Quick tutorial: Most commercial potting media support several inches of excess water at the pot's bottom. This is water that will not drain by the force of gravity alone because the sum of water's tendency to stick to itself and to soil particles is greater than the force of gravity. This is the water you need to be very concerned about. In the images, the shaded area represents excess (perched) water, which will be the same ht in any container for any given medium. Note how much water can be expelled from the container by tipping the pot (see B) or using ballast (see D). It's too late for ballast, since the planting is already established, but ballast can eliminate 95% or more of excess water in any medium. You can also use a wick to drain a significant amount of excess water from plantings for which a water-retentive medium has been used. When using a wick, the best location for the drain hole is through the bottom of the pot where it meets the sidewall. Combine it with tipping with the drain hole at the lowest point for best results. I use a strand from a rayon mop as my wicks. The only way to stop water from entering a pot when it's raining is to use some type of mechanism to ensure no rain falls on the plant or soil. So providing some form of cover (garage or enclosed porch, e.g.) or providing a makeshift canopy/umbrella would be the direction your thinking might take if you don't care to use the methods I described. Al

well pretty much there isn't anything we can do to protect against what nature throws at us, fruit farmers here net whole orchards but hail puts paid to the netting, all we can realy do is replant afer the damage some will grow back. if it was regular wind only then you could plant some windbreaks to help control it. len Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

I understand, Seil. More than 25 years ago, I would leave an overhead, oscillating sprinkler going over large areas of my Newhall garden, requesting the community gardening staff to turn them off when they left for the day, on triple digit days. The horse manure mulch disappeared quickly. The foliage was huge, plants even more so, and they flowered amazingly. Water was cheap and plentiful, so not an issue there and then. There were no disease or insect issues. The plants were fully clothed in very dense, durable foliage and there was no such thing as sun scald nor Flat Headed Apple Borers which became great issues once that type of watering had to be discontinued due to availability and cost. Black spot and mites were frequent issues with the own root plants we propagated as volunteers at The Huntington. I learned early when bringing home any new plant such as those to pull off all of the foliage before bringing it into the garden. I had an area in filtered sun under a tree where I kept a pile of horse manure. I'd clump the newly arrived own roots in their pots together, surround and fill between them with the manure, often inside them as mulch, then overhead water until new foliage began developing. No mites, no diseases and the plants exploded into growth quickly. A bit of hardening them off in larger cans and higher levels of heat and light and they were ready for planting once they'd filled the five gallon cans. Growing them up in larger cans also permitted me to move them around to see what position was best to their liking. It often made quite a difference. At the beach, I had a number of customers who regularly used my "proprietary blend" of Ultra Fine and Miracle Grow sprayed every two weeks except between the middle of July through the middle of October. In the Perma Fog, it prevented disease, eliminated the constant aphids and saw flies and kept really terrible things there, like one lady's beloved and hated Paul Neyron, viable. He caught her heart in books and she was determined to grow him. He languished until I suggested the Ultra Fine and MG foliar application. She had severe bronchitis, but made sure she brought me a bouquet of beautiful Paul Neyron from her bush! Used during the heat, that mixture did burn, but when there weren't heat and light intensities to contend with, it worked wonders. NO way I could have ever used it in any garden at home! I tried it once, learned my lesson the hard way right there and then! Anything presented as being even slightly phytotoxic WILL burn here. I am in total agreement with your walking the roses daily. I can't imagine having them unless I wanted to walk them every chance I got. Each has its own personality, likes, dislikes, needs and will quickly let you know if you don't provide them. It's the best way not only to head off problems early, but also to detect sports. They can happen so quickly right in front of you and seemingly behind your back. A big part of the serendipity for me! Kim

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