Hi all!
I've gardened all over the place (NJ, PA, VA, LA(New Orleans), OR) and now find myself in Los Angeles in a wholly new-to-me zone 10b. I live in a canyon and the soil is not great. On top of that we frequently get visited by mule deer that have quite an appetite. Therefore, I'm utilizing our second floor deck for my gardening needs.
I've been sourcing large containers of all sizes via Craigslist and am ending up with a bunch of 15 gallon, black nursery containers. I'll be growing vegetables (tomatoes, beans, lettuce, peppers, etc...) as well as flowers (sweet peas, 4 o'clocks, zinnias, Indian clock vine, etc...) and have a question regarding those black nursery containers and too much heat. The deck gets sun all day in most spaces, though, there are spots that are shady (under a full persimmon tree) and north facing.
I ran into this issue in New Orleans where we had an 80+ container garden. We noticed that those tomatoes in black pots in direct sun ended up having their coil "cooked".
It will be just as hot here in Los Angeles and I'm wondering:
a) is this a thing or were we just speculating on causes of poor tomato growth in New Orleans?
b) If it is a cause for concern, what can be done about it? I've thought of wrapping the containers in burlap or other shade cloth, but not sure if that will help.
Thanks for any insight!
