Yes very much so a winter tease. It will probably rain tomorrow and after which the temperatures are going to drop again.

Transplanted, I moved from Greenville, SC to Raleigh 2 1/2 years ago. Both are in zone 7, but recent years we have had z. 8 winters. I recently planted spinach, leaf lettuce, mizuna, radishes, cilantro and a mild mustard in 4 x 8 beds covered with shade cloth. All of these have come up and survived the recent temperature drops into the mid-teens. We are eating spinach and Bibb lettuce that was started in October and which I cover only on nights of extreme cold. There are also leeks, button onions, cilantro and carrots that have survived and are growing, albeit slowly, since late fall with no protection other than a heavy pine needle mulch. Use of a thin fabric shade cover will allow you to grow lots of cool weather crops in our area - it keeps the frost from forming and frost is what often does the damage. I notice that the fabric that I am using is still available from Park Seed. They call it Park's Plant Protector and a 6 foot wide roll 30 feet long costs about $11 for one or $19 for 2(see p. 85 of their Spring 2008 catalog. By the way, I use 9 gauge wire cut in pieces 7 feet long to support the shade cloth. A 50 foot roll from Lowe's costs roughly $8. Several sizes are labeled Multi-purpose wire, so be sure that the package says 9 gauge. Anything with a higher gauge no. will be thinner and too weak to support the cloth cover. A wire with a lower gauge will be stiffer and more difficult to cut and bend. Pick up a roll of thin polyethylene plastic to put over the shade cloth when the weather gets really cold. The shade cloth can be left on more or less permanently (rain goes right through it), but the plastic has to be pulled back once the sun starts to heat things.

Cool info - thanks to you both!
RalphW, what are your raised beds made from? Cedar is expensive and treated is poisonous.

I bought a couple of thin sheets of untreated 4 x 8 plywood from Lowes. I had them cut the sheets into 2 foot wide by 8 foot long pieces to make them easier to handle (the first cut is free - each additional is 50 cents). When I got them home I cut them into six-inch wide by 8 foot long strips and further cut a few strips into 4 foot lengths for the ends. I also bought a bundle of surveyors' stakes to use to hold the plywood strips in place while I prepared a bed. I fill the walkways between beds with leaves and pine needles to eliminate weeds and muddy shoes. As soon as the sides are firm enough that they stay in place without support, I remove them and the stakes for use in making the next bed. If they were left in place, they would rot fairly quickly since I am using untreated plywood. I have one assembled 4 x 8 frame made of treated 1 x 6-inch lumber that I can set onto an existing bed for a short time when it is time to reshape it. The rest of the time this frame is kept out of the garden to prevent leaching of its preservatives. Some of the beds have been double-dug. It is my intent to not dig them again in the future, but only add compost (and fertilizer and/or lime, if necessary) to the top of the bed to avoid stirring up any weed seeds. The biggest unsolved problem that I have with this system is with slug damage, especially to seedlings and small transplants. I am going to start now to reduce the adult population to try and prevent their proliferation when warm weather arrives.

i was concerned about the same dilemma. our solution was for one area of my garden i used the thickest, tallest aluminum flashing we could find (about 18") and pounded in conduit poles cut to the right height alternating inside and out, and those beds have held up really well for about 3 or 4 years now. some are used for annual crops, and some have dwarf fruit trees in them with perennials at their base. i've been adding a good thick layer of mulch and compost on each year to add to the soil, which goes down a surprising amount. i stopped watering the annual beds fairly quickly last year and what surprised me the most was how fast the soil went down- i didn't realize how much water fluffs up soil. i know that sounds silly, but i'm talking it went down 4-6" in a matter of months just from lack of water. i don't know when we start to get regular rain again if i'll need to fluff it manually or it will replump back up. i plan to add some compost, etc on top soon anyhow.

if you can keep stuff watered, it's not too early to plant at all. it's a great time. ralph's solution is essentially what i do, too- but not as elaborate. i lay my reemay down, let it hang over the edges of my beds, and lay a long bamboo pole on the ground one either long side to hold it down. when the stuff is really growing, we let the plants push it up as they like. since i started with the reemay i have been really pleased at how much protection and subsequent growth it offers. you can do it without, but you won't get as much out of your crops til it warms a little. they'll stay small and in holding mode, waiting out the cold. before the reemay and on beds where it's impractical, i use christmas tree branches as mulch/shade/bird protection, and they worked well. it's too late now, but at christmastime the big boxes are happy to give away their trimmings for free. the reemay/branches also offer a bit of help in holding in moisture- important right now. i'm planting only a very small amount this winter that i know i can water with wastewater by hand.

