I take a small rock or object and place it on the corner of materials. I cover the rock with the material and use some twine to secure the rock in the material. I'm going to try to find a link with pictures for that.

Then, I use it however I want with whatever stakes I'm using; metal or wood. And no holes are poked in the material. If the line is long I can even fashion it into some type of guy wire on the end for support. This may not help, but it's good to know.

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Do you think that would hold it down enough to keep out squash bugs? I had a similar idea, a deep hem in the fabric with a 1 x 2 inserted to weight down the edge. But we know those things warp. This is to cover zuchinni. You know THAT problem. I wonder how much metal pipe would cost. Probably be too heavy for the tulle. Maybe rebar.

I'm using row cover, and I know you said not to mention burying it lol, but I have woodchip paths and the chips hold it down nicely with a few bricks here and there for storms and winds. I have to hand pollinate every morning, and the chips are quite easy to work with. I just brush them off, then brush them back on - easy peasy.

Rgreen, I have some birdnetting stretched around the beds meant to keep the dogs from wallowing in the beds. DH got the lawnmower tangled in it and chopped holes in it with the weed eater. Imagine what he could do to tulle. It can't be buried inside the bed because of the way the hoops are attached. I have a hybrid zuchinni that is self pollinating. I'm not impressed with the seedlings though. We'll see.

If you are making a hem or rod pocket, why not us cheap metal electrical conduit and pin it down at both ends with a large staple or brick. You could extend the conduit beyond the fabric so you don't puncture your fabric.

I like Carol's suggestion. And, anything your husband can do to any of your fencing, netting, shade cloth or row cover.....Tim already has done to mine and we have worked hard to correct any situation that leaves any of my garden fabrics at the mercy of a man with a power tool of any sort in his hands. We won't even mention (okay, I am mentioning it now) the damage a husband with a string trimmer in his hands can do to the Aluminet greenhouse shadecloth when he tries to trim too close to the green house.

My garden is set up differently from yours, so I don't have the same situation, but in my garden I use anything metal, generally rebar, metal fence posts and electrical conduit, to hold netting or row cover down tightly against the ground. My hoops are set up inside my raised beds in order to keep the fabric inside the raised bed, not down in the pathway, and that keeps both the garden and I safer as I'm not tripping over netting or row cover that comes over the edge of the bed and down into the paths. I also don't have grass paths because of all the problems that come with them. I just have mulched paths and I try to keep the grass pulled out as soon as possible after it sprouts in the mulch. I do everything in my power to keep men with mowers, trimmers, etc. as far away as possible from anything desirable I ever have planted, including fruit trees. If they never step foot into my garden with a power tool of any sort in their hands, they are a lot less likely to destroy anything. This is a garden-protective policy developed after many years of having little "oops" type incidents in the garden that resulted in destroyed netting, row cover or plants.

With row cover used in winter and spring when it is windy, I don't use the electrical conduit that much as the wind can lift the fabric up from underneath the conduit. Generally in windy weather I use U-shaped landscape fabric pins or staples to hold down the fabric and the electrical conduit is just laid down on top to help keep the windy weather from yanking the staples and pins out of the ground, which can happen if the winds are gusting roughly 40 mph or higher. I prefer the heavier rebar but when all the rows are covered with row cover on a spring night with potentially freezing weather, I run out of the heavier metal and even use the EMT. Netting that is more delicate is usually held down with metal fence posts. I don't use staples with it because that just puts bigger holes in the netting and if you don't pin it with the staples in the same spot every time, you're creating bigger holes that let the little beasties get through it.

I weigh down netting very securely but then, in order not to undo all that work, I always try to lift the netting from one side of the bed and do all the pollinating from that side. If you work quickly you can do your hand-pollinating early in the day before the squash bugs and SVB moths are active and get that row cover or netting weighed down again to keep them out.

Some people use sandbags to hold down fabric or netting, but I always plant so close to the edges of my beds that I don't think sand bags would work for me unless I brought the row cover or netting over the edge of the raised beds and down into the pathways which I don't like to do. In a pinch when it is windy and I'm out of good options, sunset is approaching, and I need to get the row cover on all the rows "now", I've used 2 x 4's, bottled water, bricks, large stones and even canned food from the pantry. Desperation to protect your plants will drive you to do things that look ridiculous....but they do work.

The older I get, the less I like spending time on all the protective measures needed to get a squash harvest, so more and more I am only growing winter squash and zucchini early in the season and then I grow the oriental summer squashes that are C. moschata after that. I don't have to cover them or take any drastic measures to protect them and that fits perfectly with my "it is too hot for this crap" philosophy that sets in every summer about the time the real heat arrives.

Thanks, guys. DH is at Lowes getting 1x2s. I think I will use an old sheet to make the rod pocket and sew it to the tulle. I considered electrical conduit, but we needed some 1x2s for something else.

I am only doing this because DH wants zuchinni - real zuchinni. I am really late, of course, and wouldn't even mess with it, but with all the work DH has done, I try to grow what he asks for. We weren't thrilled with the tromboncini last year and I ordered SO many seeds this year I passed on yet another shipping charge for Dawn's moschata variety. Maybe next year.

Of course, if this works it is an option for brassica...

It is a great option for all brassicas, protecting them in particular from cabbage loopers, imported cabbage worms, various other caterpillars that occasionally show up on the plants, harlequin bugs (which, to me, are the worst risk of all because when they are done with brassicas they move to tomato plants) and pretty much everything else. Even better, with brassicas you never have to uncover them and hand-pollinate since we harvest brassicas before they bolt and go to seed....or we try to.

