How to use cold frames and cloches in your garden
My grandmother always used to call me a giddy kipper. Chronically impatient, I’d rush at everything, a symptom perhaps of being excited about what’s coming next. At this time of year, the anticipation of the return of the growing season brings back similar feelings; by February, I am usually hopping up and down to start planting.
The weather, however, has other ideas. From hard frosts to mild sunny days, snow showers to sudden downpours, February is the epitome of gardening roulette. And so I employ my arsenal of covers to help extend the growing season, protect seedlings from damage and create mini microclimates. From tiny cloches for individual plants to large cold frames, each has its place.
With all plant covers, however, two things are key. The first is air flow: any closed structure will soon attract condensation and begin to rot the plant it’s trying to protect. Keep any ventilation open during the day and close it at night to protect it from frost.
The second is heft: in my experience, cloches need to be heavy enough not to get blown over in spring weather. If it’s not sturdy, it’ll need to have some means of pinning it down.
How do you use a garden cloche?
My cloches first come out in late February or early March. I place them directly on the bare soil where I want to sow various early varieties of flowers and vegetables. Leaving the cloches on for two weeks will warm the soil by a good few degrees Celsius, which, although probably imperceptible to us, allows me to sow seeds a month earlier than it says on the packet.
The cloches then go back over the sown seeds, keeping them warm and cosy. Creating this warm environment will not only speed up germination but will also protect growing seedlings from harsh winds, deluges and late frosts. A good example is chard. I could sow the seeds directly outdoors in April, but late Yorkshire frosts can be deadly to early seedlings.
So if I put my cloches out on the veg beds in late February, leave them on for a fortnight and then sow the seeds in mid-March, they should get a decent head start. I’ll leave the cloches on until late April or early May, then take them off and let the sunshine do the rest.
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A second use of cloches is to harden off seedlings that I’ve grown in the greenhouse or on a window ledge and want to plant outside before May.
Young vegetable seedlings can wither and wilt if they’ve been grown under glass and then plonked into a cold garden. This often happens with broad beans or courgettes, for example, which grow fabulously in my greenhouse and then freak out the minute they go outside. An easy way around this is to place the seedlings outside under a cloche during the daytime and bring them back into the greenhouse at night.
Do this for a week or so, then plant outside and cover with a cloche for another week, or until the frosts are over.
Do cloches stop slugs?
My cloches have also proved invaluable for thwarting pests. Cloches seem to put off the majority of slugs and are brilliant at protecting seedlings from chickens, rabbits and pigeons.
Our poultry are gloriously free-range but hugely destructive when they want to be, so I tend to keep cloches over any young crop that’s caught their eye. Once established, I’ll swap to netting.
Some of the most beautiful garden items are vintage cloches and mini greenhouses. If you can’t find originals, there are some gorgeous modern reproductions. I also like metal-framed tunnel cloches, which can be lifted with just one hand. That leaves the other hand free to keep shooing the ruddy hens away…
Read more from Sally on The New Good Life.
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