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Pollard; I lost a number of Pole beans and had to totally replant a section. Sow and pill bugs were responsible for some, but one Section I over watered and they melted away. I plant directly into the ground. There are solutions to moles/voles, but they usually involve a wire barrier underneath your row of plants! Bother! Drip irrigation, Summer time; when you start your watering remember to check the temperature of the water coming out of your hose. I have a hose hookup to my irrigation system and and purge the hot water from the hose end before I divert the water to the irrigation system.

Discussion hot water on plants

Summer heat and Pots... I do some plantings in large black plastic pots that I have recovered from a local nursery's recycle bin. (I.E. Free pots!) I have not had success with vegetables in previous years due, I think, from the elevated soil temperature, which at the surface can get up to 130-135 F.

While It defeats the Free part, this year I purchased some Rustoleum White Elastometric roof coating, cleaned some of the pots and painted them to see if I could get those temperatures down, and they are much lower at the surface. (I am also using rice hulls as mulch, and they are a very light color. )

Container Gardening Temperatures

Good luck!

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My drip system won’t be going through a long hose. Just a four foot clear hose that I’ll connect when I need to water. The drip tubing itself is a dark color but I’ll be covering it with mulch this weekend. One thing I do have to worry about is watering right after filling the tank from the spring down the road. That spring water is 55-60 degrees so watering warm weather plants that are sitting in warm Summer soil might be a little shock to their system. Since it’s just drips, I would think that tiny bit of water would warm up or cool down before it makes it down to the roots.

I’ve had some plants waiting to go in the ground and they were in those black pots and I did think about how hot they must get so I make sure they’re in the shade after noon or so.

I’m hoping a 12” deep barrier around the perimeter will keep the moles out but I may also trap one or more in so I’ll have to dispatch them. That will be for the bigger garden area where the high tunnel is going. I picked up one of the stabby traps and will get some poison if need be. So far in the little garden, I haven’t set the trap up in a spot where the mole returned. They reuse some tunnels a few times so it’s a matter of picking the right tunnel and timing. Went out this morning and didn’t see much for tunnels so maybe it will be moving on to the rest of the yard.