Floating Row Cover 1

Sprouts: Growing Healthy Kids in the Garden

Floating Row Cover

[Month]: September

[Theme]: “Garden Prep”

[Grade Level]: Fifth Grade

Overview Students build a floating row cover as an organic means of pest control.

Objective To demonstrate knowledge of how to build a row cover.

Activity: 60 Minutes

1. Talk to students about organic pest management and how row covers can protect plants from insect and animal pests as well as provide shade or warmth for growing plants.

2. Place 18-inch-long rebar stakes in each corner of your vegetable bed and every 24 to 36 inches along the sides. For example, a four-foot-long bed will have three sets of stakes, one set on either end of the bed and one in the middle. Using a mallet or hammer, drive the stakes into the ground until only 8 to 10 inches of the stake remains above the soil line.

3. Arch pieces of 1/2 inch flexible plastic tubing over the bed to create the row cover frame. You want the apex of each arch to be about 18 inches above your plants. Cut the tubing into four to six foot lengths, depending on the width of your bed and the height of your plants.

4. Starting at one end of the garden bed, slide a piece of the tubing over a rebar stake. Arch the tubing across the bed, placing the other end of the tubing onto the stake on the opposite side of the bed.

5. Use a six-foot-wide piece of row cover material for garden beds that are three to five feet wide. If your garden bed is less than three feet across, you can use a row cover with a smaller width. Cut the fabric to the length of the bed plus four feet. Cutting extra material allows you to create

Background Documents

A basic row cover consists of a hoop-like frame draped in different kinds of material - from plastic to fabric netting, depending on its purpose. Row covers are an inexpensive organic means of protecting young crops from both animal and insect pests. Row covers can extend the seasons for growing certain crops outdoors by keeping the area around the plant a little bit warmer than the air. They can also shade delicate crops during the summer. Because the material draped over the cover can be changed, hoop structure row covers can be useful in all seasons and for a number of different purposes.

Materials

To Purchase: $45

§ Several 18 inch rebar stakes $15

§ 72-inch-wide row cover fabric $10

§ 1/2-inch flexible plastic tubing $10

§ Landscape fabric pins or bricks $10

Floating Row Cover 2

a "tent" that completely encloses the frame, including the ends.

6. Drape the fabric over the frame. Secure all of the edges by pinning them into place with landscape fabric pins or rolling the extra material around bricks. Make sure the edges are tightly secured to prevent insect pests from entering. You can also clip a large binder clip in the middle of each arch to hold the fabric in place.

Tips and Advice:

§ Plant your vegetables before you build the frame.

§ If you cover plants that must be pollinated by insects to produce fruit (squash, cucumbers, melons, etc.), remove the row covers when the plants begin to flower to give pollinators access.

§ Check underneath the row cover every couple of days. Look for insects, signs of disease, make sure that the soil is moist, and harvest.

§ You can reuse row cover fabric year after year.

§ Flexible plastic tubing is available in the plumbing section of hardware stores.

Resources

“How To Build A Row Cover Frame.” Willi Galloway. http://www.ehow.com/how_2101941_build-row-cover-frame.html. Accessed February 12, 2010.

Evaluation

Survey for teachers to fill out. Have students write Journal entries.

In Stock:

§ Mallet § Extra-large binder clips

Photos of Project

Student Art/Comments