Wednesday, May 4, 2011

We've Got You Covered!


In an attempt to expand our growing season here in the northern tundra, we’re experimenting with row covers to protect a couple of our earliest crops.  You can buy row cover kits online, but that’s just not the Kopp’s Crops way.  Why buy a kit, when Jason can build them from scratch? J The first step was cutting a spool of nine-gauge fencing wire into half circles to form the frames of the row covers.  Then we lined up the metal arches over the plants and pushed them into the ground approximately two feet apart.  At this point, Michelle developed an inexplicable desire to bust out the croquet mallet and see if she could clear every arch with a single shot (umm… doubtful!).  Finally, we rolled out a long strip of floating row cover material over the frames, and used a continuous line of dirt to secure the edges and keep it from blowing away.  And to keep out any small critters who may find themselves unable to resist their cravings for tender young plants.
At this point, our croquet wicket field has morphed into a couple of long skinny igloos.  Which is somewhat apropos, since the row covers should theoretically protect plants to temperatures 4-5 degrees below freezing.  So on Friday, we planted broccoli & Brussels sprouts plants under the row covers, and on Sunday night Mother Nature obligingly sent us a hard freeze to test our new temperature-taming technology.  Our unprotected spinach was on life support after the overnight frost exposure, but the plants inside the row covers all survived!  And as the weather (hopefully!) continues to get warmer, the row covers will also create a microclimate that will accelerate growth and protect our baby plants from insects and pests… and the occasional curious toddler.