Watch My Food Grow ~ A South Florida Raised Vegetable Garden

Damaging Winds

Recently, I wrote about the unusually strong winds we have been experiencing in South Florida. The plants in the garden were slammed around for about four days a couple of weeks ago.

Wind-blown Green Beans

The plants were blown so hard that holes were forming around the stems and roots. Some plants were lying on their sides, and some were pulled completely out of the ground.

It Is Happening Again

The winds are back. Yesterday, the winds were 12 mph sustained with gusts to 30 mph. Even large-stemmed plants, like broccoli and egg plant were were losing ground. Last time, I put trellises on each side of the eggplant to contain it, but, because the winds changed direction so often, it was no longer working. I had to go to Plan B.

Blowing Eggplant

Plan B

I have tied up tomato plants ever since I began gardening, but today, I added more veggies to the ‘tied up’ list.

Even broccoli plants, that sit lower to the ground than the eggplant and have sturdy stems, had holes around the roots and were lying on their sides. The only solution to losing  quite a few plants to the wind was to tie them to a trellis anchored in the ground.

Broccoli

I tied the large stem to the trellis very close to the ground. That was enough to keep the plant upright in the wind. Broccoli is sturdy, so the wind was not going to damage it once the root couldn’t move.

Eggplant Tied to Trellis

The winds were so strong and variable that sandwiching the eggplants between two trellises was doing no good. The plants were blowing out from in between the two trellises and digging holes around the roots, again. I tied the large stems to a trellis. Because the eggplants are three feet tall, I had to anchor them higher on the trellis. It was enough to hold the stem still in the wind.

Problem Solved… I Hope

The garden looks like a trellis farm, but the plants are doing well. It’s looking pretty good.

Raised Garden Boxes

Those dozen small trellises are light weight, easy to handle and are stable in the ground. They were one of the best purchases I made last season.

Tags:   above ground garden · Raised Garden · trellises · tying plants · VegetablesNo Comments