Gardening on the cheap

Have discovered a new, almost free source of row covers for my gardens.  I bend metal coat hangers into hoops and drape them with sheer curtains from the thrift store.  The sheers are sturdier and don’t pick up all of the debris of traditional row covers. The hangers are lower than purchased hoops, but that has not yet been an issue. So far so good.  Am I missing any drawbacks?

If it works, it works. Sounds like a good, cheap option. Suppose the only issue is to weigh down the borders so it doesn't blow away, and, to keep it sufficiently taut so it won't lay on crops.

Where I live it is very windy so when I need to cover plants due to freezing temps I use old sheets and tall bottles filled with water, like a gallon of vinegar comes in.  I set the bottles of water around plants and drape the old sheets over the bed.  Then I use more bottles of water to hold the sheets down.

When I remove the sheets, I leave the bottles to use as cloches.

Another way to hold down the edges of any row cover is to get rebar and roll it into the excess cover.  It is very adjustable and heavy enough that the wind does not bother it.  I use several pieces in long beds so it is easier to manage.

One thought I had about the curtains, have you tried to see how permeable they are to water?  I am guessing that it might not pass through as easily as it does through row cover.

K Sweet wrote:Another way to hold down the edges of any row cover is to get rebar and roll it into the excess cover.  It is very adjustable and heavy enough that the wind does not bother it.  I use several pieces in long beds so it is easier to manage.

One thought I had about the curtains, have you tried to see how permeable they are to water?  I am guessing that it might not pass through as easily as it does through row cover.

Thanks for the idea.  The curtains are sheers, so, so far so good.

To build upon K's suggestion, when rolling a frost blanket (or tarp or fabric) up around a pipe or rebar, if you roll it the opposite way you'd normally roll it, it won't come unrolled in the wind as easily.  It's a bit hard to explain but if you have 2 feet of extra tarp to hold down, lay the pipe on the end of it and roll the pipe under the tarp instead of on top.