Raise the Temps in Your Garden With Polyethylene Film and These Four Items
If you want to increase the production of your garden, you may need to find ways to extend the growing season by boosting the temperature around your plants. A greenhouse is the traditional way to do this, but you don't need a full-size, expensive greenhouse. Instead, you just need some time, creativity and polyethylene builders film.
In addition to polyethylene film, here are four items that can help:
1. Raised Garden Bed
If you cover your plants with a sheet of polyethylene, the film will allow the sun to pass through it, and then, it will trap the heat beneath it. Unfortunately, however, you cannot just lay the film directly on the plants. Rather, it needs to be slightly raised.
If you have a raised garden bed, you can stretch polyethylene film over the sides of the garden bed. That will give the plants a bit of clearance to grow, and as soon as the seedlings reach the height of the film, you can simply remove it.
2. PVC Pipes
Unfortunately, stretching polyethylene film over the sides of your raised bed doesn't give your plants a lot of clearance. However, you can easily increase their warm growing space with a bit of PVC pipe. PVC pipe is available at most hardware stores, and you can find a range of lengths, sizes and connectors.
For this project, you simply need enough pipe and connectors to make a frame over your raised bed. You may make hoops by bending long PVC pipes and planting one end on each side of the garden bed. Alternatively, you can make a rectangular frame by planting a straight pipe into the ground, attaching a right-angle connector to it, adding a cross piece and another right-angle connector, and completing the design with another straight piece stretching to the ground.
3. Small Piece of Timber
Whether you use a PVC frame or not, a small piece of timber such as a 19 mm x 38 mm or even a bit of scrap wood can help. Stretch your polyethylene film over your frame and leave long pieces of it loose on both sides. Then, wrap the loose bit of film repeatedly over the piece of timber. Finally, nail the piece of timber with the film wrapped around it to the base of your garden bed. Repeat on the other sides to lock the film into place.
4. Tape and Boxcutter
Polyethylene film can be so effective at holding in heat, that you may need to create some ventilation. Luckily, it's easy to create a window. Simply use tape to outline your window. Then, cut around the inside perimeter of the tape to remove the film.