row cover

I finally did this thing I've been mulling over for weeks- put together a kind of row cover for my tatsoi and tokyo bekana. More of an experiment than anything else, see how well it works for me.

I used sheets of bubble wrap over a bit of old wire garden fencing. Taped where there's gaps and tucked in at the bottom with leaf litter and soil, so I can just lift it up when I need to access.

It's not very tidy looking, but I think it's better than the individual plastic cloches I had over them before, to protect against overnight chills and snow. Today is sunny but later this week it's going to snow again several days in a row. I'm pleased when I look in through the end-

Have a slug trap in there too which I filled anew with yeast/sugarwater bait- as I'm guessing that in the warmth of the rowcover the slugs will be happy eat my plants. (Didn't put the lid on as it won't get rained on under here). One side-

and the other- the two tatsoi are behind the tokyo bekana near the plastic wall, you can barely see them. They are growing back already from the last time I cut to eat, though.

I'd really rather have the space full with more tatsoi, chard, lettuces and even broccoli rather than tokyo bekana- the last time we ate the chinese greens they didn't taste that great. I don't know if it's because I cut the leaves too early in the day- they're best if used right after harvest- or because they are really a hot-weather plant so just limping along now in the winter.

If I like how this works out for the last month of winter (and even into march, when we sometimes have late snow) I'll make a better row cover for next year- one to cover the whole bed, and try to grow some of the things that I really have a hard time with in the summer heat. Brussel sprouts, cabbage, maybe more kale . . .