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| "All The Year Round" |
I remembered today that earlier this year I bought some very large individual cloches, which were originally used to protect my Marrow and my Cucumbers, so I have dug these out of the garage and put them to use:
These cloches are really good, because they are especially tall and allow plants to grow quite big under their protection. They were a bargain at £10 for 3. They have closeable vents at the top, which allows you to control the temperature, and come with wire pegs to anchor them into the soil.
Elsewhere I have salad plants dotted around all over the place, like for instance in this large plastic pot which previously housed potatoes.
It houses two plants each each of Curly Endive and Batavian Endive.
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| Batavian Endive, aka "Scarole" |
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| Curly Endive |
Last year I tried to protect my late-season salads with fleece, but it was not very effective, largely because it kept getting trashed by the foxes. Hopefully the more rigid cloches will not succumb so easily.
Your cloches look as if they will do a good job for you Mark, I hope you manage to keep harvesting leaves.
ReplyDeleteAs the temperature goes down, cloches like yours and vinyl tunnels are more effective for facilitating the growth of our vegetables.
ReplyDeleteI know the attacks by foxes which you mentioned in your blog but your cloches, which may be made of plastic, seem to have enough thickness to protect your vegetables.
They all look very healthy Mark - unfortunately mine in the greenhouse have succumbed to mould, with the damp weather we have had, but there are still enough left to keep us going I think.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had cloches here.
ReplyDeleteI've seen those cloches here so I'm away to get me some...I did wonder if they'd do the job and now thanks to you I can see they're perfect.
ReplyDeleteSome of my lettuce have bolted ~ not sure why ~ but there's still a few left.
I'll just have to be careful that I don't bake them though. I'll need to keep them well away from the sun.
Kinda difficult here in Oz {whoops sorry I realise your heading into winter} ;D
They look super healthy - I really should plant some endive it looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThey look remarkably free of slug attack too Mark.
ReplyDeleteI hope all your salad plants do well. When I see all the effort gardeners in the West take to protect plants from the cold, I realise how fortunate I am not to have to worry about winter at all. At the peak of winter here, if you could call it winter, it is extremely pleasant. Fruits and vegetables thrive in our winters. We get apples, carrots and peas in abundance in winter. Here, what gardeners fear are the heavy monsoon rains and the scorching summers.
ReplyDeleteThose are nice cloches! They are not so common here.
ReplyDeleteFox, well that's is one animal we don't have to worry about...do they actually eat your produce? Nice cloches, we use old milk jugs in the spring but I like your reall ones better...much more room in them.
ReplyDeleteI remember your problems with the foxes last year. I think your cloches will not suffer the same fate.
ReplyDeleteLovely blog.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't usually buy bottled water but I bought 6 or 8 5-litre bottles earlier in the year to use as cloches when empty. I cut the bottom off and I can let air in by unscrewing the top (cost about £1 each).
Not as smart as yours though...
Good value cloches Mark - and lots of tasty salad leaves readily available. Mine are all still lurking up at the allotment, not so convenient for a quick lunchtime sandwich.
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