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| Courtesy HGTV |
Spring weather in Colorado can be temperamental, it can sometimes feel like we experience all of the seasons in a single day. Frosts and cold snaps of spring are one thing, but hail can be one of the greatest risks to our gardens. Hoop houses or high tunnels can both extend the growing season and offer protection from hail. Hoops can also provide structures to which tightly woven ‘hail cloth’ can be fastened for added protection; hail cloth can also be placed over tomato cages or other structures available in your garden.
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| Courtesy CSU |
Photo: Vicky Spelman
From last Wednesday's hail storm
Walls of water and gallon milk cartons (with the bottoms cut off) can be used to protect new seedlings. If you leave the cap off of these cartons, they can even be left over seedlings until the plant outgrows this structure. Your imagination is the limit! Before a hailstorm, cardboard boxes, plastic buckets, and even sheets can help prevent some of the most extreme damage from occurring; however, you should never risk personal safety to protect your garden and should only implement these methods if you are able to get out far enough ahead of a storm
for it to be safe.
A seven minute video on Hail Mitigation and cleanup can be found in the following link to more information provided by CSU Extension staff:
Additional techniques for protecting against hail damage can be found in the following
link: https://elpaso.extension.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/44/2017/05/May-27-2017-Hail-mitigation.pdf
link: https://elpaso.extension.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/44/2017/05/May-27-2017-Hail-mitigation.pdf
Extending the growing season: https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/722.pdf