If that material is the same as we used to use to cover tobacco beds, 3-4 seasons. We used for about 45 days a year.

I used to cover lettuce beds with tobacco fabric before all this row cover fabric became available (and tobacco fabric stopped being available), but I'm not 100% sure I remember the difference. I vaguely think the tobacco fabric was a bit lighter.

Of course 3 to 4 seasons of 45 days apiece will be used up in one winter of covering both fall and spring crops. But I'm pretty sure the fabric's going to last another year, with a few minor mends.

I finally got around to building a cold frame last year & harvested my last planting of lettuce at Christmas despite a couple of single digit temp nites. Encouraged by that experience & by your enthusism, now I want to put up hoops. But the uv-resistant plastic seems so expensive compared to the standard stuff, I'm wondering if it isn't really more efficient to just use the cheap stuff & replace it every year? I anticipate trauma to it from the chickens, falling branches and the occassional goat that breaks into the garden enclosure. Any experiences/opinions out there to change my mind?

Doc --- I'm actually a fan of just using row cover fabric, if you can get by with it. I can't remember where you're located, so I don't know if you get heavy snow loads, and thus need to add plastic to make the snow slide off. If not, fabric has a lot of benefits over plastic since it breathes, so you don't need to vent your quick hoops on warm days, and some rain water will get through.

Do you buy you row cover cloth on the internet or do you source it locally?

--Mike Smith schomestead.com

Michael --- It used to be available as "tobacco canvas", but since our region has cut back on growing tobacco, I've been buying it online. If you get on Gardener's Alive's catalog mailing list, they'll have a free $100 coupon once every two years or so, which is helpful. Or you can buy it at a place like Johnny's Selected Seeds.