The plants worth covering on a cold night usually fit in one armful.
Two pots by the door, a young shrub, the herbs you keep meaning to bring inside.
The picks below come from the makers’ own listed specifications, two Extension services, and the size of an ordinary garden. Nothing here was tested in a trial of our own.
If you buy through the Amazon links on this page, we earn a small commission. It costs you nothing extra, and it pays for the site.
For that much garden, one roll of frost cloth does the whole job. The Valibe 10 by 20 foot cover at 0.9 ounces is the one to start with.
The four covers, at a glance:
- Valibe 10 by 20 ft, 0.9 oz, the light roll that suits most small gardens
- AlpineReach 10 by 30 ft, 1.2 oz, heavier fabric with a temperature on the label
- Gardzen drawstring covers, 5-pack, for individual pots, with no cutting
- DeWitt Supreme 1.5 oz, 6 by 50 ft, a long narrow run for a raised bed
The four covers worth a look
Valibe 10 by 20 ft, 0.9 oz
Best for: a patio, a few pots, and one small bed.
Valibe Plant Cover 10 x 20 ft, 0.9 oz Row Cover
0.9 oz per square yard, breathable polypropylene
Cuts down into smaller covers for pots and beds
See the price and reviews on Amazon
Valibe lists this as 0.9 ounce per square yard non-woven polypropylene, 10 feet by 20 feet.
The maker also says you can cut it into smaller pieces. That is what makes a roll worth having over ready-made covers.
One roll becomes a sheet for the bed, a wrap for two pots, and a spare piece for next year.
Valibe says to lay it loosely over the plants. Hold the edges down with soil, stones or staples.
It is the lightest of these four. New Hampshire’s Extension service puts lightweight row cover at around 2 degrees Fahrenheit of protection, and heavy fabric at 6 to 10 degrees.
So this one is for a frosty night rather than a hard freeze.
Not for you if your coldest nights drop well below freezing. Nor if you want something to throw over a shrub in the dark without cutting anything first.
AlpineReach 10 by 30 ft, 1.2 oz
Best for: a bigger garden, or a gardener who wants a number on the label.
AlpineReach Plant Cover 10 x 30 ft, 1.2 oz
Rated by AlpineReach down to 28 degrees Fahrenheit
Breathable to light, air and water
See the price and reviews on Amazon
AlpineReach lists this at 1.2 ounces per square yard and rates it down to 28 degrees Fahrenheit.
It is the only one of these four with a temperature on the listing. Here you are buying on the maker’s own figure, not on a guess from the fabric weight.
At 10 by 30 feet it is half as much fabric again as the Valibe roll. That is generous for a balcony and about right for a vegetable bed with a shrub border to spare.
The listing says the fabric lets light, air and water through. That matters when a cold spell runs several days and you would rather not lift the cover each morning.
Not for you if your garden is two pots and a windowsill. You would be storing a large roll for years to use a corner of it.
Gardzen drawstring covers, 5-pack
Best for: potted plants you want covered in under a minute.
Gardzen Drawstring Plant Covers, 5-Pack, 31 x 40 in
2.06 oz per square yard, reusable
Drawstring closes around the stem in seconds
See the price and reviews on Amazon
These are not a roll. Gardzen lists five bags of 2.06 ounce per square yard fabric, 31 by 40 inches each, with a drawstring that pulls tight around the stem.
The whole appeal is the ten seconds it takes. You slip the bag over the plant and pull the cord.
That is the difference between covering things on a cold evening and telling yourself you will do it later.
The fabric is the heaviest of the four by Gardzen’s own figure. Five identical covers only help if your plants are a similar size, and nothing taller than about three feet will fit.
Not for you if you are covering a bed or a row. A bag is the wrong shape, and cutting one up wastes it.
DeWitt Supreme 1.5 oz, 6 by 50 ft
Best for: a long raised bed or a row you cover every winter.
DeWitt Supreme Crop Protection Fabric, 1.5 oz, 6 x 50 ft
1.5 oz per square yard frost and freeze blanket
6 ft wide by 50 ft long for bed-length runs
See the price and reviews on Amazon
DeWitt lists this as 1.5 ounce per square yard fabric, 6 feet wide and 50 feet long.
The shape is the point. It is narrow enough to handle alone in the wind. It is long enough to run a whole bed and still reach the ground on both sides.
DeWitt publishes no frost rating for this fabric, so there is no maker’s figure to quote you.
What the label gives you is the weight. At 1.5 ounces per square yard it sits at the bottom of the heavy band New Hampshire’s Extension service describes.
Fifty feet is a lot of fabric to take on. If you cover the same bed every year, one long piece is easier to handle than three short ones flapping loose.
Not for you if nothing in your garden is longer than a few feet. Nor if you have nowhere dry to keep a roll this size.
How to choose, in one number
Fabric weight is the number that decides this purchase. Everything else is size and convenience.
New Hampshire’s Extension service puts it plainly. A lightweight row cover might give about 2 degrees Fahrenheit of protection.
A heavy-weight cover might give as much as 6 to 10 degrees.
The weights behind those figures start under half an ounce per square yard. Heavy-weight fabric runs between 1.5 and 2.2 ounces.
The four covers on that scale:
| Cover | Fabric weight | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Valibe | 0.9 oz | 10 x 20 ft |
| AlpineReach | 1.2 oz | 10 x 30 ft |
| Gardzen bags | 2.06 oz | 31 x 40 in, 5 bags |
| DeWitt Supreme | 1.5 oz | 6 x 50 ft |
So the choice runs like this:
- Light fabric, under 1 ounce: frosty mornings, more light through to the plants, cheapest per square foot
- Heavy fabric, 1.5 ounces and up: a real freeze, less light, more bulk to store
- Bag or drawstring covers: speed on a weeknight, but only for plants that fit
Worth paying for: enough fabric to reach the ground on every side. Heat rising off the soil is most of what a cover holds in, so a cover that stops halfway down does half a job.
Not worth paying for: a cover sized to the plant you own today. Plants grow, and the extra foot of fabric costs very little.
When you do not need to buy anything
Georgia’s Extension service lists sheets, blankets and cardboard boxes as protection against low temperature injury.
The sheet in your closet genuinely works, and it costs nothing tonight.
Plastic sheeting is the one to avoid. Georgia’s Extension service does not recommend it, because the plant underneath can heat up rapidly once temperatures rise again.
Two rules apply whatever you use. Take the cover off during the day so trapped heat can escape, and keep it clear of the leaves with a simple frame.
Buy a proper cover when the sheet becomes the problem rather than the solution.
That is usually after the third or fourth cold snap of a season. You are tired of pulling bedding off the plants each morning, and you want something lighter, made to be reused, and cut to fit.
If you buy one cover this autumn
For most small gardens it is the Valibe roll. It is light, it cuts to size, and one purchase covers pots, a bed and whatever you forgot until dusk.
Choose the AlpineReach if you want a stated temperature and the space to use 30 feet of it.
Choose the Gardzen bags if your garden is pots and your evenings are short. The DeWitt roll is for the raised bed you will be covering every winter for years.
None of it replaces knowing which nights matter. Your own frost dates tell you when to start watching the forecast.
The rest of protecting plants from a frost happens in the hours before dark, cover or no cover.
Cover the few plants you would actually miss. The rest can look after itself.