Although you can buy a ready-to-use cloche or cloche clips that hold sheets of glass or plastic sheets together, if you have small raised beds it is well worth making your own cloche designed to fit. The design detailed in this article uses a series of hoops over the bed, which means you can change the cover to suit the time of year and needs of the crop. For example, you could use garden fleece early in the year for frost protection, plastic sheeting for wind protection, fine mesh netting to keep out insect pests in early summer and pigeon netting over winter.

Materials

• Polythene tubing (overflow piping) cut into 2 m lengths - a length for every 60 cm of the length of the bed
• screws (four for every 2m length)
• double layer of garden fleece (or a clear ultra-violet stabilised polythene cover), 2m wide and at least 1m longer than the length of the bed
• 2 wooden posts 30cm long
• 2 lengths of timber batten each nearly as long as the bed, or a selection of bricks or stones

Method

1. Make a series of hoops over the bed by screwing the each end of the tubing to the wooden edge of the bed. Hoops should be about 60 cm apart.
2. Knock the wooden posts into ground outside the bed in the centre of each end.
3. Cut the covering material to size, allowing plenty of overlap at all edges.
4. Drape the material over the hoops and then secure the edges of the material by laying the battens over them or by using bricks or stones.
5. Gather up the ends and tie or fix to each post.
6. The cloche may be ventilated during hot weather by untying the ends or roll up the edges.
7. Bear in mind that you will need to position your cloche over your raised bed 3-4 weeks in advance of sowing or planting, so the soil has a chance to warm up and dry out slightly.