Winter weather doesn’t mean you can’t continue to grow in the garden. By using crop cover and ground cover, you can protect your plants while ensuring warmer ground temperatures, moisture retention, and frost protection.

The Crop Cover + Ground Cover System

Here in Washington state, we have been able to grow lettuce starting in January by using a crop cover and ground cover system. Here’s how:

To protect your plants from frost and exposure to the elements, we installed a layer of Crop Cover over our raised beds. Crop cover acts as a protective greenhouse for your plants, but still allows water, air, and sunlight to pass through. In wetter environments, Crop Cover also vents air and excess moisture, and protects against insects and drying winds. Our Crop Cover is specially formulated to meet FDA food grade material guidelines, and is perfect for your organic garden!

To ensure warmer ground temperatures, lay a layer of ground cover or Veggie Booster Mulch over the soil. Cut spaces in the cloth to allow your lettuce or other plants to grow through and get ample sunlight. Ground cover also ensures that enough moisture is retained, even in the driest environments.

This photo is from our founder’s garden. Pictured is our Crop Cover over the raised bed that is internally lined with Veggie Booster Mulch. The bottom of the bed is lined with 20 Year Landscape Fabric to ensure protection from weeds. With this system in place, we were able to successfully grow lettuce that was planted in January!

Which Crop Cover is ideal for my garden?

We offer three weights of Crop Cover: Light, Medium, and Cold Snap.

In colder climates, we suggest our Cold Snap Crop Cover. Cold Snap is designed to protect down to 24°F (-4°C) and allows for 55% of the sun’s rays to pass through. Using Cold Snap extends the growing season by 2-3 months in colder conditions, allowing you to enjoy your garden into the winter season.

In mild to moderate climates, crop cover can be used to grow year-round. We suggest using our Light or Medium weight crop cover. Light Crop Cover has the highest light transmission level (85%) and protects down to 28°F (-2°C). Medium Crop Cover transmits 70% of light and protects down to 26°F (-3°C).

With a life expectancy of 1-2 years+, Crop Cover is great for using year-round, but make sure to remove the cover during the spring to allow flowering plants to pollinate!

Selecting a ground cover

For your home garden, we suggest using our Veggie Booster Mulch to promote growth and improve soil warmth during the winter months. Jointly developed by the USDA and Clemson University, this specially engineered mulch reflects red light wavelengths toward your plants and has been proven to stimulate growth and produce earlier fruit with improves taste. Along with soil warmth and moisture conservation, Veggie Booster mulch also controls weeds and deters pests.

With this simple system in place, Crop Cover and ground cover allows you to garden into the winter season! Browse our full selection of products at www.americannettings.com.