Amy, Switching over to the C. moschata types of summer squash was one of the smartest things I've ever done and well worth every cent I've spent on the seed and shipping. I toyed around with one or two of them for a couple of years before realizing that they were the answer to living here in squash bug/squash vine borer hell. There is a third variety that I haven't grown, but I might plant it for fall. It is a zucchini and I'll link it below. I imagine there might be other zucchini-like C. moschatas from other parts of the world, but just haven't gone looking for them yet. I miss those perfect, early years here before the squash bugs and squash vine borers found us. They were wonderful years, and I doubt I'll ever be able to grow 30+ varieties of C. pepo and C. maxima ever again. It was fun while it lasted.

Dawn

The Other Zucchini

I just pulled out some chard. It was past it's prime but I left it to shade some other plants. The worms were not what I normally see on brassica. I hope they don't move to something else now the chard is gone. Maybe Bt tonight.

I told my husband he needs to get zuchinni from the people at work he gave tomato plants to. Of course, they may not be organic...but hey, somewhere out there some one is trying to give it away.

In a good year when the squash bugs and SVBs are absent (about 2 out of 10 years here), everyone here has too much zucchini and yellow squash and you have to lock your car doors when you park in town or some friend will leave a big bag of squash in the back seat of your car. Or, they wait until you leave the house and leave a bag of squash on your porch. No one ever admits to leaving it there either, or they do so with a slight evil cackle as they say that they didn't need all that squash but thought maybe you did. At least you can grate zucchini and freeze it for zucchini bread, muffins or even zucchini-chocolate chip cookies. With yellow squash I slice it and freeze it and use it in squash casserole in the winter.

Dawn, after you taste test all of that summer squash, tell me which one to buy. LOL Actually if you are going to order this new one, order 2 and I will share the shipping with you. I have never ordered from that company, but I have given up on summer squash except for zucchetta. I planted mine so late this year that I still don't have squash, but so far the vines look really good. I have 2 or 3 of zucchetta and Seminole. Let's hope I really get Seminole this time......3rd try.

Carol, I am going to order some, and I'll order a packet for you. I hope you get the real Seminole too. This has gotten kind of silly. Are your ordering your seed from BCHS or SESE? I've always been happier with the Seminole seed I get through SESE than through BCHS. I think SESE must have a purer strain or they isolate it better for seed production or something.

Dawn

Dawn, the first time I tried Seminole I was using seed that I got from you in a seed swap. I'm sure there was nothing wrong with the seed, but I tried to direct seed, and my soil was not in good shape in those years, and the seed never germinated. The next time, I had a pack from Baker Creek, but it turned out to be the wrong squash. This is a new pack, but I think it also came from BC. I will have to look to be sure. The vines look great and I was just out a few minutes ago helping them find the trellis since they are trying to escape across the garden. They may have to 'duke it out' with my sweet potatoes that I got from George, because they are trying to take over the world. My best crop this year has been pickling cucumbers. I have made 29 pints of pickles and the vines are still covered. They have wilted a little in the heat today, but that is the first day they have done that. I'll watch tonight and see if they shape up again tonight or if it is a need for water. I think it is just the heat because nothing else looks wilted.

I'm glad it is a great pickle year. Remember the year you got the huge Seminoles and we didn't know what they were but assumed it was a strain that produced larger fruit than the original Seminole? Well that larger strain is available commercially now and both years I now plant both strains. Seminole will take over every available bit of space. I've had it climb tomato cages and grow across the tops of them, like vines in a jungle. I just let it do it because the tomato plants were getting exhausted by that point but it was too hot to spend time pulling them up. The more vine, the more fruit, so there's nothing to worry about, except they might shade your sweet taters too much. I bet the wilt is heat-related.

I never planted pickling cukes this year and kinda miss them, but don't miss all the time spent in the kitchen making pickles. I still have plenty stored from last year, so we still have pickles to eat, but I'll need to grow pickling cukes next year for sure.

Well, that is interesting. I guess I had Seminole after all, but wasn't smart enough to know it. My grown children all love salsa and pickles so IF I am willing to share they get used up. I haven't made pickles for about 3 years so I am grateful that I am having a good year. I have a friend about 10 miles from me who is having a great tomato year and her cukes are not good. She lives near the Mesonet station and they didn't have the huge rains that we had on at least two occasions. She has so many tomatoes that she has grown tired of processing them, so I am going to take some of hers and make salsa. We have plenty of tomatoes to eat, but nothing like the production we normally get.

I have that arched cattle panel over my sidewalk with zuchetta growing on one side and Seminole on the other. I probably won't be able to get down the sidewalk without getting bonked on the head, but I'm not sure it matters since the sweet potatoes are taking over the sidewalk anyway. LOL

I have only planted sweet potatoes a time or two and haven't had great production, so this is an interesting crop for me. If vine size is in indication, then I should have plenty. I think I only planted 6 or 7 slips, but they are covering the ground.

Here is what I ended up with, the tulle ended up being longer than I thought, so the sheets and rod pockets are on the ground, but it seems to work. Pool noodle on top to keep from tearing tulle.

Carol, I love it when the garden becomes a jungle like that. In a rainy year when there is plentiful moisture in July and August I've had sweet potato vines easily run 10' or more. Sometimes they've gone through the fence and escaped the garden and grown underneath the pecan tree like a ground cover. You didn't really need to walk on the sidewalk did you?

Amy, That looks great and it is the best way I know to protect plants from certain pests that are hard to control organically.

Dawn