[yorkiegal]

I'm on a very blustery crop and have already lost most of my peas and beans to the wind. I've just planted out some sweetcorn and would like to protect it until it grows a bit bigger.

Finances are pretty tight right now so I can't afford much. I'm planning on growing some natural windbarriers for next year with rosemary and lavender bushes, but what would be a good way to protect them for now?

I've got tons of weed control fabric. would that be ok tied to some stakes or would it prevent too much light coming in?

[arugula]

Would the fabric be very close to the plants? The sun is high in the sky right now, so it may not have too much of a detrimental effect on light levels.

[yorkiegal]

I would be making a fence with it, about 3 feet high and with at least 2ft gap between the closest plants to the edges of the bed. I also have some clear plastic sheeting which would probably be big enough to do two sides of it so it shouldn't be too dark.

Failing that, it's going to be old net curtains lol. Good job I'm not fussed about the appearance of my plot.

[arugula]

I reckon its worth a try with any of those. Just a thought though, the plastic sheeting will catch the wind more than fabric so fabric might be a better choice.

[Yorkie]

It's better if the wind can permeate through the windbreak a little - otherwise it'll just be like a sail and will probably blow over.  Fabric would be better.

[shoozie]

we use kindling bags - you can 'knit' them together to whatever ever size you need.  We only put them up temporarily during really strong winds and tie them to canes in front of the beans etc.  They allow some wind through, so don't end up like sails.  Work well - but I would not leave them up for long as they will cut down on light levels. But, some kind of open weave like this might work well.  Our sweetcorn are just planted -  under cloches - £-land was selling some earlier in the year if you've one near you.

[Aunt Sally]

This is why farmers use hedges or netting to provide wind breaks.

A hedge or a net slows the wind down by filtering it through the leaves or mesh rather than blocking.  A solid wall fence or or other barrier would just cause a lot of turbulence and cause as much damage as if it wasn't there. 

[Aunt Sally]

There are some good diagrams on this pdf to show what I mean :

http://www.synthesisfabrics.com/Collateral/Products/External_File_3/Synthesis_Windbreaks.pdf

[Stevens706]

I've just planted out my squashes, I pushed canes in a square around each then wrapped fleece around them tying it in. This will stay for a week or 2 until they get established.

[shoozie]

There are some good diagrams on this pdf to show what I mean :

http://www.synthesisfabrics.com/Collateral/Products/External_File_3/Synthesis_Windbreaks.pdf

Really good diagrams Aunt Sally
that netting looks just slightly more high-tec than my kindling bags 

[Sharonx]

Hi - I always cut the top & bottom off of 2ltr bottles & put these over plants. Keeps them safe from wind & keeps water in when watering. Just need to cut them out when the plants are large enough to hold their own.