g'day kylie,

yes a very vexing question with no direct answer, being on an eastern
aspect should mean you have less of an affect than say someone on a
western aspect. a northern aspect should then fair better again.

and using sustainable permaculture type methods can seem to at times
make matters worse ie i am of the school of thought of mulching
heavily to insulate the root zones and while that does work well i
find that the only places i was getting visible frost was on top of
the mulch in light to medium frosts.

and again working the contours with mulch rows or swales is then going
to have the effect of trapping frost as it flows down the slope.
hopefully by putting these observations in the melting pot you then be
better able to work out some solution in your case, as you are there
on site and in real time.

now having said all of that our planning was over the long term to
create rows of trees to act as not only wind breaks and create shade
from the western sun but grown along the contours high up on the
western side they should then when much older help to lessen frost as
warm air is trapped with the tree planting canopy. if you read
mollesons into to perm' i think he alludes to this somewhere in there
but me not sure of that is i don't read hard copy that much.

anyhow saw a doco' on tv of later years about a chappy using p/c
principals around kempsey/casino area he usd tree canopy to all but
remove frost incidences from his project.

also to keep in mind where frost generally in still conditions will
flow down hill it can with a light breeze behind it be propelled
uphill.

and the frost we talk of here is the white visible type frost, these
can be managed using sprinklers from just before dawns greyness to
after the sun has risen, you can use covers, and another farmer trick
is to lay a smoke screen using fires burning green material in 44
gallon drums (might be frowned on in current time?) this lays a cover
of warm air like a blanket it needs to be down wind of the plants to
be protected.

BUT we found we wasted lots of water saving things that ultimately got
destroyed because a black frost came though these in our case would
come throuhg with the cold front usually around midnight, so in the
end we planted for hardiness and used the rule if they live they live
if they don't they don't as wasting water was not sustainable apart
from getting out of bed into the freezing cold outside while partener
was warm and cosy in bed mmm there ya go lol.

so in short trees and covers i reckon, you may need a grow tunnel so
you have the summer crops long enough?

happy new year

On Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:10:32 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

snipped


With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/