Easily made plant covers

[Maggi Young]

Here's a link to a Bulb Log with details on how to make  "rain hats"  : http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2010Aug041280927654BULB_LOG__31comp.pdf  - they can be made any size, from single small plant size to large cushion or whole trough cover - very versatile.
 Bulb Log 31 2010 - Trough protection from rain.

[Graeme]

is that saxifraga 'hannibal lecter' by any chance

[Maggi Young]

is that saxifraga 'hannibal lecter' by any chance

Absolutely!  Very important to protect ourselves from these savages!

[Tristan_He]

Extra bone meal needed, perhaps it likes to be watered with a nice Chianti...?

[John85]

For the lazy or clumsy gardener :
Just buy a few glass bowls for 50p or a pound at a car boot sale or a charity shop!
But don't forget to put it on a few stones to allow air circulation.

[David Nicholson]

Extra bone meal needed, perhaps it likes to be watered with a nice Chianti...?

 

[Alan_b]

How much would the perspex and the wire cost per square metre if you were not able to salvage it as Ian did?

[Maggi Young]

Not sure, Alan - but  the wire could probably be sourced very cheaply from a local Scrap Merchants and any company making  signs etc usually has scrap perspex they are happy to give away. Quite a few opportunities to source  the materials as recycled, before having to actually buy it retail!

[Maggi Young]

Some examples of prices .....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Welded-Wire-Mesh-Panel-Delivery/dp/B00AIM4L4Q/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1479302107&sr=8-16&keywords=weld+mesh+wire+1x1

http://www.screwfix.com/p/apollo-25mm-galvanised-welded-mesh-0-9-x-6m/76511

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clear-Acrylic-Perspex-Sheet-Thick/dp/B006ICWPL6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1479302239&sr=8-2&keywords=perspex+sheets

[Alan_b]

So the wire might average £25 per square metre and the perspex is probably a similar cost - if you don't live in a suitable industrial area where these items are available as scrap.  In my area there are council-run Waste Recycling Centres but it's a one-way process; you can bring things in but you're not allowed to take anything away. 

[Maggi Young]

Well no:  the Screwfix price is £15 for 6metres of wire and for a 3mm thick perspex  for Clear Acrylic Sheet, A3 Size, 3mm thick £4.15 from an alternative amazon link,  those prices  for new materials is much less than you think.   None of these materials are exactly "heavy industrial spec"  so I don't think one needs to live in a particularly industrial area to access them!  Perhaps I am not accustomed to purely residential areas in the middle of nowhere?
As John says, you could just go for old glass bowls from a car-boot sale ( though glass is not my preferred material in the open garden) - but perhaps there are no car boot sales in your area either?

Here, big garden centres  have weld mesh. You could even use sturdy chicken wire.

[brianw]

Recycled clear food container would be fine for 1 season to replace the clear sheet. I bin some every week, sorry every 2 weeks, and I use inch mesh by the square yard to keep deer of the shrubs etc. and a few lengths of twisted wire would make 4 legs if you are pushed.

[Alan_b]

I think Ian's plant covers are little works of art but I got to wondering if the fanciful idea of using an upturned glass bowl might actually work out cheaper if you were buying everything at full retail price.  But I misread 6m as .6m so completely miscalculated the cost of wire and I think you might find perspex sheet at cheaper than the £25 per square metre I originally suggested.  I have raised beds with sides made from half-buried perspex sheets so I am no stranger to inventive uses of the stuff.   

[Tristan_He]

Maggi / Ian out of interest how many of these do you put out every year, and do most of them make it? We usually get one or more 100mph storms every year, so if I attempted something similar I can see the covers ending up in Caernarfon! 

[astragalus]

Maggi / Ian out of interest how many of these do you put out every year, and do most of them make it? We usually get one or more 100mph storms every year, so if I attempted something similar I can see the covers ending up in Caernarfon! 



I understand that completely. My garden is a very windy place and various covers I've tried often end up one hundred yards away after a good storm (and not even 100 mph, thank goodness).