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Author Topic: Easily made plant covers  (Read 8505 times)

Maggi Young

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Easily made plant covers
« on: November 15, 2016, 03:03:34 PM »
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.



Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Graeme

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2016, 05:14:07 PM »
is that saxifraga 'hannibal lecter' by any chance :)
"Never believe anything you read on the Internet" Oscar Wilde

Maggi Young

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #2 on: November 15, 2016, 06:11:56 PM »
is that saxifraga 'hannibal lecter' by any chance :)
Absolutely!  Very important to protect ourselves from these savages!
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Tristan_He

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #3 on: November 15, 2016, 09:06:26 PM »
Extra bone meal needed, perhaps it likes to be watered with a nice Chianti...?

John85

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #4 on: November 16, 2016, 08:07:13 AM »
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

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #5 on: November 16, 2016, 08:21:56 AM »
Extra bone meal needed, perhaps it likes to be watered with a nice Chianti...?

 ;D ;D ;D
David Nicholson
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Alan_b

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #6 on: November 16, 2016, 12:00:30 PM »
How much would the perspex and the wire cost per square metre if you were not able to salvage it as Ian did?
Almost in Scotland.

Maggi Young

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #7 on: November 16, 2016, 01:17:54 PM »
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!
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Maggi Young

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Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Alan_b

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #9 on: November 16, 2016, 02:34:39 PM »
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. 
Almost in Scotland.

Maggi Young

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #10 on: November 16, 2016, 04:50:58 PM »
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.
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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brianw

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #11 on: November 16, 2016, 05:22:45 PM »
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.
Edge of Chiltern hills, 25 miles west of London, England

Alan_b

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #12 on: November 16, 2016, 10:59:29 PM »
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.   
Almost in Scotland.

Tristan_He

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #13 on: November 17, 2016, 08:16:32 AM »
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

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Re: Easily made plant covers
« Reply #14 on: November 17, 2016, 11:20:07 AM »
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).
Steep, rocky and cold in the
Hudson River Valley in New York State

 


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