Don't be fooled. Inside this thin coating of sweetness is a fiery core of total insanity.

Friday, March 2, 2018

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.