The bush beans and zuchini is coming right along. I had to string up the bush beans, so now they have about 10' of vertical space they can grow.
My tomatoes and peppers are not coming along as well as I'd hoped. They look healthy and have plenty of nice healthy looking roots, but just not much vegetative growth. I'm pretty sure it's because they are just not getting enough sun. I had my plants positioned in about the middle of my covered porch to keep the rain off of everything, which is bad for hydro, but this meant about 2 hours less sunshine and since everything is in the shade by about 4-5pm there wasn't any to spare.
So I ordered a 22% shade tarp to keep the rain off the buckets. I needed a shade tarp anyway because the Texas sun is just too intense. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I received it, but I think I like it better. It's basically a nylon net type material which is nice because it lets some of the wind through. I'm not sure how much rain it will block, but it should keep most of it off the plants. Now I have all the plants pushed farther forward and they are all getting more time in the sun.
I'm hoping 22% will be enough to keep things healthy in July and August when it really gets hot here. Since everything is in the shade by 5pm, I suspect it will be OK.
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