Hi Bfreeman. I've been all over this row cover thing for about 10 years. Our garden feeds us year round, which is no great feat in Cal. Row covers build up soil diseases very quickly. I cover 3 of my 12 beds every winter for a 4 year rotation. Row covers don't allow you to grow anything you couldn't anyway, but help a few things to grow better. Their primary benefits are higher daytime temps, protection from chilling winds, and minor frost protection. I currently grow spinach, celery, lettuce, and parsley under row covers. Outside are kale, carrots, turnips, and beets, all of wich were started in the summer. I get a jump on starting corn, and transplanting tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants with row covers. My row covers consisted of 1/4" pencil steel (available at ready mix concrete companies) cut into 80" lengths and bent around a car tire to form a hoop, then stuck in the ground, covered with .7mil x 9' x 12' painters plastic available at Walmart a buck apiece. Plastic lasts one season and then gets recycled with grocery bags. I've since formalized the setup with a 1/2" rebar frame and 3/8' round instead of 1/4". I've gardened in zone 9, and my experience was that getting crops in early, roots established, and up to size before November was the real key. Row covers aren't that valuable at z9 temps. Of course sweet peas start great outdoors in January in z9.

No sweat. Glad to have you on the list. I was surprised you were able to figure out how to post pictures. usually, new members have a lot of trouble with that. Check my response to your other identical post. Bruce

Thanks for the response, donnabaskets. There must be a more aesthetically pleasing way to way to protect tender plants. I thought of using rows of glass cloches but they're expensive (like $75.00 each for the larger sizes). The plastic ones don't appeal to me and I'm not keen on plastic in our organic garden. Hmm, any other ideas? Rain

Thanks, Marilyn! I agree--I'm very lucky. Suzieque, the book uses both the full-featured Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. I have Elements 8, which is two years old. The Elements version in the book is older, but the main difference is that the tools may be placed in different order on the Elements tool bar. They work the same way. So far the advice in the book has worked for me. I haven't tried everything in the whole book yet, but the used price wasn't much of an investment. If you check Amazon, you might find a comparable book published more recently. Let us know how you make out.