Pacific Northwest Food

[509]

Originally Posted by allforcats

Whoa 509! Simmer down there, Bunky! Ira500 is completely correct. This whole thread is speaking to a couple who are moving to western Washington, not eastern, so all that lovely moisture we have here affects tomatoes very differently from the not-moisture you have on the eastern side.
So the "about half of Washington" is NOT the half we're talking about in this thread. And on OUR side, cold weather IS a problem, never windburn.

But you do have an interesting idea about buried electricity. How would a person ensure that all our rains HERE do not electrocute everything? I'm very interested.

But, he was talking about the Pacific Northwest!! Oh hell, we should just become part of the Rocky Mountain Region anyway.

Parks Seed Catalog had the heating cables. They were designed to be buried. Temperature setting was 72 degrees. I did not have any problems with the cables...they did fail in year three or four. But they were fairly cheap.

You might want to buy a soil thermometer. With us it the winds and soil temperatures were the limiting factors in spring. I did end up building some raised beds. Lined them with fabric and rock so I did not have to weed them during the summer. It really was amazing how much stuff you could grow in a limited space.

If Parks does not carry them anymore you could try doing a search on google. I thought about getting a roofing cable, but they are set for temperatures in the low to mid-50's. I do think you need to get the soil temperature in the 70's.

Good luck....it works.

[allforcats]

Hey thank you, 509! That's amazing information! I've done a lot of gardening --not a lot of farming -- but I've never heard of this clever technique. CHENEBE, you never know, this might just be useful for you, eh? BTW, Parks Seed Catalogue is one of the major companies in the U.S.

Thanks 509!!

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by 509

But, he was talking about the Pacific Northwest!! Oh hell, we should just become part of the Rocky Mountain Region anyway.

You better not secede into the Rocky Mountain Region! If you do, those of us in rural western washington will be even more outnumbered for votes! We really count on Eastern Washingtonians when it comes to the ballot box!

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by allforcats

...But you do have an interesting idea about buried electricity. How would a person ensure that all our rains HERE do not electrocute everything? I'm very interested.

I would assume he is talking about the resistance cables you wrap your pipes in, not "Live" wires... I used to wrap the trunks of my palm trees with those to keep them alive in western WA.

Since we don't have the sun to heat up the water tubes, roofing paper, and tires most people put around their tomatoes to give them a heat boost, we need to be creative.

Guy Clark - Homegrown Tomatoes lyrics | LyricsMode.com

local ladies bluegrass band "Misty River" has a good recording of this song.