If you are in a wide-open area, the best protection is either a wooden privacy fence, 6' to 8' tall, or a row (or double row) of dense shrubs at least the same height.

Our garden has a wooded area about 10' to 15' to the north which serves as pretty good protection from north winds. It has a wooded area about 40' from the south, which helps (but not enough). On that side, though, I have a mixed cottage border of plants up to 4' to 6' feet in height and that helps some. On the west side, parts of it are protected by a chicken coop, a guinea coop, a few trees and understory plants. On the east side there is nothing, but we seldom get winds out of the east here, unless they are outflow boundaries from thunderstorms to our east.

I am not sure I can think of a temporary windbreak that would hold up to the kinds of winds we've had lately. If you have any kind of a fence around the garden, like woven wire, chicken wire, field fencing, etc., you probably could attach some sort of material to it to help block the wind--something like heavy woven landscaping fabric, burlap, tarps, VERY heavy-duty plastic, quilts, etc.

In Texas, we had a 4' tall sheet metal wall on the north side of the garden to block cold north winds in early spring. I don't know if sheet metal would work in hot weather though as it might heat up surrounding plants too much.

I hope your tomatoes are caged in very sturdy cages and that the cages are well-staked so they don't blow over. My cages usually get by with 2 stakes in normal years, but lately I've gone back and added a third stake and, for a few plants over 6' tall, I've added a 4th stake. There is only so much you can do in these wind conditions. I've had a few green tomatoes in the 10 to 16 oz. range get blown off the plants. I've had small plants in containers (Husky Red, Husky Pink, Husky Red Cherry) broken completely in half by the wind, even though they were in the most sheltered location I could give them, short of moving them into the garage.

If your tomatoes are in staked cages and are still being blown around, you could try to anchor the stakes more securely. Some people in windy areas buy either PVC pipe or electrical conduit in 8' or 10' lengths, or longer, and slide them horizontally through a row of cages so that all the cages help hold one another up. (Or, they all fall down together). You can do the same thing with sturdy, smooth willow tree branches with the foliage trimmed off, or with bamboo or cane.

If your cages are near a woven wire fence, you can use electrical ties to attach them to the fence for extra support.

If you use stakes only, or something like the Florida Weave, I don't know what you could do except take down the stakes and the twine and let the plants sprawl on the ground. If you go that route, put down cardboard, hay, or some sort of mulch between the plants and the ground to help prevent the fruit from rotting. And, regardless, you'll probably lose some fruit if the plants sprawl on the ground but perhaps not as many as you'd lose if the plants were to snap in half....or, even worse, snap off just above the ground.

There's no simple way to protect tomatoes when winds are going crazy like they are this year. One good thing is that wind exposure helps the main stalks grow larger and sturdier.

This is the windiest weather my garden has had to endure. Our worst was a day of gusts to 45 m.p.h. and a brief period of 50 to 55 m.p.h. during a fast-moving thunderstorm. It was during the 50 to 55 mph wind that my container plants snapped and a few caged plants in the garden lost a limb or so, but nothing too serious.

It is too late for this year, but in future years you can partially protect your crops from wind and herbicide drift by planting dense rows of something tall all around the perimeter of the garden....something like sunflowers or a very tall variety of corn (I like to use broom corn that gets 10' to 12' tall) very densely planted. However, in extreme winds, the windbreaks may come down also.

If you are growing in Earthbox-type containers or any sort of container, you can help keep them upright by either caging them, with the cage on the OUTSIDE of the entire container and then staking the cages to the ground, or by using metal fence posts or wooden stakes hammered into the ground on all 4 sides of the containers. If your containers are on a patio or other hard surface, I have no idea how you could help them remain upright.

Dawn

Dawn, I'm still surprised that your Husky Red Cherry tomatoes broke. But, we didn't have all this wind last year when I grew it. For me, it remained a rather sprawling plant, so that may have helped as well, and the fact that I had it planted in the ground and not in pots.

Is there any hedging plants that grow relatively quickly that he could plant? Perhaps roses or small trees that grow fairly dense and fast?

