Market Farming

[Lucy Goodman <goodows AT infinet.com>]

This year we decided to see if we could keep row covers on our crops all
summer long and not roast everything. We found that not only did things
not roast but did far better under covers than exposed to the hot sun
and drying winds.

We do a 4' x 50' bed layout (except for 10, 400' beds) and use either
agri-pro 35 or 50-We used to use the 17 and 19 wgts but have found them
to be too flimsy (we have two cats that love to punch holes into
lightweight row covers but can't get through heavier ones). We use #9
gauge wire for hoops and weigh down the edges with rocks and bricks
placed about every 2' to 4'. We also use drip irrigation (netafim with
emitters every 3'). The combo of drip and row cover worked very well in
our drought conditions. The covers kept the sun off the plants and the
water in the soil so the tapes were very efficient (good because we have
an old and fairly shallow well that does the house and garden-can't let
it go dry, that would be way bad).

We were not very scientific about this but we did have control beds (no
covers but did have drip and either plastic or straw mulch) and we found
the crops that were covered until harvest did better than the ones with
no covers. In many cases we got almost normal yields under covers and
total failures with no covers. The one case where this was not true was
turnips. Under cover aphids would destroy them in about 5 days but with
no covers the turnips survived to make small roots, but the leaves would
get burned pretty badly.

We did not use covers on our tomatoes or peppers but next year we will
be covering the peppers as we suspect this will take care of our
sunscald problem and will probably boost yields.

The leaf crops (lettuce, mustards, spring mix, arugula) benefited the
most. The yields go up and the leaf quality is great (thinner, more
delicate) and they are harvestable earlier. Granted we did not grow the
leaf crops in July or August because we thought we couldn't afford the
water and didn't have the energy to get beds ready and planted. I
suspect these crops would do as well under white row covers as they
would under black shade cloth.

Roots, especially carrots love this system. Our carrots got huge, were
sweet and have only about 3% to 5% insect (rust and maggots) damage.

A trick to using row covers is when they go on a bed they must bed tight
or the wind will carry them away (I got to watch a dust devil take a
couple of 200 foot long covers, that were not held to the ground well,
about a month ago-it was beautiful watching the white covers flying in
the air against a stunning blue sky, until someone had to walk way out
in our neighbor's field to retrieve them-the chickens and dogs thought
the world was ending).

Consider row covers a year round implement, not just season extenders
-- 

Lucy Goodman-Owsley
Boulder Belt Organics
New Paris, OH
http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/boulderbeltcsa

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It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong
                                                                        
Voltaire (1694-1778)