Donna Young's Blog: Lettuce & Floating Row Cover

Lettuce & Floating Row Cover

Donna Young @ 30 May 2008
Filed in Categories: Lettuce

http://donnayoung.org

This year I am growing lettuce under a floating row cover. A floating row cover is a very light fiber fabric. I buy mine from Gardens Alive!. I have been using garden's alive products for a very long time. I recommend them. Enter floating row cover in the search box and you will find two. Mine are not the heavy weight, just the regular.

Okay, now you know what a floating row cover is. Apply the cover either when you plant the seeds or as soon as they sprout. The goal is to protect the plants before the bugs find them. I covered the lettuce after planting the seeds. I used branches for support hoops, but that is not good, branches are rough and will tear the cover. If you use branches, cover them with something (such as duct tape). The cover doesn't really need to be supported. It is lightweight enough that is rises with the plants as they grow. I just like supporting the cover. I think it looks nice.

This is an image of the floating row cover. I bury the edges in a trench. When I need to weed, I carefully free the edges and lay back at least half of the cover. Another benefit of the cover is less weeds. Apparently quite a bit of the weeds that germinate in the garden are from air borne seeds and the cover blocks them. I should say that this plot was double dug and amended quite well with compost and that could be another factor in this bed having fewer weeds than the rest of my garden.

floating row cover

Here are the pictures of the lettuce plants under the cover. This lettuce bed was planted on May 1st.

This image shows the lettuce a few days after they germinated. They have the first set of true leaves.

seedlings

Seven Days Later

Five Days Later

Five Days Later

The leaves have raindrops in this image. The floating row cover allows rain to pass through.

Lettuce Variety: Summer Crisp - Looseleaf Type
Harvest in 56 days

The plants seem to be growing well enough and if they do not bolt, then we will have some nice lettuce to eat in a couple of weeks. The lettuce seems to be bug-free and healthy and that's what this is all about - bug-free, pesticide-free lettuce.

Note: Use floating row covers on plants that do not require pollination.

Lettuce,

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Appliejuice · May 30, 05:38 PM · #

That looks nice! Did you plant seeds every two weeks to have a nice supply?
Appliejuice · May 30, 05:42 PM · #

Donna, Did you buy the heavyweight or the lighter cover? I am thinking of getting the lighter cover, especially with that nice discount. Thanks for the tip.
Donna Young · May 30, 05:53 PM · #

Michelle, mine are the normal weight.

I did not plant the seeds two weeks apart. I started growing lettuce too late to have a nice long harvest, it is a spring/fall/winter plant. Later this year, maybe August, I would like to plant lettuce seeds again.
Sheri · May 31, 12:09 AM · #

So, when they bolt, where do they go?

You are inspiring and I like seeing all your garden pics and reading the tidbits of gardening wisdom. I`ll show this to hubby and maybe he would like to try this later this summer.
Donna Young · May 31, 12:32 AM · #

Thank you, Sheri.

They shoot for the sky. When lettuce bolts, the plant sends up a tall stalk which blooms and makes seeds. At that point, the plant puts all of its energy into producing seeds.
Elaine · Jun 1, 01:39 AM · #

I learn so much from you about gardening. I would have liked to get lettuce going as it grows really well up here with the long days but not sure when that will happen. I do look forward to seeing how your garden continues to progress.