Susan

Almost anything quick enough to help this year would have to be an annual. And I don't think I would plant roses near tomatoes because of roses' propensity towards foliar disease AND because of the thrip issue with both roses and certain tomato diseases.

Some of the tall cannas, planted closely together, might make enough growth by August or so to provide wind protecion for the fall garden crops. My cannas are already 4' or 5' tall, but they've been here a while. I don't know how quickly brand new ones would grow. Do you? MAYBE crape myrtles, planted fairly close together, if a person could find some that top out at 6 or 8 or 10 feet in height without massive and disfiguring pruning.

I am seriously considering planting a row of hollies on the three sides of my garden that don't border the driveway. I worry they might get too tall and shade it too much after 4 or 5 years of growth, but I think if I CAREFULLY choose a variety that grows to a decent height, but not too tall, it could work. I also know I would have to plant them back 4 or 5 feet from the garden fence so that, once they were mature, they would come close to the fence, but not through it. Hollies would be my choice because they are so pest and disease resistant and grow to be quite dense. I have Dwarf Burfords around the porch (CAREFULLY selected and planted pretty far from the porch and pretty far from one another) but the word "dwarf" is relative, since I expect these to top out around 12' to 18', which is taller than your average "dwarf" shrub, but shorter than regular Burfords which can easily get 20' to 30' tall. I'd choose a shorter variety to hedge in the garden.

If I thought that we'd never have this kind of wind again, I wouldn't bother.....but I know that we will. For a lot of years, I have relied on annuals for a windbreak. One of my best ever included tithonias, lion's tail, several of the tall grain-type amaranths, and branching sunflowers. However, those annuals probably wouldn't be able to handle this year's wind.

I also grow vines on my fences, and am going to let them climb the new 7' fence, so that will help but they don't completely block the wind.....just slow it down and filter it a little.

I don't know if Mike is in a real exposed area, or it he has a lot of houses and other buildings around. In this case, the more buildings the better to block the wind.....EXCEPT that tomato plants need a little wind to help with pollination and also to help prevent foliar disease by helping dry moisture on the leaves

Mike, if you are reading this....tell us more about your site, or what you've already tried.....or what you're comtemplating trying!

Dawn

Great ideas.

I'm moving from Tulsa to OKC to 8 acres

on the 8 there is a nice 2+ open area, good drainage, but very open. I'm trying to get ideas to be ready for next season.

My Tulsa garden plot 100 x 100 feet, caged tomatoes. Nothing fallen, the cages are holding but the plants are whipped.

OKMIKE

OKC is by far the windest town that I have ever lived in. I actually lived out by Lake Thunderbird nearer to Norman, but worked at Tinker. I did most of my shopping in OKC and it just seemed the wind was always blowing.

I think you are wise to plan on a wind break for your garden.

Mike,

I think it is safe to say that all our plants are whipped. It is absolutely the worst wind year ever.

In the late winter to early spring, you can buy "conservation" trees from the Oklahoma Forest Service in large quantities (bundles of predetermined numbers) and that would be one way to establish a large windbreak at a fairly reasonable price. You order them and they have specific delivery dates in specific cities. The tradeoff is that the trees are small so you'll be waiting several years for them to make decent growth.

It is good that you are planning ahead. I chose my garden site specifically because it had the best soil available on our mostly clay site--plus it had fairly good wind protection. It is essentially located in a clearing in the woods. There were two other possible garden sites I would have preferred, but both would have been completely exposed to the wind, and their clay was a little more dense than the area in which I did build the garden.

Good luck with the new place. I hope you don't have to move before the tomato-harvesting season ends.

Dawn

The wind this year (and I know that Oklahoma is known for the wind) seems much worse than in other years. The hard rains have also taken their toll on some of my plants. My backyard is protected from tall trees all around and a wood fence, and yet it still gets a lot of the south and southwest winds. I don't think I could do much to help out there.

My windiest area is the front yard, and even it is somewhat protected by the pine trees. But, it gets the worst of it despite the pines.

My try berberis, too. It would keep out the deer I bet cuz it is prickly. Also, thieving neighbors. Someone came by the other day and tore up my water wands - completely took off the head of it and it's gone. I've had 2 lawnmowers stolen, so am going back to having it mowed by someone else. I need to keep out the lawn burglars!

