Growing After Frost: A Quick & Dirty Guide to Using Row Cover
It’s late October and we’re starting to get that autumn chill in the air!
Fall is hands-down my favorite time to garden: vegetables will get sweeter with cooler weather, it’s so enjoyable to work in the garden, and some of my favorite crops (like mustard greens and turnips) are at their peak in the autumn (psst- want to know what you should be planting in fall? Check out our month-by-month planting calendar).
Gardening in fall and into the winter is a blast, but you need a secret weapon to make it happen: Season Extension.
What is Season Extension?
Freezing Temperatures (around 30 F) can start to impact our plants’ abilities to survive, and many plants will stop growing and die when it starts to gets really cold. Season Extension is a way to literally “extend the season” and continue to enjoy the bounty of your garden well after frost has come.
Yep, that’s right. You can harvest Kale on Christmas. Turnips on New Year’s Day. Radishes on Thanksgiving…. you get the idea.
Season extension works by creating a mini micro-climate in your garden. The most common example of creating an intentional micro-climate is a greenhouse! The glass and plastic on greenhouses trap heat inside the space, making it warmer than the outside.
The good news? You don’t need a whole greenhouse to keep growing food into the winter! All you need is some row cover, wire hoops, and a little know-how.
How to Use Row Cover to Grow After Frost
Underneath a blanket of row cover!
There are different types of season extension methods you can use, like cold frames, hot beds, greenhouses, or high tunnels, but using row cover is by far the easiest and cheapest method.
Row cover is a large, fabricated blanket designed specifically to keep plants warm while still letting in as much sunlight as possible.
Row Cover Weights
There are different “weights” of Row Cover. The heavier the “weight,” the more protected your plants will be against frost, but the less sunlight will come through for your plants! We recommend getting 1-2 sheets of row cover for your plants in the mid-weight range (around 30-60%), plus a layer of plastic
Using Hoops with Row Cover
Gardeners use hoops to hold up row cover, so that the plants are in a little “tunnel” under the cover, rather than the cover touching the plants. There are lots of options for hoops- wire, pvc, or wooden frames are some of the most popular. We like to use wire hoops because they are the easiest to find and still very easy to use!
Row Cover Sizes
There are also different sizes of row cover. When you’re looking for row cover, be sure to select a size that will cover your entire area and account for the extra width created by the hoops. A good rule of thumb is to keep 2ft on all sides. For example, if you have a raised bed that is 10 ft long x 4 ft wide, you want to use a piece of row cover that is 14 ft long x 8 ft wide.
Using Plastic with Row Cover
You can use large sheets of plastic, laid over your row cover and hoops, in very low temperatures. Plastic will trap more of the heat inside and keep your plants better protected from extreme temperatures.
Use this basic guide to help you determine when to add row cover layers and plastic to your garden
When to Put Row Cover on Your Vegetable Garden
We recommend adding a mid-weight row cover to your garden before first frost, and taking it off when temperatures are above frost.
A super-simple guide on how to “install” row cover:
Add the wire hoops first by wedging the pointy ends into the soil, deep enough that they are standing up by themselves in the raised bed. Add a hoop every 3 feet or so, so that you are creating a little “mini-tunnel” over your vegetables
Gently drape your row cover over the hoops and raised bed, making sure every plant is covered and protected by the cover.
You can “tuck in” any extra row cover into the beds and use fist-sized rocks or bricks to weight it down, so it doesn’t blow away in the wind.
Row cover is permeable, meaning it will let in rain. However, you still want to be checking in on your garden to make sure your plants are still getting enough water through the cooler months!
Places to find Row Cover & Hoops in Columbus, Ohio:
Beechwold Farm Market, run by Swainway Urban Farms (our personal favorite- the folks who run the shop will be able to answer any questions you have about what kind/size of row cover will best suite your needs!)
City Folks Farm Shop
Straders
Oakland Nursery
Other tips & tricks to growing in the fall & winter:
Use mulch and/or straw around plants to give them another layer of insulation around their roots
Plants don’t need as much water in the fall and winter as they did in the summer, but we DO recommend watering deeply before a hard freeze. This helps protect the plants!
Consider keeping a small thermometer in your raised bed(s) so you can keep an eye on how hot or cold your mini micro-climate is!