Got enough AG to double layer it? If not I have gotten away with old blankets but you need some way to support them up off the plants. Some inverted pots, even some short sticks can support a blanket tent if no wind.

Dave

Yes I do have enough to double layer the spinach. Would it work better propped up somehow or just floating cover with the edges held down?

Propped up but low - an air pocket adds some protection. If you have enough to triple it, even better.

Ok thanks

Peter, if you have short and thin bamboo sticks(sold in HD by the pack, usually 3-4') and old hose, there is an easy way to make pretty strong support system. Measure you bed width and add desired height X 2 to it. Cut hose in pieces of this length. (For example, if your bed is 3' and you want it 1 ft high, you need 4-5'' pieces.)You need a support every 3', so for a 12' bed you need 5 pieces. Now, cut you bamboo sticks - you will need 5 pieces long as your bed width (3' in my example) and 10 sticks long enough to push in the ground for about a foot and have desired height on top of the bed. Now, insert long bamboo sticks inside the hose pieces, push it in the middle, leaving the ends flexible. Insert pairs of shorter sticks in the soil every 3' one stick on on side of the bed, another at the opposite side, on the same line. now just bend the flexible ends of the hose piece, and put them on two opposite sticks, making a gate. Then you just cover it with AG-19, as many layers you want. I do such gates up to 3' high, and they usually survive whole summer long for plants I am protecting with tulle. Lower ones should be even stronger.

You need insulation. Floating row cover is a poor insulator. It's thin. Many layers would help. But if you have support for it, cover with cardboard, blankets, rug, foam, etc. In cold weather, I'd rather have a blanket over me than floating row cover. For small plants holding a good insulator up over them ought to be prett easy. A couple of 2x4s would do the job.

I use the 3/4 or 1" black water pipe....comes in a roll and cheap. Cut lengths to make hoops and add plastic. Or if not a hard freeze i use the pipe with some old sheets. Use it to hold up remay to protect some early stuff from bugs....

Looks like we are getting some snow flurries...

I put in some peas and some greens but they are just barely up. I might do a cover...in the past they have survived fine but this up-coming cold snap seems to be almost a week long event. I have lots of seeds and always plan succession planting for this very reason.

Yeah now they extended it to 4 days and added 3-5" of snow.

Thanks for the thorough explanation galinas. I will read it more carefully tomorrow.

I emailed Johnny's, they are the cold weather experts and hopefully they will have some advice. I will let you guys know what they say. I will either do 2 or 3 layers of AG19 or plastic... the raised bed has plastic with hoops and seems to work well.

I planted peas and beets last weekend also but it is doubtful any have germinated... especially the peas, they are slow.

If it's just spinach, I doubt you'd need any protection at all, but if you still want some, just toss a layer of row cover over it. Spinach is REALLY tough.

Yeah I wound up not covering it. Johnny's said not to worry about it. I was more concerned about the ground freezing than anything else. I'm sure it is fine. I put the plastic on my mini tunnel. Low of 30 forecast, it went down to like 25 for a half hour.

The spinach is fine, so is everything else. The soil had some warmth to it at this point. I will cover them tonight to try and keep some warmth in the soil