How To Cover A Raised Garden Bed

Raised Bed Covers

Raised bed covers are essential for your raised vegetable garden if you want to grow later in the year and overwinter, or get an early start in the spring. They also offer the perfect insect & pest protection and keep strong winds and rain at bay.

Raised beds are better for growing vegetables because they raise them off the ground level, protecting them from foot traffic and creating a more comfortable working height. Raised bed protection covers increase the uses of your planter and ensure greater growing success rates. There are four main types of cover you can add; Plastic, mesh netting, bird & butterfly netting and garden fleece, all held securely in place by a support frame.

A raised bed cover is a domed structure resembling a mini polytunnel consisting of a wooden frame and plastic tubing to make the crop cover support hoops. Quickcrop provide simple kits to build raised bed covers which can be either ordered as a full kit or ordered as individual components.

Poly Cover (Plastic)

Plastic covers are generally made from high quality clear polythene, the same kind used in larger polytunnels. This provides a complete barrier between your plants and pests, harsh weather or animals, while still retaining heat and humidity. Perfect for protection against the elements. Using a clear plastic cover on your raised bed will increase the soil's temperature and create a humid atmosphere. This enables you to start growing earlier in the year and extend the growing season later on too. To create a mini polytunnel just attach the poly cover to a mini tunnel frame or cloche hoops and attach to a raised bed.

Micro Mesh (Insect Netting)

Micromesh is an ultra fine garden mesh netting that offers the best insect protection for plants. It effectively keeps garden pests like carrot flies, flea beetles, and aphids out while allowing air and water in. A micromesh cover doesn't have to be removed for watering or applying a liquid plant feed. When the weather heats up a plastic cover may no longer be required, replace with a good micro mesh cover to keep pests away and prevent scorching if the weather really takes off.

Garden Fleece

Fleece covers for raised beds protect plants from pests, animals and the elements. Most importantly fleece insulates them from frost and colder conditions down to -5 degrees while still allowing light, air and moisture in to circulate. It is especially good for getting an early start for vegetable plants or for overwintering and it can also be used year round to protect against heavy rain, biting winds and strong sunlight, insects, animals and pests. Garden fleece is very popular among UK vegetable gardeners as it is reusable and can be set up in a matter of minutes to keep you ahead of our changeable climate. Fleece can be placed over seed beds without damaging tender young seedlings. The lightweight mesh is easily pushed up by emerging plants.

Raised Bed Hoops

A good raised vegetable bed cover should be dome shaped to resemble a mini polytunnel. This shape allows extra headroom for plants as they grow. Large cloche hoops or our mini polytunnel frame are perfect for achieving this shape.

Cloche hoops can be pushed into the soil of the raised bed or fastened to the sides. Our Quickcrop mini polytunnel kits come with a frame made from curved tubing, these tubes fix into the base which can then be attached to a raised bed via a hinge for easy opening. Any cover can be used with either method, use plastic for a mini greenhouse effect, netting for a pest protected vegetable bed, and fleece for the ultimate season extender.