Allotments 4 All

Part of the challenge of growing crops is providing protection against the extremes of weather to extend the cropping seasons. This usualy includes using cloches and other similar covering devices to keep the weather off and raise the temperature around the plants.

This is something i have been trying to do on my veg plot, using an old plastic cold frame as a cloche to force on crops such as salads and leaf beets.

However my garden suffers quite a bit from wind and in particularly strong winds cloches are asily blown off. i regularly venture out into the garden after an windy night to find them scattered across the garden.  I have tried using metal pegs and bricks on the lights of the old cold frame to anchor it but the wind still manages to get inside the cloche and lift it up.

I was wondering how those of you with windy plots coped. Do you not bother with cloches etc or have you found ways to anchor them in all but the worst winds? I would be gratefull for any ideas you could offer

Thanks

How about a redesign of the shape, maybe an upturned saucer shape would work better.
So the wind goes over it more easily, rather than running straight into a flat surface.

For the coldframe, why not add angled sides.

I have used big plastic bottles (7 litres), the type used for spring water. Cut off the bottom, take off the lid and put a stake in the ground (I used some thin bamboo), then slide the bottle onto the stake. They stay firmly in place like that, e.g. over lettuce.

we got a tip from this site, cut the bottoms off old demijohns, use them as a cloche..Ray managed to break 2 before he got the hang of it, we now have 4  ;D

The plastic bottles and stakes sound like a good idea. I've in the past used stiff gardening wire bent into staples to hold down fleece, though this does considerably shorten its usable life! My site can get windy enough to see whole compost daleks blown across the site on occasion - have you considered building low windbreaks?

i think i was really after ways to anchor what i have better, rather than new ways of protecting my plants. The bottles sound a good idea but they aren't very attractive are they? My veg plot is by nessesity in the middle of my garden and is on a throughfare to more ornamental areas. i try to make the veg plot look as attractive as possible for this reason.

Sorry, perhaps i wasnt all that clear on what i was asking. Good ideas though. Might try one or two of them in the future.

If you are regularly experiencing winds strong enough to lift the top off a cold frame the best plan would be sturdy ground spikes and rope to storm lash the top down. Bit of faffing to open and close but should keep it in place.

As for big plastic bottles a long cane stuck through the open top at an angle to miss the plant does the trick. Better still if you get the bottles with an attached carry handle the cane can stay outside the bottle.

Then low hazel hurdles might not solve the problem but could ameliorate it a bit and also look attractive?

PS Can I just say that the title of this thread makes me laugh every time I read it?  :)

QuotePS Can I just say that the title of this thread makes me laugh every time I read it?  Smiley

I have struggled to resist the temptation to suggest cutting back on the Jerusalems. :P

Glad im not the only one with an infantile sense of humour!  ;)

No, here's another one !

I dont think hurdles would make much difference, in fact might make it worse.  The garden is on a slope for a start, sloping towards the prevailing wind so more exposed to it (and woul therefore whip straight over the top of such hurdles). The boundary hedge between the veg plot is a very solid lonicera nitida type, and I am convinced this makes the wind swirl and eddy around the garden at times, this could flatten any hurlde windbreak and totaly negate any benefit it provides (and could make the air more turbulent in windy weather).  Plus the aspect of th garden would mean any windbreak would cast too much shade over the plot.  I see where you are coming from and appreciate the suggestion though.

Those of you who see a differnent meaning to the title of this thread should see my email inbox. At the same time as posting about the wind I also posted about brussels sprouts. I have often got email notices about these topics and alwys strikes me as an amusing combination, given that eating one can cause the other! LOL ;D

Fruit bushes down the sides to act as a windbreak????