Cloches

I was wondering the same things Hazel, so last year I did an experiment. I grew 2 rows of carrots. One I left out in the open and over the other I used a bit of corregated plastic that I had lying around and bent it over and pined it down with sticks on either side - the effect was similar to your picture. Anyway, the row under the cloche did come up earlier than the ones in the open, by a couple of weeks I think. The only problem I found is that I had to dismantle the whole thing to water them, as of course the rain could not reach them. IN the end, the ones in the garden court up and I honestly don't think there was any difference in the end product. This year, I think I'm put the plastic over the courgettes and butternut squash and see what happens. I don't think they're a 'must have' tho. And easy to mock one up out of scraps instead of shelling out 35 quid! Hope this helps!

Oh but my veggie patch will look SO beautiful, a la Sarah Raven, if I get the posh ones! lol.

I agree, cloches probably bring things on a bit to start with but come with their own inherent problems, like not letting the rain through as you mentioned.Will prob improvise this year with cheapo stuff to see how i get on using them.

My mum used to use old sheets of glass leaning together, fixed at the top with bits of rusty wire in an a-frame affair. Seemed to work but probably potentially lethal with all the sharp edges.

The idea of cloches is to warm up the soil for early seed sowing and give protection early in the season. Once the weather has warmed up and things are growing away well, you don't need the cloches over the crop