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How to build a row cover for a garden.

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A row cover can help extend your gardening season up to four months.

Row covers are easy to build, basically you create a curved or square frame running the length of your garden bed. The material I use is PVC pipe which I bend using a jig.; You simply measure; your curved distance; from one side of the bed to the other.; Mine are 18 inches wide and I want the top of the covers to be 18 inches.; So you multiply 18 times three and add an additional 8 inches so the PVC pipe can extend 4 inches into the ground each side.;

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Note each gardening zone varies so the time you can extend your gardening season will vary with zone.
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Table of Contents

How to Build a Row Cover

Also called a Mini Greenhouse

Row covers 101

You can build a row cover for any garden plot

Row covers can be made for containers as well as garden plots. The wider the space the higher the cover will have to be to drain the water correctly. I stick with 18 inch wide beds, they can be 300 feet if you want them to be.
Containers simply put a piece of wood in each corner and the center of both sides and drape clear plastic over it. Place a few rocks or bricks on each edge of the plastic and you just gained 5-15 degrees in the night cold.

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You can use row covers on these Mittleider soil beds.

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Add even more heat with water bottles

I use one gallon plastic containers

For my gardens with row covers I place a filled one gallon plastic jug about every five feet. During the day the water warms up and it adds another 3-7 degrees in the covered bed. This total 8-15 degrees difference might not sound like much but it is huge for extending your season. You can avoid "Light frosts" using Row covers and Plastic water jugs at night.

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Adding nutrients directly to your plants

One added benefit of using the water jugs for heat.

What I do is add in 2 Tsp. Mittleider weekly feed into each 1 gallon water jug. This way each day I n water my plants with nutrient filled water. Also called the poor mans hydroponics the Mittleider method puts the 13 nutrients plants need to grow right into the soil. By adding the weekly feed to the water it is easier for the plants to absorb. The heating process also help to break the weekly feed dissolve.

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  • Reply
    Tipi Sep 13, 2011 @ 1:07 pm | delete
    Hot water bottles, a cool idea! I don't garden other than plants in my apartment but found this so interesting since I've always lived in the north with a need to extend the growing season. A well taught DIY that will have great rewards to those who follow your guidelines.
  • Reply
    Pukeko Jun 10, 2011 @ 4:52 am | delete
    Love the idea of the hot water bottles.
  • Reply
    Duston Jan 19, 2011 @ 9:41 am | delete
    Extending the growing season here in Ohio is almost mandatory and this is how the majority of the local nurseries go about doing it...great job here! One of the more popular plants up here in the Northeast are Japanese Maples and they do so much better in row covers. We've got a web page that talks more about different types of Japanese Maples if anyone is interested...go to Japanese Red Maple Trees.
  • Reply
    CreativeArtist Nov 15, 2010 @ 11:16 am | delete
    Adding the hot water bottles is such a great idea for extending the growing season!
  • Reply
    stargazer00 Nov 8, 2010 @ 10:45 am | delete
    Great ideas for extending the gardening season.
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