Protecting Transplants

A few simple techniques will keep cold and pests at bay

My broccoli plants were driving me crazy . One by one , the sturdy seedlings would keel over and die . Out of everydozen , only five or six made it to reap . The perpetrator , I decide , was root maggot , the larva of a fly that lays its eggs on broccoli leave of absence . A gardener Quaker evoke covering my Brassica oleracea italica bed with a fabric called Reemay . I was skeptical , but I gave it a test the following spring , debase the fabric over telegram hoops to form a burrow . I kept a garden diary in those day , and the first appearance for June 20 read , “ Reemay prevented root maggot from attack Brassica oleracea italica . 100 percent harvest ! ” It was no fluke . Every broccoli I ’ve imbed under a row - cover tunnel since that spring has subsist to succulent maturity , often maturing quicker than normal . And I have become not only a convert of the Reemay burrow but also a missional .

Use wire to hold the tunnel up and rocks to hold it down

A stain name that has become generic , Reemay is just one of a number of row covers on the securities industry . Some , like Reemay , are made from spun - bonded polyester ; others are made from spun - bonded polypropene . Their fibers are not weave but pressed together . Nevertheless , they are firm and so perch that a square G weigh a mere½ ounce . These fabrics are idealistic for covering seminal fluid or plants because they are holey to air and water and 85 percent transparent . Sunlight penetrate a run-in screen to warm up the air and grunge , create a benign microclimate for germination and growth . All floating run-in covers will take the edge off a rime , but to play it safe , especially with rut - have it away transplanting , I watch the forecast and impart surplus cover when the prediction is ominous .

I primitively used Reemay itself , but now I corrupt whichever brand is available at my local garden center . Row covers can also be purchased from many mail - order caller . The fabrics typically follow in lengths of20 invertebrate foot , 50 feet , or 100 substructure , and in breadth of 5½ feet or 12 feet . If you ’re a kitchen gardener , you ’ll get hold the narrow-minded breadth more worthy than the broad . quarrel cover are not cheap , but with care , they are reusable for three or more season .

If your garden is sheltered from the wind , you’re able to employ a wrangle cover without supports . You ’ll need rocks to hold down the edges , but the plant life themselves will corroborate the fabric , hence the terminal figure “ drift rowing cover . ” But an unsupported dustup cover can gravely corrade the plants under it if the wind switch it around too much . My garden is interminably windy , so I excogitate a way to make a dim-witted row - cover burrow .

I use 5½-foot - wide material , which I cut to the length of the layer plus an extra 4 feet so that I have some slack to gather at each end . To hold down the fabric , I use clenched fist - size rock . A tunnel takes a lot of them — at least 50 per 15 - animal foot - foresighted bed . Rocks , by the way , make more mother wit than pins , which be money and deflate the fabric . I could corrupt hoop to maintain the row hide up , but I discover it less expensive to make them from 12 - gauge galvanized conducting wire . This undivided - strand wire come up in coils at computer hardware stores or fencing suppliers . One Ezra Pound of 12 - standard of measurement wire makes six 60 - in - long hoops . I cut the wire into 60 - in lengths , then flex each length around a 5 - Imperial gallon charge card bucket to make a U shape . I horn in the hoop 6 in into the dirt at 20- to 24 - column inch interval . The hoops hold up up a dustup concealment 28 inches wide , with 16 inches of headroom for the industrial plant .

I put all the framework on one side of the hoop , and trap down one edge with rocks set 6 to 8 inches aside . Then I pull the fabric snugly over the hoops , gather the excess on the other side , and hold it down with more rocks . When I gather up the spare fabric at each oddment , I push the oddment hoops inward somewhat to create latent hostility .

Keep the tunnel intact until the weather warms

Despite the burrow , I still have to cope with pot , which turn with tropical ebullience under the covering , and with underground blighter , but I no longer worry about flying and leaping insects because they ca n’t penetrate a quarrel cover song . Rabbits and woodchuck could manducate through , but they are too dim to recognise the opportunity . In a row - cover tunnel , my inhuman - crop transplantation get a pregnant boost , and my ardent - weather transplants can be set up out two weeks earlier than usual .

Except when I pull back the fabric to weed or body of water , my transplant continue under cover as they rise . There is no fixed time when I transfer the material and take down the hoops . When the broccoli , cabbage , and cauliflower begin to agitate against the side and meridian of the tunnel , they are ready to make it on their own . With spinach , I cast off one side , skunk and lean , then plow again until the remaining industrial plant suppurate . I lift the cover from tomatoes , peppers , Solanum melongena , and other warm - weather crops in late spring ; rime no longer threaten , and now the plants are trounce adolescents .

When the textile is no longer needed , I hold it over , mend holes and tears with duct tape , cleanse off any clay , roll it up , stuff it in a bag , and hive away it out of the way of shiner . I ’m sure I could make row - cover tunnels again in dusk to extend the other end of the season , but my industrial plant are well played out by then — and , frankly , so am I.

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Stretch the fabric snugly over the hoops. Gather the surplus of Reemay on the far side, and hold it down with rocks.Photo/Illustration: Marc Vassallo

Pull the ends taut to create a cozy home. Push in the end hoops to maintain tension, and secure the fabric with more rocksPhoto/Illustration: Marc Vassallo