SUSTAINABILITY Protect your veg plot from high winds

Taming the elements


Growing your own
Chris Brown

We are indeed fortunate to live in Ireland. Not only is it a wealthy and peaceful nation, it does not have extreme weather conditions to contend with; being neither too hot nor too cold nor too dry.
One can only have sympathy for the Arab in the desert or the Eskimo in the snow when they feel the need to set a few potatoes or carrots to feed their families, because, unlike us, their climate will not allow them to do so.
That said, our weather certainly isn’t always like the sunny and pleasant days we’ve just experienced at the beginning of spring 2010. It can be harsh enough, and it pays to do all we can to protect our crops for when the elements turn a bit nasty.
One very effective strategy is to filter the wind to reduce its strength. When mature, peas and lettuce are robust plants that provide excellent returns of delicious wholesome food when grown outside in Mhaigh Eo. However, when they are just seedlings at the beginning of the season, they are delicate with puny stems that barely seem able to hold the leaves off the ground, and a strong wind can easily snap these emerging youngsters. Protecting them from a westerly gale is crucial.
What to use as a wind filter is the burning question. A low hedge would retard the strength of the wind but the drawbacks, other than the time it takes to establish a hedge, are that the roots can encroach into the growing patch. These roots can get in the way of digging operations. Also, moisture and nutrient will be diverted away from the emerging vegetables by the hedging plants and, generally speaking, bothersome visitors such as the rabbit or chickens can find a way through.
Solid barriers like a wall or sheets of tin (useful for holding in pigs) are not suitable because they cause what is known as a ‘down draught’ – when the wind with all its strength is diverted upwards then comes down again with great force – capable of causing havoc to your crop.
The favoured solution is to erect a barrier that slows the wind rather than stops it dead, and for this purpose a fence that allows some of the air through is the best choice.

A proper fence
To circle your vegetable plot with a wind/break fence that will last a long time is a satisfying and clever move, and I’d suggest that it is a job carried out at the beginning of operations to save the heartache of damaged crops.
My advice would be to bang in timber stakes every five or six feet (1.6/1.8 metres) using a bar and sledgehammer, leaving two posts at the nearest point to the direction you approach from a bit closer together (wide enough for a wheelbarrow) to hang a gate from.
Next, fix three-foot sheep wire to the posts with the smallest openings at the bottom for which wire staples will be needed.
Then, to finish, use a roll of that green nylon mesh that’s usually used to protect new hedgerows from the wind and fix it to the sheep wire with plenty of heavy-duty cable ties. Be extra vigilant at the bottom of the wire, where fixings want to be plentiful.
Don’t be tempted to use chicken wire, which just isn’t man enough for the job; the ducks (the quack squad) will get through it in no time in their search for forage.
If you are in anyway unsure about whether you have the experience to erect such a fence, which will give years of protection, pay a farmer to put it up for you. The little plants will reward you by filling your kitchen and your plate with the best of food.

Chris Brown runs Brown’s Farm, a small farm in Louisburgh. He is an advocate of sustainable, natural farming methods and buying local.