Floating Row Cover
Using a floating row cover is an effective way to prevent damage from various insects such as potato bugs, earwigs, carrot maggots, caterpillars, and aphids.
- It's a thin, lightweight, black fabric used to cover the soil in the garden.
- It's water-permeable (allows water to soak through) and light-impermeable, which prevents most weeds from germinating underneath it.
- It comes in several widths, the most common being 3 feet wide (approximately 1 meter) and various lengths to fit your garden, ranging from 50 to 200 feet (15 to 60 meters).
- Figure out the size of your garden by referring to your garden plan, or multiply the length by the width of your garden to calculate its square footage or square meters.
- If you have a rectangular garden that is 10 feet wide by 15 feet long, you have 150 square feet or approximately 14 square meters (4 m × 6 m = 24 square meters).
- Buy enough row cover to blanket the entire garden, with some extra material for the edges.
- Cover the whole garden with the material and bury the edges in shallow trenches 3 inches wide (about 8 cm) and 2 inches (5 cm) deep.
- Carefully cut holes through it where you want to plant your seeds and seedlings.
- When the growing season is over and all your plants have been harvested, wash off the cover, let it dry, roll it up, and store it in a cool, dry place ready for the next spring.
- You can leave it on your garden over the winter, but it will slowly decompose from exposure to the sun and rain.
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