Plant your Garden Earlier in the Spring using Floating Row Covers

Hi, this is Dirt Farmer Jay from DirtFarmerJay.com and today I'd like to show you another season extension strategy. By employing this strategy, you can get some crops into the ground faster. I like to use this for some of the cool weather crops, things like lettuce, cabbage, kale, spinach, those sort of things that you can actually put out where it's still a little cooler, but with a little assist you get them to grow faster. And this strategy also has the added benefit of actually providing a physical deterrence or block to the moths that are going to flit around about this time of year and lay their eggs all over. Those are where those cabbage loopers come from. So if they can't get access to these plants, these plants are going to grow very nicely because they're wind protected, they're a little bit warmer, moisture is retained, and they don't have pressure from insects as well. So what am I talking about? Well, this is called floating row cover, it's a polyester blend, you've probably seen this type of material in different settings, sometimes you see this type of thing stapled on the bottom side of mattresses or under furniture. It allows air to pass through and a certain percentage of light as well. And this is applied simply over a set of wire hoops. I use a wire hoop that is actually off of a spool of wire that you can buy in an agricultural supply. It comes in pound rolls, and what I mean, not one pound, but it'll be like in a 50 pound roll or a 100 pound roll. It's very stiff, takes a large side cutting plier to cut it, but it provides enough structural strength and flex that you simply would cut equal size sections out of the loop and press it into the bed. This happens to be a raised bed application. Watering under this, you would simply lift back the edge of the one side of the covering and be able to water under it and then affix it back with clips, in this case we're just using common clothesline clips that hold it all in place. The idea here again is simply to keep insects out of it, retain moisture, increase warmth, and keep wind off of it and you'll enjoy a great harvest and start a little bit earlier. You can also use this later in the season, in the late summer into the fall to get in one more crop of some of those cool weather crops that you enjoy so much. If you like the video, simply like it on our channel, also pass it on to somebody else that could use this information, and if you have a comment or insight that you'd like to offer, feel free to do that in the comment section and we'll get back to you. Until the next time, this is Dirt Farmer Jay from DirtFarmerJay.com.