Protecting Our Winter Crops

Winter is on the way and it sure felt like it this past weekend. In preparation, we installed our row covers inside our tunnels to protect our winter crops as we transition into winter. It’s important to protect our crops from temperature fluctuations and help preserve warmth in the soil as we head into winter. The warmer we’re able to keep our crops and soil, the longer into the winter we’ll be able to bring you some of the more delicate winter crops we grow like salad turnips and radish.

The photo below captures the gist of our setup. We have wire hoops that straddle each bed with white row covers that are held in place with bungee cords. The bungee cords aren’t totally necessary but they are handy for holding the row cover up while we harvest. The row covers are anchored into the ground at each end of the bed with large staples.

We use the wire hoops to help suspend the row cover over our crops without touching them (except for kale - it’s too big!) which helps both reduce disease pressure by keeping moisture off of plant leaves. It also helps protect the crops better - if the row cover is damp and freezes and is touching the plant leaves then there’s a higher chance that crop will be damaged. There is management involved with the row cover. Depending on the temperature, cloud cover, etc, we’ll need to uncover the crops each morning and cover them again a couple hours before sunset.

The row cover provides around 4-5* of temperature buffering. Add that on top of the tunnel which keeps the wind off the plants and gives a couple more degrees of temp buffering. Finally, we have some heat banked in the soil. Overnight the soil gives off some heat and the row cover helps keep that heat closer to our crops. Taken together, this system has allowed us to produce lettuce - our most popular crop - into December consistently.