Comments & Feedback

I invite you to use the comments feature below to ask questions or share any insights you have about using row cover fabric in the garden. Your feedback will benefit others who stop by. Thank you.
Posted by

28 comments:

  1. Herrick, you're a wiz . . . . I love all your sites.

    ReplyDelete

  2. Thanks Joyce. I love the encouraging feedback. :-)

    ReplyDelete

  3. Hi Herrick
    I have just read your row cover hoop system and I think you would be interested in my site: http://www.veggiecare.com
    Best wishes, John

    ReplyDelete

  4. I like this system, and I'm going to give it a try this year. The "clothespins" are my favorite part.

    Thank you!
    Shelley
    Whistling Train Farm
    Kent, WA
    www.whistlingtrainfarm.com

    ReplyDelete

  5. Here's a thought. Instead of messing with the 36" spacer boards, mark the string with a black marker at 36" intervals and eyeball the perpendicular between the string and the stake spacer. Store the string for next year.

    Long time fan of the blog, agrarianism, and God.

    H

    ReplyDelete

  6. Is your soil fairly hard to hold the stakes sturdy with such a short hoop of PVC? (I'm assuming the PVC is 1/2" thinwall pressure pipe) I've got really soft sandy ground here and a 10" stake seems very short. I've made 1/2" 7' long hoops hold strong using 2' rebar as stakes.

    Cool idea and great instructions, I love the home made monster cloths pins. Probably far easier and quicker than cutting PVC sleeve clamps which would probably damage the fabric.

    ReplyDelete

  7. Hi Herrick,
    I've tried to order your hoop kit for several days, but it keeps telling me the order was unable to go through. I was using a master card. If I mailed you a check, cash, or a credit card number could you mail a kit to me? If I have a pattern for the clothespins, I think I have someone who will cut them out for me. Thanks for your good and timely garden info.
    Jean in Michigan

    ReplyDelete

  8. Jean in Michigan,
    Sorry to hear that you can't use the PayPal order button. You can certainly order by mail with a check or cash or money order (but I can't process credit cards). Send your order to:

    Whizbang Books
    PO Box 1117
    Moravia, NY 13118

    Many thanks,

    Herrick Kmball
    www.WhizbangBooks.com

    ReplyDelete

  9. Anonymous-

    My soil is also sandy and once tilled, it is very loose. But the 10" stakes do the job. I push them down until the shoulder is about level with the soil once it has settled. The pictures show the stakes a tad high. I'm pretty sure the 10" length will do the job for you. But you could make them 12" just in case.

    ReplyDelete

  10. Herrick, this looks great. A couple of questions:
    1. Do you know what would happen if we simply pushed the ends of the pipe directly into the ground (for well-tilled soil)?
    2. Instead of making the giant clothespins, have you ever tried Snapclamps?
    (www.snapclamp.com)
    In my case, I am gardening in soil that I've laid in raised rows over a surface of clay with some stone, which wooden pegs won't penetrate. I'll try rebar (as soon as I figure out how to cut it).
    Thanks,
    Don

    ReplyDelete

  11. I love your stuff!

    and those snapclamps from the last post look GREAT.

    ReplyDelete

  12. Herick, i like all your sites, your blog has inspired me to get out of the rat race and semi-retire on acreage and become self supporting to some degree.

    while i live in a different climate then you(i live in darwin, Australia) i have found your ideas relevant.

    ReplyDelete

  13. I'm amazed at how often your website appears with useful information, when i'm searching online! I'm wondering: What about just laying the fabric directly on the seedlings, and weighing it down? Have you tried this? What is the benefit of using the hoops?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

  14. Looking for your email! :-( I built the cart and wanted to give you some feedback!

    TIA

    Joe

    ReplyDelete

  15. Hi Joe,

    My e-mail is: hckimball@bci.net

    Thanks,

    Herrick

    ReplyDelete

  16. I garden in raised beds and have used the hoops for years but with plastic to get plants started quicker in our wet Oregon weather. I put the hoops on in Jan. to start warming up the soil and to get it to dry out. I plant kitchen gardens under them in Feb. I also use the hoops with the row covers to extend the season for cool weather crops. We don't have a lot of pests here but the cabbage moths can be a problem so I use them for that also. I drill holes down the sides of the boards (2"x10") of my raised beds and insert a short piece of rebar and install the hoops over them, works great....James

    ReplyDelete

  17. I really like the idea behind this and intend to try it on some of my raised beds and row crops this year.
    I have a HUGE problem with Vine Borers here. Please tell me that this system will help with that.

    Also, is there any reason you couldn't make the hoops higher/wider and just leave it on all season? The cabbage worms and potato bugs could be eliminated this way. To hot maybe as the Summer gets going?
    Thanks!
    YerUnk

    ReplyDelete

  18. I was wondering where to buy those kinds of rubber bands, maybe a dumb question...

    Could I just make them out of an inner tube?

