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  • From: pam AT twinoaks.org
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Re: Row covers and hoops
  • Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 19:46:38 -0500

I too have found that row cover floating on the plants
is less likely to blow off than that on hoops. But hoops
keep a nice balmy layer of air around the plants, which
spinach and lettuce seem to appreciate. So I'm trying
a double hoop system similar to that used in England
with plastic. Make inner hoops of thick wire (9 gauge)
with an eye at ground level on each side. (Bend the
wire around a dowel). Then make outer hoops of
thinner wire (22 gauge I think). Set the inner hoops in
the ground every 6', put on the row cover and pull it
tight and anchor the ends. Then thread the thin wire
through the eye on one end of a thick hoop and bend
it over. Make the outer hoop just a little smaller than
the inner one and thread the second end through the
eye at the opposite side. Yes, this is so much easier
with two people! Just bend up the ends of the thin
wire, out of harms way. Then weight down the 6' bays
along the edges, with sticks or rocks. We found we
needed twice as much weight as for covers without
hoops, to stop the wind lifting up the covers. Another
alternative is anchor pins or ground staples, but I hate
to have sharp metal in the garden, or to make holes in
the covers, so I don't do that.
Then when the wind blows, the cover is trapped
between the sets of hoops and won't fly up into the
trees. It's not very windy here, so I don't gaurantee
that this system would work everywhere......
Anchoring the ends well is vital - keeping the
cover taut helps the whole thing stay put. You could tie
the end of the cover to a stake in the ground, or weight
it very heavily. This system lets you take the weights
off along one edge and push the cover up to the
ridgeline of the hoops, for harvesting and weeding. It
beats removing the whole lot, just to have to put it all
back again.
I'd be interested in other people's experiences
with double hoops. I've seen pictures of two regular
hoops criss-crossed, one inside and one out, but I
think the hoops-with-eyes system is better than that.
Pam, Twin Oaks, Louisa, VA




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