Berry Cloche Tutorial

Given how well my Lupine seedlings did under my berry bottom cloches, and the interest in them in the comments, I thought I'd post a more detailed explanation of how I make them.

Start with a lidded plastic berry container, empty of course.

Cut the lid off and discard it

That leaves you with a cloche that has a lip all the way around -- make sure you use a berry container that has drainage holes

Cut off the two narrow ends of that lip of the berry container bottom

Then take a hole punch

Use the hole punch to punch a hole in both ends of the cloche

One tine of the earth staple goes through the hole to hold the berry cloche to the ground -- it's enough to keep it from blowing away

Now that the berry bottom has been flipped and is being used as a cloche, the drainage holes let in rain and air, and will allow hot air out on warm sunny days to keep the air inside from overheating.

And that's how I turn a plastic berry container into a cloche.