We’ve just begun despatching plants for spring. It’s early in the season still, and all our plants have been enjoying the warmth and shelter of the polytunnels here on the farm, so planting them straight out with this cold wind would be a bit of a shock for them. Here’s how to protect them…
- Plant your veggies into their punnets temporarily, and keep them on a windowsill, in a greenhouse or in a polytunnel. If you don’t have enough space inside for this, you can always put them into a clear plastic box outside, in partial shade, with the lids on. But don’t forget to water them!
- Plant them out and cover them with horticultural fleece – you don’t necessarily need to build support for the fleece, if you just drape it over the plants loosely they won’t suffer at all. You may need to secure it at the corners if it’s windy. A couple of big stones should do the trick.
- Use a cloche. Essentially this acts as a mini greenhouse for your plants. You have different options here – if you don’t have any you can cut up old clear plastic bottles to make your own cloche. It doesn’t matter if they look a bit peculiar, as long as they do the job!