In years past, we've had some problems with quick hoops in the snow. Eliot Coleman recommends covering the hoops with clear plastic if you live in a snowy climate, and he's not wrong. Row-cover fabric can tear under heavy snow loads. And since the snow sticks rather than sliding off, the PVC hoops can bend and break as well.

If your snow doesn't come down in bucketloads all at once, though, it's pretty easy to just brush off the top of the fabric every three to five inches. Don't use a broom, though --- I tried that last year and it tore through the row-cover fabric. Gloves are soft enough to be safe as long as you're gentle.

9.4 inches of snow in the last week and no broken fabric or hoops yet. Success!

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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