Which type of cover(s) for frost and pest protection are right for my raised garden beds?

Just a friendly reminder:

We can get frost any day of the year in Central Oregon. There are many cold tolerant annual veggies that can thrive in our region without cover, but they do appreciate some protection when they are just baby seedlings and also to minimize the stressful drastic daily temperature swings that we commonly experience.

Deer, rabbits, dogs, squirrels, and chipmunks all like to nibble on our plants from above (depending on the neighborhood) or use our garden as a restroom (cats), so growing food in your Bend yard can be made a lot easier with the help of covers.

We can set you up with the right cover or combination of covers for your space and your goals. Scroll to the bottom of this post to check out the handy chart we made outlining the uses of the various tools we offer.

I have a deer fence around my garden space that is also rabbit proof: Mini Hoophouse

Our mini hoophouses fit 3’ or 4’ wide raised beds. They stand at a little under 4’ tall and allow you to easily open them up on sunny mornings and close them in the late afternoons during the growing season. They can help warm up soil earlier in the spring and protect plants into the fall and winter in addition to retaining heat overnight when high desert temperatures tend to drop and plants stop growing. Ball bungees and hooks allow you to secure your weighted plastic for windy days.

If you have multiple raised beds of the same dimensions and plan to grow a mix of cold tolerant and cold sensitive crops, consider our mobile mini hoophouse design. It can be moved from bed to bed from season to season, allowing you to rotate your crops to minimize pest and disease issues instead of only planting the most cold sensitive under cover. If you are on a tighter budget, and don’t mind clamping your plastic to open up your mini hoophouse, our DIY mini hoophouse would be a great way to get started!

Deer (and other critters) are an issue in my garden and I want to grow a variety of cold tolerant and cold sensitive plants: Mini hoophouse with pest protection netting layer

This design has an additional layer of 1x1” netting underneath the 6 mil greenhouse poly plastic layer, which lets most pollinators in without welcoming hungry and destructive critters. Magnets inside outdoor strapping on the edges along your hoops keeps the netting tight against your raised bed during the day when the plastic layer is up to ventilate your beds.

I just have one or two garden beds and/or some large pots and just want to grow a few tomatoes or cucumbers: Walls-of-Water (aka insulated plant protectors)

Walls of Water insulate plants down to 16 degrees. They are typically 18” in diameter and contain tubes that you fill with water. The water heats up during the day and radiates heat at night. When it does freeze, the water freezes instead of your plants! We suggest keeping them up all season long to help extend fall harvests. Once your plants grow out the top, row cover can be draped over your tomato cages if there is a freeze in the forecast. You can find these at most local garden centers in packs of 3. We also sell them for $7.50 each. They can be reused for many seasons.

I’m not in a position to invest in a mini hoophouse structure and/or I’m not interested in growing the most cold sensitive plants: Row cover/ frost cloth

Row cover, also known as frost cloth, comes in various weights and dimensions. We carry a medium weight row cover that protects plants down to 28 degrees while still letting 85% of sunlight through. It is 10’ wide and we can cut it to length to fit your unique space. If you are using drip irrigation, the fabric can be left on over your plants and doesn’t need to be lifted on and off each day (unless we are experiencing a summer heat dome or your plants are heat sensitive). If you have overhead irrigation, row cover does let water through, but can get soggy and heavy over tender plants.

Row cover is also a great tool for winter gardening. We often recommend double covering cold hardy veggies in a mini hoophouse over winter with row cover inside. In this case, fabric can be clipped on to low hoops with clothespins or binder clips so that leaves don’t get frost damage from touching the cloth. In windy situations, weighing your row cover down with firewood or rocks is often necessary.

I’m not interested in growing cold sensitive crops, but want to keep the critters away: Pest Protector

Our pest protectors are great for cold tolerant short or medium height crops, as we typically build them at just 16” deep. They are custom built to your bed dimensions using full dimension 2x2 cedar and 1x1” black PVC coated wire. We can install the hinges so that the top panels hinge against a fence or so that the panels sit on top of one another. You can attach row cover over the structure as needed or use low hoops inside the structure to support the row cover over your plants.

Here’s a summary of the tools we mentioned:

Learn more about our season extension options and how to order supplies! Oh, we also carry shade cloth, too!