Chris got me thinking about covering my veggies with remay, not to protect them from the cold, but to keep the cucumber beetles from my cukes. I plant Divas which don't need to be pollinated by insects, so I thought I'd sew a tall cover,but it should be light enough not to build up heat in the summer. Anyone know what would be a good fabric to use, and where to purchase it? Thanks for your help!

When I was looking for remay, these folks seemed to have a good price, and sell custom quantities:

http://www.superseeds.com/products.php?cat=298

It's agro-fabric brand (Remay is another brand, but is also a general term for the floating row covers like Kleenex for tissue.)

If you live near a Hancock or Jo-Ann Fabric store, you can buy nylon net (cheaper) or bridal tulle (a little more expensive). It is usually 72" wide. The nylon net is usually less than a dollar a yard at Hancock's. You can sew it on a sewing machine, or by hand if you prefer. I had a bad problem with cucumber beetles this year and am making a "bag" out of nylon net to protect my new planting. I'm using a double thickness of nylon net; just unfold the net, which comes folded in four layers on the bolt, and it gives you a double layer that is 36" wide. Sew it together down the length of it (two pieces overlapped a couple of inches) to get wider pieces. I have 3' tall wire fencing sections for my cucumbers to climb up. I plan to make this nylon net bag tall enough to go over the cucumbers, over the wire fencing, and down to the ground on the other side of the fencing. If you make the net bag about 12 to 16 inches longer than the combined height of the fence and leave some room for the cucumbers, you can cover the ends of the net with dirt on both sides to keep those cucumber beetles out. I am toying with the idea of not sewing the sides of the bag up a couple of feet from the bottom of the bag and using self-sticking Velcro (also available at Hancock's or JoAnn's, or probably Wal-Mart) to keep it closed so I can get in with a paintbrush to pollinate the cucumber blooms. I will let you know how this works out. Good luck!

The sheers that people use on windows has been used in place of the expensive floating row covers for many years, and that may even be where the people that developed the spun fabric they sell for that purpose got the idea.

Sue, I just used clothespins to close up the sides. I just rolled the two edges of the netting together a few times and clothespinned it every foot or so. It worked great. My problem is that I have not been good about the paintbrush on the blooms and have not had a good harvest. Even my Diva, which supposedly doesn't need to be insect pollinated is giving me no fruit.