MartnJules wrote:
Hi Folks,

I'm a bit of a ‘New’ gardener and I'm looking for some advice on the
use of Garden cloches.

We finished landscaping our garden last year and put in 8 x raised
beds around 2m x 1m. Although my wife and I are novices, we had a
reasonable amount of success with Kidney Beans, Peas, Courgettes,
Mange tout and salads.

The one thing I discovered is that when you plant things, there are a
number of things that are out to get you!

1. Domestic cats – Our next door neighbour has 5 cats which took great
pleasure in using the beds as their personal toilet.


I would deal with this as a separate issue. Start with the neighbour being
nice, if that doesn't work be not nice.

2. The Wind! – We live in a cliff top village in the Scottish Borders
and suffer from extremely high winds. We lost 3 of our Courgette
plants in one afternoon despite a 7 ft garden fence and the fact they
were staked.


This must affect the whole garden, I would try to deal with it by better
wind breaks, a solid fence is not the best as it produces whirls and eddies.

3. Caterpillars – The little buggers had a field day on our salads!


It depends on what they are. If they come from eggs layed by
butterflies/moths then a bird net will keep them out and not have too many
side effects. Or use pyrethrum or BT. BT is very good and has no side
effects (it only kills the grubs) but needs to be renewed after rain.

My plan this year is to come up with a solution that will beat all
three of the above – hence I’m assuming cloches are the way to go?

My thoughts are to build wooden frames using decent quality timber – I
can get hold of 2x2 Douglas Fir at a good price.

All of the frames will be covered on all sides with clear 5mm
Polycarbonate Sheeting. Some of the frames will also have the top
covered with Polycarbonate (Almost a mini greenhouse for
Tomatoes/Peppers etc) the others will have a top that’s made of
Galvanised netting to stop cats / birds / Cabbage moths etc.


They will cook on hot days and the humidity will encourage fungus. Gal
netting of about 5cm mesh will not stop cabbage moths, it needs to be finer.

PS – The ones that are fully enclosed with Polycarbonate sheeting will
have a hinged lid which can be opened on hot days to let heat escape.


If you remember.

David