We've tried everything here and I've defaulted to hoops and row cover (lighter color for light transmission) for the late spring-early summer gales. This has the advantage of full coverage for some hail protection as well.

Thanks WxDano....I'm sure you're right

I'm not sure I'm right, as opposed to I have what works at this time until it doesn't work any more and I have to find a better solution. ;o)

Where I am, people try row covers and - unless you really reinforce them with extra hoops and over-long stakes, - when the wind gets over 40-50 mph they end up in Kansas.

I know one guy who uses straw bales, and then when the winds die down, breaks them up and uses them for mulch.

I need to come up with something myself. These last two years, I've set out tomatoes too early vis-a-vis the wind and the plants just got hammered, and I don't think they ever really recovered.

The growing season here is too short to wait until the wind dies down! My raised beds exacerbate the problem because of the extra height....I'd need a mountain of straw bales! Plus which, we still get high winds even after "windy season" is over. Last year, I had a few fully grown tomato plants flattened. Some sort of permanent solution is really necessary, and I'm still tempted to try the cloth on the fence, but if the fence blows over I would have a bigger problem. I'm thinking of panels of cloth Instead of a solid piece to try to lessen the wind load, but don't know if the spillover effect (the wind speed is higher as it comes around the end of an obstruction) would just make it worse. The hoops are a good idea, but they DO have a tendency to head for Kansas!

Where I am, people try row covers and - unless you really reinforce them with extra hoops and over-long stakes, - when the wind gets over 40-50 mph they end up in Kansas.

I have raised beds as well, and last year we had two events where winds went over 60 at the house.

My clamps from Johnny's held to my hoops, which are on stakes or rebar; some of the older row cover didn't make it, and the peppers were hammered.

My garden before this one was at the base of a pass that graced us with wonderful, fresh breezes and I used bales there, but they take up a lot of room for my tastes.

If there weren't endless weather challenges to overcome, what would we do with our spare time?? ;o)

I have no idea how much this stuff would cost, so I don't know if it's a possibility or not, but you might want to check out the "wind screen" that's used around tennis courts. Twenty five years ago I had a tennis court in the backyard in the hills down near Parker--barren country, TOTALLY exposed to the wind. We eventually got wind screen put on the fence on the one end which was 10 or 11' high. The wind screen only went partway up, can't remember just how far. It was a black fabric (don't know if it comes in other colors) and there were some vents cut in it here and there, but they were very small--something about the fabric allowed some wind to get thru so there wouldn't be TOO much resistance. And the posts the fence was attached to were BIG, there were a bunch of them, and they were totally concreted in! So I think how well anything is gonna work will depend on how well the posts/fence is put in. If it's just posts "pounded" into the ground, I think you might be tempting fate to attach anything that would build up a substantial amount of resistance, but it might be worth it to find out more about tennis court type wind screen. It seems to me they were able to tell us how much wind per square foot (or something) the stuff could take--don't remember for sure anymore!

Just a thought!

Skybird

We've had good luck using sunscreen fabric by Easy Gardener (TM) that we got at Lowe's. it comes in 6' wide and you can buy any length you want as it's in long rolls. When we put the CRW tomato cages up, we use clothespins to keep a 3x3 panel on the windy side of the tomatoes. In June, when hail season starts, we move the panel to cover the plants - about 6" from the top of the plant. In July when it gets really hot we move the panels to the top of the cage as a sunscreen for the plants/tomatoes. My friend calls them "hats".

We've used the same sunscreen panels for over 5 years, so the biggest expense is just the first year. The fabric comes in 2 or 3 colors, but we chose the lightest so it wouldn't fade much. It's easy to cut in any size you might want, or use 40' of it.

I forgot to say the sunscreen fabric is nylon and very light.

This post was edited by TomatoZ on Wed, Feb 6, 13 at 2:00

Hi @maxinmontrose! Thanks so much for writing this post. I am going to try 50% shade cloth around my small farm and see how it goes as a windbreak. Do you remember where you got your fabric?

Hi Vanessa! I believe i ordered the cloth panels from Greenhouse Megastore Best of luck to you! I moved away 2 years ago, but those cloth panels were still going strong. Had to replace some tie wraps every year because the plastic degraded, but that is pretty easy. If i was putting it up in an area that was difficult to reach, might consider metal wire to attach

Awesome! I so appreciate your feedback. I will check out Greenhouse Megastore.

You might want to check out eBay for larger size purchases.