One of the advantages of gardening in a raised bed is having a defined growing space that is relatively easy to protect from weather, pests, and temperature swings. I recently added Vego Garden’s greenhouse/frost cover and trellis system to my 4 × 8 raised bed to see just how useful it would be for extending the growing season and supporting climbing vegetables. I reviewed my experience with Vego’s raised beds here, including what I liked about using them in the garden. I reviewed the rolling planter for my peach tree at Vego Garden Rolling Planter.
Vego Garden has a lot of useful year-round garden supplies and accessories which have really impressed me with their quality and versatility. Vego Garden provided this greenhouse cover at no cost for me to try and review. All opinions and observations are my own.
Extending the Season
Here in Maryland, our weather can be unpredictable. An early frost can bring the vegetable garden to an abrupt end, while a few protected degrees can keep cool-season crops growing considerably longer. In spring, the same type of protection can help get plants established earlier.
What appealed to me about this system is its versatility. The framework can support a protective cover when temperatures drop and can also be used as a trellis for crops such as cucumbers, peas, beans, and other climbing vegetables. Rather than adding a temporary structure to the garden each season, the raised bed itself becomes the framework for both protection and vertical growing. To order a Greenhouse Cover for your own raised bed, go to Vego Garden.
I’ll show you how I assembled and used the system, what I like about it, and a few things I learned along the way.
Putting the System Together
The first step was assembling the framework over my 4 × 8 Vego raised bed. As with many garden structures, laying all the pieces out before starting made the process much easier. Once I could see how everything related to the raised bed, the assembly was fairly straightforward.
The framework attaches directly to the raised bed. To install the support struts, you remove some of the existing screws from the raised bed and replace them with the hardware needed for the supports.
A tip before you start: save those original screws! Put them in a labeled bag or container somewhere you will remember. If you decide to remove the structure later, you will need the original screws to put the raised bed back together as it was. I plan to remove my structure in the spring, so I made sure to keep mine.
My advice is also not to rush the assembly. Loosely connect the pieces first, make sure everything is aligned, and then go back and tighten the connections. This makes it much easier to make small adjustments as you work.
Using the Greenhouse and Frost Cover
A frost cover doesn’t turn a raised bed into a heated greenhouse, but it can make an important difference on chilly nights. The cover helps retain some of the warmth stored in the soil during the day while protecting plants from cold winds and light frost.
That can be particularly helpful for extending the harvest of cool-season vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula, parsley, and other greens. In spring, it can also give young plants some protection during those unpredictable temperature swings that occur before consistently warm weather arrives.
One thing to remember is that ventilation is just as important as warmth. On a sunny day, temperatures beneath a cover can rise surprisingly quickly, even when the outside temperature feels cool. I open or vent the cover as necessary during warmer days and close it again when temperatures drop. I also placed a thermometer inside to monitor this.
Using the Trellis
The trellis adds another dimension to a raised bed because it allows you to take advantage of vertical space. Cucumbers, peas, pole beans and other climbing vegetables can be trained upward rather than sprawling across valuable planting space. If I decide to keep the structure on in the spring, it would be a perfect support for peas.
Vertical growing also makes harvesting easier and can improve air circulation around the foliage. In a relatively compact 4 × 8 bed, that extra growing space can make a noticeable difference.
I also like the fact that the same basic structure can transition through the seasons. It can provide protection during cooler weather and then support vigorous climbing plants as the growing season progresses.
What I Like—and What I Would Change
Overall, I like the versatility of the system. It makes a 4 × 8 raised bed much more adaptable and gives me options for frost protection, season extension and vertical growing without adding several separate structures to the garden.
There is one design feature I would change after actually working with it. I would like the support struts to be easily removable while working inside the bed. They add stability to the structure, but I found that they could get in the way when I was reaching into the bed to plant. I planted spinach, beets, lettuce and had some swiss chard that I cut back that I hopefully will get another harvest from.
A quick-release or easily removable connection would be a useful improvement. I could temporarily move a support out of the way while planting, weeding or working the soil and then put it back when I was finished. It sounds like a small detail, but when you are leaning over a raised bed trying to position plants exactly where you want them, easy access matters.
If I decide to remove the structure in the spring, it is important to keep the original raised bed screws in a convenient location. Once the struts come off, I can reinstall those screws and return the bed to its original configuration. But the more I use this new cover, I might just decide to grow cucs or other vining crops on it as vertical space is very important in the vegetable garden to save on space.
My Takeaway
The Vego greenhouse/frost cover and trellis system makes an already useful raised bed considerably more versatile. I particularly like being able to use one structure for different purposes as the seasons change. Also, it’s ability to protect plants from pests is a great bonus.
For gardeners who want to extend their vegetable-growing season, protect plants during unpredictable weather, or grow more vertically in a limited space, it is a useful addition to a raised-bed garden.
And like most garden equipment, I expect I’ll discover even more about what works—and what could be improved—as I use it through the seasons. I am excited to look forward to harvesting some greens in the winter season!
To order this greenhouse cover system for your own raised beds, go to Vego Garden.
