Best fleece on a budget???

[A Life Less Simple]

Ok, I want to buy some fleece to go over my onion and garlic to help them get going and also so to go over the brassicas to keep off all the nasty white butterflies that ate EVERYTHING last year.

I've never bought or used fleece before, what am i looking for? Will the same one for both jobs or should I be getting different one? Also any good places to buy from, as cheaply as possible (I'm skint at the moment, isn't everyone)?

Thanks for any help

[Two_Sheds]

I hate fleece, it just tears.
I use voile net curtains from charity shops, sewn together then washed & re-used every year

[BrideXIII]

I have several long large viole curtains from when i redecorated last year, so i shall be using them as 'nets' this year, fleece however i do have in use at the moment, and i got mine from tescos last summer., it was pretty cheap. and is doing the job at the moment on my strawberry bed, it hasn't torn at all, pretty good considering the lumping great bricks holding it down and the high winds we have had here.

[Flummery]

.. which also has the advantage of having purdy patterns!

[Dottie]

How do curtains and fleece compare?

I hate fleece, it just tears.
I use voile net curtains from charity shops, sewn together then washed & re-used every year

I've got some very thin curtains that I've considered using, but worried that they will hold onto the rain, whereas fleece won't. I'm not able to go up to the allotment and remove them or shake them too often, is this an issue if using curtains/nets?

I asked as you already have curtain experience and I believe they were used in the good old days, before fleece. Could you tell me the good and the bad of curtain use and how do they compare to using fleece?

Obviously we'd all like to save money and re-use stuff, but I want to feel that I'm doing the best for my plants.

Dottie about me lottie.

[A Life Less Simple]

I hate fleece, it just tears.
I use voile net curtains from charity shops, sewn together then washed & re-used every year

Does that work to keep the heat in? or just keep butterflies off?

it hasn't torn at all, pretty good considering the lumping great bricks holding it down and the high winds we have had here.

In one of the new veg books I got for christmas it says to use old milk bottles filled with sand to weight it down and stop it ripping, was gonnna try that.

[krazy_krok]

i scrounged some scaffold netting from a builder i know, its a very fine mesh i'll be using it to net the brassicas as well as keep the carrot fly off. Don't think it'll insulate though

[Two_Sheds]

use old milk bottles filled with sand to weight it down and stop it ripping, was gonnna try that.

Or water, which is cheaper than sand

[Two_Sheds]

I've got some very thin curtains that I've considered using, but worried that they will hold onto the rain.

Net curtains have holes in them ... so the rain goes through
I have used them for years, and I grow more veg than I can eat
drawbacks to using nets: sourcing them, sewing them together (you can't use anything with big holes, because the butterflies will get through)

eBay is good because you can buy proper voile, in wide widths

[Two_Sheds]

i scrounged some scaffold netting ... Don't think it'll insulate though

anything that keeps the wind off will insulate to some degree. A lot of damage to plants is done by the wind, more than the cold. It dehydrates them, as well as physically ripping leaves

[Dottie]

Or water, which is cheaper than sand

I avoid having glass on my plot for saftey reasons and less damage to clear up when vandals regular visit the site.

So I'd recommend using plastic milk or similar container and filling them with water or sand.

[Two_Sheds]

I avoid having glass on my plot for saftey reasons

you wouldn't approve of mine then: my raised beds are edged with inverted wine bottles

[Dottie]

[QUOTE=Two_Sheds;352345]
Net curtains have holes in them ... so the rain goes through
I have used them for years, and I grow more veg than I can eat
drawbacks to using nets: sourcing them, sewing them together (you can't use anything with big holes, because the butterflies will get through)

Yep the curtains I got will let the rain through, so I suppose what I should have said is: My concern about the weight of the wet curtains resting or falling onto plants. Obviously supports would go up etc, but what with wind and rain, concern is that the weight of the wet curtains would mean they could sink in the middle or collapse altogether.

However I'll be very happy if you say this is not the case, as I have 5 pairs (floor to ceiling length) ready to use. Or that even if they do rest on the plants, no harm (mold/pests) comes of it.

The above concerns have again come from reading, so if personal experience says otherwise, I'm happy to give them a go.

[Dottie]

you wouldn't approve of mine then: my raised beds are edged with inverted wine bottles

I approve of anything that works and just work around the vandals. Just see them as another pest to deal with, rather than getting to upset about the damage caused.

[lottie dolly]

i tried the milk cartons filled with water,but they leeked out as the seal not good enough,either that or the volume of water when lying down was to much,