Making cloches and beer traps by Rachael
On our plot I was asked to take the class and direct the group to make a cloche. All went very well.
We all planted lettuces from seeds in the polytunnel earlier in the year. The sowing and harvesting dates for lettuces are on the packets of bought seeds. You can by the seeds in most shops these days; Woolworth’s, Sainsbury’s, or Tesco's for example. When you go shopping, pop lettuce seeds on your list.
In March the lettuce are big enough to plant out in the cloche. The ground is warm enough in cloche, I put my hand in the cloche, I was amazed how worm it was there, even the weeds loved it there ,so weeding we went ,then racked the ground tacking out any Biggish stones, no matter how many stones are removed others come to the service when were not looking , then we measured the distance between each lettuce, it’s about a trail size apart, we planted three widths ways, four between each bar length ways, watered them in well then put the cover down each side of the cloche and tied down both ends.
Oh I forgot, we made slug traps, not too keen myself, but it works. We slit the tops of yogurt pots as above. We put three in the ground under the cloche with the tops on and beer in the pots. A few days later we looked in the pots and there were black slugs in there. If you leave them for a week they will disintegrate, but do not sniff the beer it’s not pleasant. I hope the slugs pass a way happy and tell there friends were the party is,
Slug it to them I say with a smile,
How to make the cloche:
Materials needed are blue plastic piping, copper piping, plastic sheeting eyelets.
Tools needed are a tape measure, and a saw.
Measure the blue piping to six inches long. I used three pieces.
Saw through each piece, then measure the copper piping fourteen inches long and saw through again three pieces long. Push one of the pieces of copper up into the blue piping until there is ten inches hanging outside.
Do this on both sides of the blue piping six times in all. The measurement between each piece of blue piping is four feet with the blue piping six food wide across, twelve foot long. Push the copper piping in to the ground till there is no copper piping showing. Do this with the three blue pieces, then measure the polythene twenty inches long by a foot wide. Put the polythene over the top and put eyelets in one side of blue piping and get some string to thread through the holes of the eyelets. Tie the ends with string.
And there you have it, to water lift up one side and water well. Have fun.