Good luck with your new location!

Susan

Susan,

It seems that this year people are stealing everything not tied down, including gasoline. On our local news here in southern Oklahoma, it seems that thefts are getting a ton of news coverage and I assume it is because thefts and similar crimes are up this year.

On the tomato forum, some people have been joking about locking their garden gates to keep people from stealing their tomatoes because of the tomato salmonella problem. The sad thing is that it isn't necessarily a joke.....often people do have plants and produce stolen from their gardens, and it could be worse this year than usual.

Since we moved here, several of our friends and neighbors have had stuff stolen from the homes or yards.....one disadvantage of being so spread out from one another is that people can get in and out of someone's property with no one close enough to see them.

We haven't had a problem, but I know of at least one occasion our second or third year here when a person "with evil intent" was on our property and our now-old-and-somewhat-crippled dog, Biscuit, chased him off. We know it happened because he complained to someone that "You can't go near that house because that dog will kill you!" and that person told us. (Actually, Biscuit is and always has been a cream puff, but he likes to growl and bark and carry on like a very mean dog, and it is OK with us if people are afraid of him.)

In the past, we've always left the 5-gallon gasoline can in plain sight and not given it a second thought. With all the mowing and such that we do, it seems we use some of that gas pretty much daily. With almost $4.00 per gallon gas, we've started putting the gas away and out of sight.

And, now that Biscuit is mostly retired from guard duty (although he still patrols the veggie garden daily), we have Duke who is a Rottweiler-Terrier mix although his appearance is mostly Rottweiler. He's about 110 or 120 pounds of pure love, but he doesn't like strangers! All he has to do is look at someone who is walking up the road and they pick up their pace and get away from our place as fast as they can. Never underestimate the deterrence factor of having a dog around.

Dawn

Another theft warning. Everytime you get in your car, make sure it has a license plate. People are stealing them, attaching them to their cars, then doing drive-offs at service stations for free gasoline.

What will they think of next? Thanks for the tip.

I know that down in the D-FW metroplex, thieves are using rebar to puncture gas tanks and draining the gas out of them. Or, they are cutting fuel lines OR even, in some cases, drilling a hole in the tanks. (They can't siphon out gas in newer cars because of the anti-rollover balls that keep gas from leaking out if a vehicle rolls.)

And, by the way, if they puncture your gas tank to get the gasoline out, it will cost you several hundred dollars to get it repaired and the people I've read about in the newspapers say their insurance generally doesn't cover
it. (I don't know why.)

Dawn

.....especially if you only carry liability! I don't have comprehensive because my car is only worth about $500 book value. However, a guy at the gas station the other day wanted to buy it so bad. It's a Mazda 323 hatchback and gets good gas mileage. Everyone is shopping for small, energy efficient cars right now. You can p/u the big trucks and SUVs for a dime. But the gas they guzzle is just way too much.

I had to switch gas stations because the one I used as a "regular" puts alcohol/ethanol in their gas. I went to a new one that gives you straight gasoline.

A lot of people are going to electric-powered weedeaters and mowers because of the cost of gas. But, shoot, to me electricity is every bit as high. I need one of those tuk-tuks like they use in asian countries!!

I wouldn't dare ride a bike or a motorcycle at my age. I can't even walk down the sidewalk without having an accident, for gosh sakes!

Copper thieves are everywhere, too! Even in the ritzy neighborhoods like Quail Creek, they caught 2 guys breaking into a house (just pushed the door in and you know those are strong doors), and hauled everything off in their van. At least they were caught on a video camera!!

At least I have a motion light on my carport, so that anyone walking up at night is going to be lit up like 4th of July fireworks!

Wish I could train those darned bluejays to attack someone other than me!!

...and the tomatoe scare? I think you can safely buy the cherry and grape tomatoes, but that's about it. I'd be afraid to buy any of them right now. What's it going to be next?

Susan, maybe you could use training wheels. LOL I am almost in the same boat since I haven't been on my bike in a couple of years. My DH took it for a spin the other day just to make sure it was OK.