Attempts to Repair Reemay and Tulle Garden Covers

I finally got around to dealing with some of the tears in the tulle and Reemay I use to protect some of my plants in the garden. The fixes ain't pretty, but I thought I'd share...

This is the black polyester tulle and Reemay cover I was working on today. I've had this wooden frame that fits over my raised bed since last Fall. When I first got it, I lined it completely with Reemay using a staple gun to secure the fabric. I was hoping to provide a little protection to the veggies in the raised bed from frosts, as well as insect pests.

Then over the winter a band of raccoons came and ransacked my yard (there's a previous post on the episode). They tore through several panels of the fabric. I didn't have enough Reemay to replace all the torn panels, so I replaced two of them with some tulle I had, again using a staple gun. That's why it's now a mix and match affair. It doesn't protect from frost as well now, and aphids and other really small bugs can get through the tulle. But it still does a good job of keeping out larger flying pests like cabbage moths.

Since that major repair, I've snagged the fabric in a few spots, and one of my dogs poked a medium-sized hole in it also. I don't want to replace entire panels again, so I'm just doing a few spot repairs this time.

In this Reemay panel, the smaller holes are actually leftover claw holes from the raccoon incident. The holes were small enough that I didn't do anything about them at the time. But since then, the holes have grown from getting snagged or poked by something or other. 

I patched the whole area with a scrap of Reemay sewn on with a really wide basting stitch. I just used some cotton embroidery thread and a regular sharp sewing needle. It's not the strongest repair. Polyester thread would probably be stronger and last longer than the cotton, and my basting stitch is pretty wimpy. But I figure that when the patch goes, I'll just replace the whole panel.

Here's a super lazy tape repair I made on a small hole on a tulle side. I know, I know, Scotch tape is a really lame way to fix something that has to be outside. But amazingly, this repair is several months old! It's withstood quite a few winter storms. I think what made the repair last is that I put a piece of tape on both sides of the fabric, and made sure the two sticky sides made really good contact through all the little holes in the tulle. If you've got a little hole and you want a quick fix to last until you get a chance to really fix it, this is pretty handy.

Here's a more serious tear in the tulle that really needs a solid repair. For this one I used the same cotton thread from before, but I used a duller embroidery needle. I used a really lame whip stitch. It looks pretty messy, but I'm not trying to impress the moths, just keep them out. I did add a little embellishment at the end though. It is embroidery thread after all.

So those are my fixes. It won't keep out tiny flying things or crawling things, and it definitely isn't enough to keep out another band of raccoons, should they choose to strike. But it will keep out clumsy big flying things like moths and butterflies. And keeping caterpillars and cabbage worms out is huge!

-J