MY HOME MADE CLOCHE HOW IT WAS MADE.

8 comments

I was messing about in the garage and found some old PVC electrical 1″ × 3/4" truncking which I was going to throw away, also in the garage was the remains of a roll of plastic. It was when I stepped out of the garage I looked at my lettuce and thought you have put these out to early I wish I had a cloche.

Some nice person then whispered in my head, you have look at what your throwing away, make use of it.

I measured the length I wanted all 9’ of it. I took the top from two of the lengths of PVC truncking and cut this into 4 lengths of 36". Next I rolled out the plastic sheeting and cut this 11’ long, some to play with and 36" wide. I then stuck the 36" lengths of PVC in the ground spread evenly along the row of lettuce, these I bent over to form an arch 13" high and about 18" wide. I then just placed the sheeting over the loops, job done, no. The sheeting was lifting in the light wind so I removed it and taking another length of PVC truncking removed the lid put the edge of the plastic sheet into the truncking put the lid back on and hey presto I have the weight now to hold it in position. One of the benefits is I can add weight if requied to increase the holding down power, I just tip chippings or sand down the truncking. At the moment I have two lengths of wood holding the other side down, this is because 36" is to wide and I had a lot of spare pvc sheeting, but it will do for now. I will cut the sheetin back to nearer 28" soon.

Are my little lettuce nice and warm at night now? please have a look at my pictures.

Picture shows the PVC trapped in truncking.

How it looks end open to let air in

Are they nice and warm?

The truncking with lid removed.

• 30 Apr, 2009
• 8 likes

More blog posts by brinleym