Cloche Building

A few weeks ago, after reading Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, I measured, cut, and stapled pieces of string to form our grid of one foot by one foot plots. My hope was that this would inadvertently keep Gunner out of the veggie beds as well--no such luck.

So I then used five-foot-long stakes to construct what will eventually be a trellis for our peas, beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I also attached two shorter stakes at the opposite corners and wrapped two levels of twine all the way around the veggie beds. Mackenzie said it looked like a boxing ring, but my hope was that this, in addition to the grid, would keep Gunner out--wrong again.

In thinking through the best way to Gunner-proof our beds, I decided to try building a cloche. This would also help keep the birds out, and allow us to regulate the amount of water the seeds/plants get.

We first tried to simply drape some pieces of plastic over the existing "boxing ring" structure, but after a few straight days of rain, despite the slope from the five-foot-high stakes to the much shorter stakes, the plastic collapsed, causing one of the stakes to snap.

So we made another trip to Home Depot, and found some ten-foot-long, thin and flexible PVC pipe, as well as some metal brackets. We attached one side of the pipe to the outside of the veggie bed and then arced it over to the other side. I wasn't sure how much tension the pipe or brackets would be able to withstand, but the first attempt went off without a hitch.

The only problem was that the pipe was so long, it made the veggie bed look like a covered wagon--not much of an improvement from the boxing ring. So I took about a foot off the pipe, tried again, and then decided to take about another six inches off. Pleased with the results, we cut and fit all the other pipes, draped the plastic over, and stood back to admire our finished cloche.

The plastic at each end isn't tied down or attached, so Gunner could still potentially get in and make a mess, but if he does, I just might lose it. We don't need another "Marley and Me" moment.