Fleece - when and how?

[Keenbutgreen]

Hi, this is my first year growing veg (in raised beds) and I'm just wondering how to protect my crops over winter. I'm growing cabbage, pak choi and spring onions in 1 bed, Spinach and chard in another and finally I've just planted some broad beans, which are just showing.

Anyway....I've had these covered in enviromesh since august but I'm assuming at some point I'll need to cover all this lot in fleece to protect it from the frost.

1 - is this correct?
2 - if so, when should I cover it, and how long should I keep it covered for?

I'm just aware that the fleece blocks out a lot of light so it will presumably slow the growth, especially of my 'harvest all year crops' like the pak choi, spinach and chard.

Hope that all make sense

Chris

[rustylady]

Hi Chris, welcome to the Vine.

Whereabouts are you? All the crops you've mentioned so far are hardy so shouldn't need fleecing during a normal UK winter.

[Keenbutgreen]

Thank for you reply, I'm in the midlands. Would you recommend just keeping the enviromesh on over the winter then?

[rustylady]

Yes, I think so. Enviromesh will certainly keep the pigeons off your crops - they're a flaming nuisance round here.

[Alison]

I find that chard gets wiped out with a frost but I usually just let it die down as I always sow some more for the tunnel over winter. Never meshed it either, but I don't have much of a bird problem and only really net for butterflies so may be different for you. There are also different types of spinach and spring onions, some are hardy, winter varieties and some are not. Check the seed packets and you should get some information.

Oh and light levels tend to be so bad in winter that nothing grows much anyway even if it's warmer than usual.