Protect plants with row cover fabric

From Bonnie Plants:

When the weather gets cold, we pull on sweaters or button our coats. The extra insulation holds our bodies’ heat inside the protective coverings. The same principle works for garden plants. Like a coat for the garden, a floating row cover will keep the cold night air and chilling winds away from tender leaves, trapping the soil’s warmth close to the ground around plants.

Just as a person living in Minnesota will need a heavier coat than one living in Georgia, not all gardens need a thick covering. Floating row covers, or frost blankets, are available in a range of thicknesses. Thin coverings allow about 70 percent of sunlight to reach plants, but they give minimal protection, usually to about 28 degrees. On the other hand, thicker coverings may shade out all but 30 percent of sunlight, but protection is better, usually about 24 degrees.

As implied by the name, floating row covers can be draped across plants without support. The material is similar in feel to interfacing fabric used in sewing. Made of polypropylene, they will not absorb water and become heavy after a rain. However, they will insulate plants better if supported above the plants. One way to do this is by creating a hoop house over your garden bed. When the covering is not needed, just remove it, but let the hoops remain, making installation even simpler in the future.

Whether you support your floating row cover or not, it needs to be anchored along its perimeter to hold it in place and to maintain its protective properties. Holding the sides down to the ground may be as simple as putting a brick on it to weight it down. Digging a shallow trench allows you to set the row cover in the trench and then anchor it by shoveling the soil on top of it. You can also buy 2-pronged staples to pierce the row cover and pin it to the ground.

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