Row cover is most commonly consort with protecting crops from stale , but its utility hardly cease there . Over the years , we have learned to use various tightness of row cover in our gardens in many dissimilar ways . Some may seem obvious , but other ways we use basic row covers may storm you . Buying row cover is an disbursement , and it can be a headache to pull on and off for cultivations and to get to your harvest , but in our experience this Cartesian product has prove invaluable . It helps in the fields , and always pays off at the securities industry table .
Field Gemination Chambers
Every spring , we use a sight of row masking in our gardens . We have get hold that because it has the power to ensnare some moisture and retain some estrus , row cover will increase the soil temperature enough to germinate crops more speedily . How it work is that we will set some ground , sow a crop and come in the visible light row insure flat against the soil , secured with dirt , rocks , sandbags or whatever you have handy . at long last , this reduces the amount of transplantation we need to do , and grows crop faster in the springiness so we are often the first to our grocery store with thing like prickly-seeded spinach , moolah , daikon , turnip and other direct - seeded crops .
“Scarecrow”
One place we never neglect to use run-in cover is in our sweet corn . We will soak the mellisonant corn , seed it and then cover the seam with a light source wrangle cover . Then we will allow it to germinate and penetrate the soil before take out the row covering once the corn turn over about 6 in tall . The young corn is hardy and will have no trouble push the row cover off of the ground . The goal here is to help preclude crow damage , and it has always worked for us .
However , crows are smart and may dig through the words covering fire to get to the angelical corn , so the employment of a secondary “ bird-scarer ” is still not a high-risk idea . words cover may also help oneself protect your crops from rabbit , squirrels and cervid , though deer may paw through it if they want something within . Generally , we have found this not to be the case , but it is technically possible . That said , keep your crops out of reach of larger pests will increase return and at last sale .
Pest Protection
Few thing can compromise the salableness of a crop quite like a cuss litter it with tiny bite — it is hard to betray half - corrode boodle or arugula with a millionflea beetleholes . However , throw some light row back or inset roadblock ( aka really light row book binding ) overtop of a harvest to aid keep it looking crisp and pristine for the market place tabular array .
Disease Protection
Another rationality it is crucial to keep cuss off is n’t just for look , yield or longevity of the crop , but also for keeping disease off and from spread out . Pests like thecucumber beetleare adroit at channel diseases , such asmosaic virus , from plant to plant . Row cover prevents the pesterer and thus the disease which can stimulate wilting , discoloration , smear and at long last piteous take .
Protection From Cold
Then , of grade , is the obvious reasonableness most of us already use rowing cover : frost protection . By throwing row natural covering over beds — and , notably , keep it suspended above the harvest so as not to touch the untested leaf — you could keep craw from being stamp out by frigidity . Sometimes , look on the density of the cover , the winter conditions and the farm location , some heavy row back in the arena can keep crop alive for well into the colder months . This will certainly be obvious at the marketplace board when you are not only the first to market with lettuce or kale , but also the last to still have it .
