Prairie View

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Canopies Make Excellent Kites

The threat of severe spring weather brings a new concern this year.

Even before Hiromi's layoff, we had decided that we would put extra efforts into our gardening, with plans to offer surplus plants and produce for sale. "Don't try to keep any seeds over till next year," Hiromi told me. So we planted lots of seeds. (I wrote earlier how the difference between 30 seeds at retail price or 100-1000 seeds at wholesale price is often negligible.)

Last week Hiromi finished putting together a small metal-framed, plastic-covered greenhouse we had ordered, after considering various other temporary homemade designs. For under $300.00, the cost seemed reasonable. The plastic is sturdy, with stronger cords woven into it.

However, some of the instructions and disclaimers that came with the canopy (the plastic cover) were not particularly reassuring. "[The company] does not guarantee these canopies in snow or ice under any circumstances. These are designed to protect against damages caused by the sun, rain, tree sap, birds, etc. . . . . If your canopy is not anchored securely, it will fly away. Canopies made excellent kites. If your canopy takes flight we will not send free replacements. Anchoring is your responsibility. . . . .If you know that a strong weather front is coming--remove the cover. The cover is designed to be quickly and easily removed." (Just for the record, the cover at first would not fit over the frame at all. Only after we took it all apart and hack-sawed off a piece at the end of nearly all the pipes, could we put it back together and have the canopy fit. Let's not talk about having discovered that the canopy was inside out after it was finally wrestled into place.)

We've moved more than a dozen flats of plants into the greenhouse, and, as soon as we've done more transplanting, that number will grow fast. The plants looks happy and I'm happy to have room under the grow lights for some of the heat-loving, newly sprouted plants that are coming along.

But the weather forecast causes consternation. Here's the general one:

"A strong storm system will move across the Central Plains Monday and Monday Night. Gulf moisture will gradually return northward ahead of this system with the help of strong southerly winds. Severe thunderstorms will be possible ahead of the dryline and cold front passage Monday Afternoon into Monday Night."

A more specific one for our county says:

"Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Windy, with a south wind between 29 and 34 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%."

The low temperature for Tuesday night is predicted to be 34 degrees. That's too cold for comfort--for me, and for my warmth-loving plants. I do hope for the greenhouse to provide some protection from the cold, and we have a small electric heater we can put in there if needed.

But all that will be contingent upon the canopy not making like a kite and flying away. We have screwed anchors into the ground and passed ropes up and over the greenhouse to hold the canopy onto the frame. To that effort we are adding our prayers. Depending on how things go during the day tomorrow we may decide to pass a rope around the corner post and water-filled barrel at each corner of the greenhouse. Those barrels would be no match for a tornado, but might stand up to a 45 MPH wind. They were installed to serve as heat sinks and support for shelves to increase the greenhouse's capacity, but adding a third function to their duties would not overtax them.

The idea of bringing in the canopy if a weather front is coming. . . . That obviously has a lot more to do with liability protection than common sense. Can't you just see my carefully nurtured plants beaten by wind, rain, and possibly hail and tornadoes, and near-freezing temperatures while the canopy purchased and installed to protect them is safely folded away inside the house? I'll take my chances with the canopy in place on the greenhouse frame where it is right now. It it's done in by a tornado, the greenhouse and the plants will probably be the least of our worries.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment



<< Home