Free Cloches Milk Jugs Make: Protect Fall Seedlings
Free cloches milk jugs provide are one of the best deals in fall gardening. My family goes through maybe two a week, and for a long time I just tossed them. Then I started cutting the bottoms off and setting them over seedlings in September, and now I hoard them like a man who has watched frost kill spinach one too many times.
If you’re starting fall greens right now in August, you’re going to need some protection once temps start dropping. And a milk jug cloche costs exactly zero dollars, which if you’ve been here before, is basically my love language.
How to Cut the Things
Grab a utility knife or a decent pair of scissors. Cut around the bottom of the jug, about an inch up from the base. That’s really it. You want a clean-ish cut so it sits flat on the soil, but we’re talking about a milk jug here, not surgery. Mine are all slightly uneven and they work fine.
For 2-liter soda bottles, same idea but they protect smaller seedlings really well. I use those for individual transplants, lettuce starts, things like that. The narrow shape actually traps heat a little better per plant. Which, now that I think about it, makes total sense for spot protection.
Venting: This Is Where I Messed Up First
Here’s the thing nobody told me when I started doing this. You have to vent them on warm days or you will cook your plants. I lost a whole tray of spinach seedlings in late September because I left the lids on during a sunny 58-degree afternoon. Inside the jug it was probably 80 degrees. The plants were not happy. I was not happy.
On cool cloudy days, leave the cap on. On anything resembling sun, take the cap off or lift the whole jug slightly. Some people cut a slit near the top for passive venting, which is a solid move if you’re the kind of person who forgets to check. (I am that person.)
Anchoring So They Don’t Blow Into Your Neighbor’s Yard
Pacific Northwest fall means wind. My first season with these free cloches milk jugs in hand, I watched four roll down the driveway in a single afternoon. Not ideal.
Two easy fixes. Push a stake or a thick bamboo skewer through the jug handle and into the soil. Or press the cut edge firmly into the soil an inch or two, which creates a good seal and holds pretty well against moderate gusts. For the soda bottles, I usually just push them down slightly into loose soil. Heavy rain helps, actually. The jug fills with cold water at the top opening and holds itself down. That was an accident. I’ll take it.
When to Remove Them
Once your seedlings are established and overnight temps are staying above freezing reliably, you don’t need the cloches anymore. But in fall that window gets narrow fast. I usually pull them on warm afternoons and put them back before dinner. Takes maybe two minutes total. My kids think it looks weird. They’re probably right.
Once we’re into consistent cold, the cloches can stay on most of the time as long as you’re venting on warm days. Kale, spinach, and arugula can all handle light frost without help, but those first couple frosts when plants are young and unestablished are the dangerous ones. Cover early, cover cheap.
How Does This Compare to Row Cover?
Honestly, for a small patch or scattered transplants, free cloches milk jugs provide are better than row cover in a few ways. They’re free, they’re reusable for a couple seasons if you’re gentle, and they don’t need hoops or stakes to hold them up. Row cover shines when you’ve got a whole bed to protect, because draping one piece of fabric is faster than setting out 20 jugs. If you’ve got both, use both. If you’ve got neither, start saving your milk jugs now and check out these other cheap ways to keep greens alive through cold weather to fill in the gaps.
Row cover also breathes better, which reduces the cooking risk on warm days. If you’re forgetful about removing cloches (again, me), row cover gives you more margin for error.
What to Grow Under Them
Fall greens are the obvious candidates. Lettuce, spinach, arugula, bok choy, claytonia, mache. These all do great under a cloche for the first few weeks after transplanting. Also works really well for fall-started cilantro, which wants to bolt when it gets stressed and appreciates the warmth buffer. (Or coriander if you’re growing it for seeds.)
I also use them in late summer over newly direct-seeded carrot rows to keep the soil from drying out too fast. Different use case, but worth mentioning. Free tools are flexible like that.
Anyway. August is the time to start thinking about this. The milk jugs are already in your recycling bin. You’re basically already prepared. You’re welcome. (Lettuce protect those plants before it’s too late. Sorry. Not sorry.)
Photo by Victor Birai on Unsplash
