Summer ready
Last Monday saw Melbourne’s first 44C degree heat wave for this summer. After loosing all of my crop last year, I was determined not to loose this battle this time round.
The way I think of preparing my garden for those extreme days is like writing a bush fire plan for my garden. This year I am experimenting with
- Shade
- Seaweed solution
Shade
Extreme hot days usually consist of hot northerly wind and intense sun exposure. Just the hot dry wind would suck the dear life out of anyone, let alone a plant! There is not much I can do to reduce the hot wind but I sure can reduce the sun exposure. So, off to the garage for all potted plants and a 70% shade cloth over the vegetable patch. I literally dropped the shade cloth over the patch and secure it with bricks on the four corners.
Seaweed solution
After the sun’s set, I gave the plants a good soak with seaweed solution. It helps them to recover from stressful condition.
I am glad to to say that I did not loose any crops to the heat wave (yet). Although some plant got sun burnt around the edge, but in conclusion I am extreme happy with the result. Corine: 1, extreme weather: 0.