Canadian Gardening: Hardening Off ?, 1 by Chilko

Chilko wrote:
I'm with Weezi--the floating row covers are terrific. I started hardening off my hardier crops a few weeks ago, lugging them back and forth, then left them out for a few nights under the fleece. They're now in the garden, under fleece. It lets the air and light and rain (if we ever get any!) through and doesn't crush the leaves. I have the veggies in the garden under fleece at the moment, especially the ones I've directly seeded, because it keeps the birds and the cats off the beds.

I can't grow tomatoes outside anyhow. I grow them mostly in the greenhouse, but I have a plastic house I plant various squashes plus a couple of tomatoes in--but never before early June (plastic doesn't offer any cold protection; just keeps the frost off the plants). A double layer of fleece protected my tomatoes down to 28F.

Even though my plants have been in the greenhouse, which drops below 48 at night, I would never plant them directly outside. It isn't just the cold you need to consider; it's the wind and the direct sun that also stresses them. Now that I'm starting to harden off the rest of the bedding plants and there are too many flats to carry back and forth, I put a double layer of fleece over them at night (if it's clear; otherwise just one) and when they're first out, I use shade cloth during the day.

I have a pretty Mickey Mouse set up, but it works....here's a photo. You can see the leaves aren't even out on the willows!