Home-made cloches & cold frames

[veggiechicken]

I use a builder's wooden crate that contained slates, and put 2 sheets of perspex over the top, held in place with elastic bungees. The perspex slides, one over the other. for ventilation and watering.

[vegnut]

I made a cloche to protect my carrots from the dreaded root fly, using tannelised roof battening and micro mesh. This year produced perfect carrots for the first time ever.

[singleseeder]

Just remembered.... I have a couple of 'bread trays' that have been liberated from skips. They are just great for putting over a small patch of newly sown seeds or planted seedlings.

They provide a little shade, as well as protection from the flippin' pigeons and wind; very easy to handle too.

[Newton]

Sweet jars from a sweet shop with bottom cut off is another of mine to stop slugs and snails having my lettuce.

And you could pop in a few slug sweeties for authenticity!

[JamesM]

I have a bunch of old fizz bottles for cloches and they work well- i can never understand why people would but expensive ones when this way is so simple! Interesting to read some DIY methods, i'd love to give one a go if i can get hold of the resources

[fireman]

Gardeners' World - Building a cloche.avi - YouTube If you click on this address you will watch a video of Tony Buckland making a Jeff Hamilton cloche. I have made these and use them on my allotment they are excellent and being light in weight can be moved into other areas when required.

[greasemonkey67]

At work we have a water dispenser which has large upturned plastic water bottles.I save these when empty,cut bottom off and break off the one way valve on the neck,these make great cloches and you can water through the top without taking the cloche off the plant and avoiding damage to plant.

[snakeshack]

I cut the bottoms off old 25 litre water cooler bottles or for large areas hoops of plastic piping with uv stable poly dust sheets over the top

[singleseeder]

I used to have a few of the water cooler bottles which were great, but I gave them to a friend when I moved house. The only ones I have managed to get hold of now lose a bit of space because of the 'built in' handles.

I can't find a supply of any at the moment which is a shame. Even at the last place I worked the suppliers were supposed to take the empties back.

[chris]

Taking it up to the next level: http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ent_62047.html

[chris]

I use conduit, and debris netting for my netting - which pretty much forms a cloche too, the micro environment underneath is always slightly warmer, and calmer.

[shona_b]

We were very lucky to spot that a local B&B was having a refit and managed to get all of their old shower stall doors. They are superb as mosly hinged so we use them as covers for new plants to protect from the worst weather. As they are open at each end the air circulation is fine. We've also got a "movable" raised bed which is simply 4 pieces of scaffolding made into a square frame which we can move from bed to bed as we rotate the planting as we really only use for lettuces and sweet potatoes. The top is covered with 2 of the larger shower doors. We're following fashion with our "vintage" plot as I don't think there's anything new on there - its all having a second life and escaping the tip!

[HeyWayne]

I bought a bike shed, and the company delivered some extra chipboard (roof sections). I cut two pieces of equal length, but one 2/3 the height of the other. Then two sides angled to join the front and back. Made a simple frame up using some leftover timber battens, and bought a sheet of double layered perspex from local DIY "shed". Attached with some beading left over from another job and voila!

[Storming Norman]

Water cooler bottles with the bottom cut off and a few holes drilled in. If you drill through the top seal then it will snugly hold a cane that can be used to skewer the bottle to the ground firmly.

It pays to be an office administrator occasionally - I chatted up the water delivery guy and asked him what happened to the damaged bottles and got 8 of them for my pains. The best cloches ever - I grew fantastic basil right into November under them.

[shona_b]

OK so not a cloche.....if you get through slug pellet bottles at a similar rate to me you'll have quite a few empties. A few slits with a sharp stanley knife create "flaps" you can bend back and upended onto a cane create a good "whirly-gig" bird scarer. We've experimented with adding some striped tape and even some streamers attached to see if they were even more effective. Great fun too and brightens up the bleak winter plot. I have to say the mapies that frequent other plots seem to leave ours alone.