The benefit of fleece in spring

A small demonstrations of the benefits. if you have not bought any before, buy the thicker 30gsm stuff and make sure it's uv treated, it'll last years then. The thin stuff most places sell is fairly useless after a year or two imo.


Spinach sown February 23rd in modules to germinate in the house, put into unheated greenhouse March 15th, planted out March 31st so they've been in the ground for a month. Fleeced ones can just about be picked, the unprotected ones.... Not so much.

I'll remove it soon and reuse it to cover the like of winter squash, courgette, cucumbers, corn etc into early summer.

Anyone else like using fleece?

 

Do you raise it up off the top of the crop by some means.

 

Just flat on, the plants don't seem to care and just push it up. I secure it with stones every couple of feet. The leaves do get a bit frosted though if they touch the fleece and there's a frost.

As for slugs, there's less than normal so far this year but I do put down pellets at planting time then once I've hoed off the first flush of weed seedlings I'll sometimes put down some more.

 

Added a picture of it, the two nearest to the camera are the lighter 17gsm one that is sold in most garden centers, top one is 30gsm

 

Aha, all the thin fleece I buy at lidl and wilko desintegrates into white dust after a couple of months of use outside, or even inside, used as shading.
Is it because of uv? Wondering what it's made off, and aren't any leftovers that drop a s stay on the soil harmful.

 

I'll be using mine on the potatoes if we have another really cold snap, as they won't all fit in the greenhouse now.