Recently we have been doing work in the nursery. At Lautaret, the nursery consists entirely of cold frames. Near the front of the nursery the youngest plants, which have arrived from Grenoble, are placed under a darker shade cloth. As they mature and become acclimated to the conditions, they are moved to frames with a lighter shade cloth.
The area around the nursery is in the process of being developed. I helped to plant birch trees along the southern edge to act as a windbreak.
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| The darker shade cloth over the newest plants in the nursery. |
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The blue tags indicate plants that are ready to be planted out in the garden.
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| Claude sorts through the frames, setting aside dead plants and keeping the live ones to be moved to another frame. Only the plants that are going to be planted soon are left behind. |
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| The rest of the nursery with cold frames covered by lighter shade cloth. Behind the nursery are some research plots. |
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| Irrigation is done by sprinklers. |
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| The pots that Claude removed are put into a new frame. A trench is dug in the sand, and the pots are carefully lined up! Sand helps to provide the right moisture to the plant and keeps the roots cool. |
What were the containers made of out and how many plants do you estimate fit into one frame? Oh, do they use heating of any type?
ReplyDeleteThe containers are plastic and have slits on the side so the roots grow through. Some of the plants are very well-rooted into the sand! When they are in that small pot size, over a hundred fit in a frame, depending on the spacing of course. I don't think there is heating, but I'll check.
ReplyDeleteVery cool. How long will they typically be held in the cold frames?
ReplyDelete