it best utilized?

Greg & Group:

The first law of plant growth is light - direct sunlight, all day long if possible.

Any shading used in the garden obviously REDUCES the available light, but sometimes it becomes necessary to mitigate extreme TEMPERATURES (2nd law of plant growth).

If you are having +95 degree days, with night-time temperatures not falling below 80, you may need some shading. I recommend as little as necessary to get the job done (which is keeping your plants alive). Usually 25-30% shade cloth directly over the plants, to give them some shade between 11 and 3, is sufficient.

Jim Kennard

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