    ReplyDelete

  19. English vintner—
    They are made out of bicycle tubes.

    ReplyDelete

  20. I made the hoops like you suggested and they work great. I also made the big cloths pins and bought some Agribon 15. Maybe it's windier here in Texas but the Agribon got ripped to shreds and the cloths pins didn't hold the Agribon on the hoops. I did some internet sloothing and I have ordered some 6'wide nylon netting from vogue fabrics. I got two 40 yard bolts for $52.00. I am hoping this will be stronger. I just need the cover to keep out the bugs, not for warmth. I am going to use bricks and rocks to hold the cloth down. Thanks for the instructions and keep up the good work. God bless!

    ReplyDelete

  21. I've started playing with a pipe bender I bought that'll turn a 10ft piece of 1/2" EMT into a 6 ft diameter hoop. Just plant them right into the dirt and use 10' wide spun bonded polyester to cover a pair of garden rows.
    The tunnels are very strong, and with 19wt Agribon it seems just cozy enough in there for cold hardy seedlings to get an early start (they survived 15" of snow last week!).
    I like the giant clothespin idea, maybe I'll fab something like that in the shop this week -my systems are secure, but a hassle to remove when I need to water and weed.
    Do you water right through the row cover?
    Remove it to water?
    Or install an irrigation system within the row cover?
    Thanks, I love your site!

    ReplyDelete

  22. YES>>>>> Was going to email you about the watering? How does that happen when the Heavens do not pour forth as fondly wished? ;)
    I use gallon milk jugs with ONE TINY, TINY hole drilled in the bottom so as to water ONLY twhere it is needed. This is indeed a lot of work, but my cultivating is almost nil because I dont water weeds. However, when the plants get so big, this gets tough.

    Suggestions?

    ReplyDelete

  23. McConkey Company has a 6' row cover that's specs are equivalent to Agribon AG-30 for a better price than agribon.

    http://www.mcconkeyco.com/product/dewitt-deluxe-plus-row-cover-dewdp610

    ReplyDelete

  24. I used row covers this year for the first time and harvested summer squash and tomatos for the first time. I live in zone 2, by the way. I have found that sand bags are the easiest cheapest form of holding the row cover down. Fast, simple, easy, won't tear the fabric and cheap. The only down side is they weigh a chunk. Easy off and easy on. The row cove never budged all summer even in high winds, but are quickly and easily removed for harvest under the tunnel. Here is the link for cheap sand bags if interested.

    ReplyDelete

  25. Opps forgot the link. http://www.uline.ca/Product/Detail/S-11052/Mesh-Sand-Bags/12-x-20-Sand-Bags

    ReplyDelete

  26. Hi: I did the wrong thing and my damp, dirty reemay cloth is now moldy. Is there a way to clean it (use water and dilute Clorox?)and air dry it? I want to save it for use again.
    Megan
    pueo@live.com

    ReplyDelete

  27. Enter your comment...Herrick, I have used the basic "caterpillar cloche" row cover system like yours for 20 years, and solved the hold-down problem with one strand of good polypropylene bailing twine running along each side, just outside the hoops. In fact, that's how I lay out the hoop lines, with the 2 lines of bailing twine. The row cover material goes around the twine once and pinched with a regular hardwood clothespin. This system withstands any kind of wind, because the bailing twine is incredibly strong and last for years. And it relieves all strain points on the fabric so it never tears. And it allows the material to be pulled tight from each end, before you begin to clothespin the edges. And you can even “tension the fabric” when you pin it because the twine is under tension. Tensioning the fabric lengthwise is important in a wind. The trick is to use a stout stake at each of the four corners, so that you can put the bailing twine under quite a bit of tension. Steel construction stakes 1-2 ft long are the best, and a lifetime investment. The clothespins can be place every 4-10 ft depending on the season. This system works on all fabrics except polyethylene 4 mil or thicker, because the thick poly is just so slippery. I don’t think your clips would work on such slippery stuff either in a wind. This system works fine with the 1 mil 9 ft wide cheap painter’s poly though, and the commercial thin poly pre-slitted row cover. You may think this system sounds flimsy, but it isn’t. This is the only way to do it right without a hassle, believe me. From Mark Albert, Mendocino Permaculture.

    ReplyDelete

  28. Mark, That's a brilliant idea. I want to make sure I fully understand... The baling twine is stretched tight between two stakes and not in any way connected to the hoops, right? And you place the row cover fabric over the twine, tucking it under the twine, before putting the clothespins on it? Or do you run the fabric under the twine and clothespin it? How long of a row can you make with the string and stakes before the string has too much slack? There are no other hold-down methods along the length, except the clothespins? Your idea sounds very good and 20 years is a long time! What are you using for the hoops? How far apart do you place them in the row? Are they 5ft or 6ft long with 6ft of row cover on them? I hope you can answer these questions. Best wishes,

    Herrick kimball

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)