Floating row cover is the organic gardener's best friend (2024)

• Season extension and protection for early crops - we are able to put hardy vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, kale, spinach and many other greens out in our garden a full month before our last frost date. This gives us a great 'head-start' on the season. I have never lost a plant protected by row cover.


• Insect protection - properly installed floating row cover makes a physical barrier against flying insects e.g. cabbage moth, cucumber beetle, leek moth. We would be unable to get a good yield from many crops without it.


• No hardening off - my transplants move from the plant starting room to one of the unheated greenhouse to the outdoor garden under row cover, WITHOUT hardening off. My experience says the floating row cover provides enough protection against cold and especially wind that hardening off is not required.

Floating row cover keeps the bugs away and frost at bay

I also use row cover on my cold frames; because they are permeable, the frames will not overheat as they would if covered by glass or plastic.

This is a good use for pieces if row cover that are too small for your garden beds. Caution: the row cover will let rain in, so if a heavy rain is predicted cover your cold frames with something impermeable to prevent flooding.

A couple years ago I figured how to grow meslcun (micro salad mixes) with less work. I started the seeds in trays with about 3/4 inch of damp ProMix.

I kept them covered with clear tray lids until they germinated, then put the trays out on pallets in a semi-shady area, and covered them with floating row cover to keep out bugs and falling debris. This worked very well, a bumper crop of salad greens with no weeds or bugs.

I grow mesclun in a soil-less mix (ProMix)and protect the trays with row cover.

• Our raised garden beds are 50-feet long and about 30-inches wide


• We use 72-inch lengths of wire to make hoops for row cover supports


• We insert the wire hoops about every 4 feet along the beds


• We tie the row cover supports together using garden twine; this helps to keep them stable


• we cover the hoops with 83-inch wide row cover, and bury the edges in the soil on both sides and the ends of the raised bed

Film mulch and row cover: the gardener's secret weapons

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