Keep it covered
What’s best for growing young crops outside in spring? Bob gives the inside scoop on the best outdoor covering
CLOCHES and their modern plastic replacements are handy for successful growing by creating warm, protected microclimates. Originally, these were bell shaped (‘cloche’ is French for ‘bell’) and made of glass. They were superseded by less expensive contraptions of glass panels held together with wire and stiff rods. Unwieldy and very fragile, these have now been replaced by plastic replicas, plastic ‘boxes’ and low plastic sheet tunnels – and often by individual cloches made from clear plastic bottles with their bottoms cut off (although these often require more ventilation and really need almost the whole top removing as well).
It does not matter which you use as the principle works the same as with a greenhouse. The light passes through and is converted to warmth inside, which is then trapped. Plus, the wind is kept off, as is hail, sleet and rain, wind-borne diseases, and many creeping and flying pests. Cloches help to establish both sown and planted-out crops, and they are especially good for extra-early potatoes. Ideally, you put cloches in place well before the plants are sown or planted, so the soil can warm up first. Of course, although most crops will enjoy being started under a cloche initially, for many it may later become too confined or too hot. However, by then the weather should have improved so cloches are no longer needed anyway. Most handy of all is a temporary taller cloche for planting out tomatoes and peppers, made like a tent fly-sheet. Suspended above a row, pulled out in front and behind, this can be opened and closed day and night while the crops adjust to their new position. A fly-sheet allows maximum ventilation yet keeps harsh weather and frosts off. Most usefully, this cloche also keeps your plants sheltered from the rain – delaying the onset of blight as the spores are carried by it.
“Cloches are good for extra-early potatoes”