Wow! Both of these solutions are fantastic ideas I had not thought of for raised bed gardening. Thanks, Ralph and Tam!
I had been looking last Fall for something to use but at the time I was thinking of something that would be much taller. I have a cat and wanted to discourage her from using my vegetable garden as a litter box. I ended up using an old, damaged cedar chest with drainage holes drilled through the bottom. It's not very big but at least I'll be able to grow a few things. Thanks again, ---Sandi

i forgot to mention the one thing about the flashing method- it's not super pretty. we got some really strange looks at first. it stays fairly clean, though some dirt does go up along it from heavy rains. easy enough to rub or in wetter times, spray off. i'm trying to get the walkways in that area flush with ground covers (mazus, oregano, blue star, thyme, chamomile, etc) so that's no so much an issue. also, we bent over the top inch or so of the flashing to help make it sturdier and less apt to cut you, which is a 2 person job. it would be easier with a brake, but we scored and bent it by hand. we grommited (sp?) the edges together, overlapping them by a good 6" or more.

another thought if you were more concerned with looks would be to use whatever you want and line the sides with something- heavy plastic, pond liner, etc.

using a cedar chest is a good idea. i wonder if any of the aromatic oils would work their way into the soil and then the food? don't think it would be harmful, just taste a little funny maybe. there was a cedar growing to the one side of where we did the metal beds that we cut down for light, and i've never noticed anything weird, but it was a thought.

along the same lines, we have a whole row of the big rubbermaid type 18 and 32 gallon tubs lined up along one side of our driveway that we use as a postage stamp orchard. it's my best light, you see, but we needed to keep it really narrow, and were making lemonade out of lemons when a nasty ex neighbor put up a 6' fence right through what used to be a shared turnaround. i didn't want to plant permanently in the ground in case they left and the fence came down. they did leave (hallelujah!), but the new owners left the fence. we're used to it now and don't mind as much, and besides i don't know where those bushes & trees would go otherwise. we cut a long strip of plywood the right height and painted it and it rests against the ugly tubs so you don't see them so much. it sort of looks like a custom planter at first glance. but it gives us the freedom to overwinter the ones that need it in the basement or move things at will (which isn't much- a full 32 gallon tub weighs a ton, let me tell you!)

there was a lengthy thread a yr or 2 ago about scaring cats off. i know one thing i've heard lots is that they hate citrus. so, keep your peels and broadcast them about your beds you want them to stay out of (you could chop them finer first or leave them as is). eventually they'll decompose into the soil. i use it at the base of bird feeders to keep the cats away and it seems to help. we have ferals around that tend to use certain areas as litter boxes, but knock on wood, so far they've not targeted any of my beds, not even the annual ones i work up and keep fluffy. i'm sure you know this, but they tend to use the same spots over & over so if your cat finds a spot she likes and you don't mind, i'd let her use that spot. but, on the flip side, you have to totally nip it if she picks somewhere you don't want her- so preplanning is smart.

Not only will using shade cover keep cats from using the dug up beds for a bathroom, but so far it has kept the deer from eating in my salad garden. Last year just after the big freeze in April, I uncovered the strawberry bed. The strawberry plants had come through virtually unharmed and within a few days were in full bloom. Overnight every leaf in the strawberry bed disappeared. I knew that we had a mother and 2 young male deer roaming the area, but they had not bothered anything in 2007. The strawberry flowers were not eaten, but with no leaves, we only got a few small berries. This year, I plan to keep shade cover over this bed, at least at night, indefinitely.

Aren't animals fun? Not! At least not in the garden. I doubt I will have to deal with deer here because all my neighbors are fairly close but its good to know the shade cloth helps with deer or cats or hopefully my dog who eats any vegetable or fruit you toss her way. That's a whole other story...
I had thought about using those big Rubbermaid tubs, too. I like the idea of concealing them with painted plywood.
I used to pass this home in Portland, Maine where the owner grew roses in wheeled trash cans. Every Spring he would wheel them out to the driveway and every Fall he would wheel them back inside. Pretty ingenious but then we gardeners are a clever bunch, aren't we?

that is ingenious!! i noticed less deer damage to stuff that was covered, too- tho until recently, that hasn't been too much of an issue for us.