Row covers come in many different weights and sizes, and it is available from many suppliers. There are several established, well-known brands, including row covers sold by Reemay, Agri-Bon and DeWitt. Some retailers sell it under the generic name 'row cover' or 'frost blanket' and don't specify which brand they carry, or if it is a generic brand.

You might go look at the different forms of Agri-bon available from Johnny's Selected Seeds just to see all the different weights and sizes available. Some suppliers sell it in precut lengths, others sell it in rolls, and others sell it in custom sizes. The heavier the floating row cover, the less light it allows to pass through to the plants. The light doesn't matter much if you are only using freeze-blanket weight row cover to keep plants warm at night, but it does matter when you are keeping it over the plants during the daytime hours. The different weights are sold in oz. (if my memory is correct the oz. given is the weight per square yard). The absolute lightest weight row cover available is suitable only for use in the growing season to keep insects or birds off the plants. It is very lightweight and offers no freeze or frost protection.

With all floating row cover, it needs to be weighted down all along the edges to form a good seal with the ground in order to be effective. When wind is an issue, I use U-shaped metal staples that are sold to hold down landscape fabric. The last time I bought some, I bought them in boxes of 500 from FarmTek. In general, though, if the wind isn't blowing hard, I just use pieces of lumber, metal fence posts or lengths of rebar to hold down the fabric. You also can use bricks, large rocks or landscape stones, etc. In a real hurry because an unexpected freeze is bearing down on you? Grab a case of 16 or 20-oz. bottled water and use the individual bottles to hold down the fabric. With fabric put down long-term, for example---if it is being used to keep squash vine borers off your plants---you can heap soil up along the edges of the fabric to help keep it secured down tight to the ground on three sides, and use something else to hold down the fourth side. That 'something else' could be any of the things I mentioned above, as you'll need to be able to lift the row cover to hand-pollinate the squash if you aren't growing a parthenocarpic variety.

When you are selecting the row cover for your garden, consider how high the plants are that will be covered as well as the width of the beds or rows being covered. Because I often have late freezes in late April or early May when I already have tomato plants that are 3-4' tall inside cages that are 6-8' tall, my heaviest-weight floating row cover gives up to 10 degrees of freeze/frost protection and it is 10' wide. Even 10' wide fabric won't cover a 4' wide bed with 8' tall tomato cages, but I can make it work by running the fabric down one side of the bed and up the other. Then I pull together the two sides at the top of the tomato cages and roll them together to seal them. Then I weigh them down with long 2 x 4 lumber sitting right on top of all the cages. That works fine if it isn't very windy. If it is really windy, I use clamps, bungee cords or zip-ties to secure the fabric so it won't blow off during the night.

The very first time I bought row cover, I found it in a flat pack, in pre-cut lengths and widths, in a local nursery in the DFW Metroplex (Mike's Garden Center in Grapevine). It wasn't as wide as I would have liked (6' I think) but a late freeze was coming and I needed something that day. Nowadays, I generally only purchase it in 8' or 10' widths, ordered online and delivered right to my garden gate by FedEx (our FedEx driver knows when he sees those rolls that he can leave them at the gate because a freeze is coming, lol). Because my garden is large, I buy it in 250' foot rolls, so I can cut to length to suit me. A roll lasts me for years. The heavier the weight of the fabric, the longer it lasts. Still, if you carefully put it away (where it isn't exposed to UV rays when not in use), even the lightweight stuff can last a long time. I am still using some Agri-bon 15 that I bought around 2007 or 2008, although it is getting pretty thin and ratty looking, and I do discard the really bad pieces every year while giving the less ratty pieces "one more year". Since Agri-bon 15 is pretty lightweight, I am pleased it has lasted this long. Please note, if the non-gardener in the family spreads it out to dry in a pasture on a windy day with nothing holding it down, you'll be buying more because it will float into the barbed wire fence and become finely shredded row cover.

While the lighter weights float, some of the heavier ones (like DeWitt's Ultra Frost Blanket---and that may not be the exact name but it is close) can crush small seedlings and should only be used by being suspended over a frame or support of some type. I like to use hoops make of EMT or PVC pipe. If you want to do that, then figure out how wide and how high your hoops will be before you ever order the row cover, then measure how wide fabric would have to be in order to fully cover the hoops and have excess fabric left on either side in order to secure the fabric to the ground.

Floating row covers work by holding in the heat from the ground, so you don't want to leave any loose areas where the warm air can seep out from underneath the fabric. When a very cold night threatens, I like to cover the plants up in early afternoon through late afternoon while the ground is nice and warm so I can capture that heat under the row cover before the sun begins to sink low in the western sky and the heat of the earth cools significantly.

Most greenhouse supply stores (like Greenhouse Megastore), farm supply stores (like FarmTek), Ag Supply Stores (like Agricultural Solutions) and seed companies (Territorial Seed, for example, but most others as well) carry floating row cover in various sizes and weights. In recent years, Agricultural Solutions has been my go-to supplier because they ship quickly, they carry the high-quality DeWitt fabrics I like, and they have it in the sizes I want. Over the years I have spent a lot on row cover and have quite an inventory of it now, but we are especially prone to late freezes here and there have been times it has saved my entire garden from freezing, which is priceless. Some years (and this spring/winter were one) I barely use it at all, but other years it seems like I'm throwing row cover over the hoops at least once a week. I believe I have it in at least 4 different weights now, and several different widths.

Hope this helps, and I"m linking a page from Agricultural Solutions that shows the different weights and sizes they carry. They carry both DeWitt and Agribon. All my heavier weight fabric is DeWitt, and my medium and lightweight ones are both Agribon and Reemay.

You might even find these products in a local farm supply store, though the only times I've seen it in farm supply stores has been in late winter or early spring, and not in the fall.]

Either this past spring or in early summer, while looking for something else, I stumbled across a frost blanket that claimed it gives 12 degrees of protection, but I don't remember who made it or where I saw it. Honestly, though, the one that gives 10 degrees of protection has kept my plants safe and warm on nights that have gone 14 degrees below freezing, and when I have put a double layer on, it has kept them warm and safe and damage-free when we have dropped down maybe 16-18 degrees below freezing. I don't know if I'd want anything that was any heavier than DeWitt's Ultimate Frost Blanket because it is pretty heavy and young plants can't handle too much weight.

Dawn

DeWItt Floating Row Cover at Agricultural Solutions

Thank you so much Dawn. I was hoping you would catch this. I will check it out tomorrow and get some ordered.

Kim, You're welcome!