Covering veg without hoops

[Mateo]

Hello

I’d been using frames and hoops over the winter, onions and salads that I planted in the autumn but with the leeks, onions and carrot I’ve planted this year in the same bed, I’ve just laid the netting and fleece over the top and held them down with bricks. There’s plenty of movement above the veg to allow for growth but I’ve notice that the shoots from onions are bent over in some cases snapped. Is this typical? It doesn’t sound ideal? Just to clarify, the mesh was put over to the carrots more than anything, and later I put fleece over that because of the cold.

[charles]

Mesh is heavier then fleece and yes, not so good on top of onions. Whereas fleece is lighter and they push it up, albeit in a bent way, so I would remove it over the weekend as we lose the Arctic air.
I am uncovering onions and shallots next week but shall need to net them against rabbits – net on hoops.

[Mateo]

I was thinking of putting the hoops back because the bed also has carrots, but perhaps taking the fleece layer off soon.

[bluebell]

I grow carrots under unsupported mesh and they are fine. they don’t mind having their tops a bit squashed

[Mateo]

Thanks, my carrots are still very small perhaps that was due to not having them under fleece at first, so they’re not yet affected by the heavy mesh, it’s the onion that have been damaged.

[Author]

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