The past year brought change in the way many of us got our groceries. Safe deliveries and curbside pickup are convenient for pantry staples. But wouldn’t we rather choose our own produce? Better yet, grow some.

A floating row cover is an inexpensive multiuse garden tool that extends the growing time for cool season leafy vegetables.

A floating row cover is a lightweight white nonwoven material much like interfacing material used in sewing. It can be draped over the plants, anchored so it doesn’t blow away or pulled over frames made from wood or PVC like a low hoop house.

Covers come in different sizes and thickness and can be cut to size. Their weight is measured in ounces. The heavier ones help more with frost protection; the tradeoff is the heavier the fabric, sunlight transmission through the material drops. For example, a 0.9 ounce-per-square-yard provides 6 degrees of frost protection and 7 percent light transmission. Purchase the covers through mail order garden supply companies and at some local garden centers.

My first experiment with the 0.9 oz. row cover was in the fall to keep warmth in and the cold out to thwart the threat of frost and freeze damage on late summer lettuces. A “cool crop” like lettuce can tolerate some frost but when a freeze was forecast, I pulled the cover over some low rounded wire border fencing and used clothespins to keep it in place. My summer parsley and swiss chard fit under the blanket and were kept cozy too.

On warmer days, I lifted the cover. As the temperatures dropped, the cover stayed in place unless I was harvesting — and harvest I did until the very end of November. The cover was snowed on twice — weighted down a bit — and the winds tugged at the clothespins, but they held until the cover was removed, dried and stored.

Come early spring it’s going to help me grow some early cool season produce.

A row cover is useful in the summer garden too. It can shade cool crops to slow their tendency to bolt (go to seed) from sun and hot temperatures, and to keep cabbage worms and damaging insects off the plants. However, when pollination is occurring with flowering plants, the cover needs to be lifted at least some of the day to give the pollinators access. Later, with the first frost advisories, pull the cover over summer pepper plants, tomatoes and beans to squeeze out a few more days of harvest.

For more on how to use floating row covers go to http://go.osu.edu/rowcovers.

For a chart of cover weights and relative frost protection degrees and percentage of light transmission go to http://go.osu.edu/rowcoverdetail .

Karsnak is an Ohio State University Mahoning County Extension Master Gardener volunteer.