Our polyester rolls are the perfect garden fleece to protect your plants in any season.
Garden or horticultural fleece is a lightweight polyester material with a soft texture, hence its name ‘fleece’. It’s one of many different materials that are collectively referred to as crop covers. Fleece is a versatile material as it can protect plants from frost, wind, hail and pests. You can also use it to insulate plants to encourage earlier harvests, and line greenhouses with fleece to offer wider winter protection.
Because fleece is porous, allowing air and water through, it creates a healthier environment for plant growth than non-porous materials such as polythene.
Fleece is available in a range of sizes and varies in quality as well as weight – better quality fleece should last for several years if used carefully. It should be durable, being ultra-violet (UV) stabilised to withstand sunlight, tear-proof, washable and rot-proof. The downside of fleece is that it can’t be recycled, so buying good quality material that will give the longest life is most sustainable compared to cheap fleece that may only last a season.
When to use garden fleece
Winter
- Use fleece outdoors to protect plants from frost, cold winds, or hail damage
- In unheated greenhouses or polytunnels, use fleece to wrap or cover plants to provide additional protection against frost
- Use heavy duty fleece as greenhouse insulation instead of bubble polythene
Spring
- Cover soil with fleece for a week or two to warm it before sowing
- Grow crops under fleece to raise the temperature and give an earlier harvest compared to un-covered crops
- Put over newly planted frost-tender plants to protect from late frosts, wind, or hail
- Protect early potatoes from frost
Summer
- Use fleece to protect plants from attack by pests such as flea beetle or cabbage white butterfly
- Cover delicate plants with fleece in bouts of unseasonal weather such as hail
Autumn
- Cover tender crops and flowering annuals/tender perennials to keep them growing for longer as temperatures fall
- Protect overwintered hardy crops from severe frosts
- Enable harvesting of winter-hardy root crops by covering with fleece so the soil is less likely to become frozen
Wrap or cover vulnerable plants with fleece as temporary frost protection when severe weather is forecast. Use sheets of fleece to cover individual plants or groups of plants and secure with pegs or string. If the fleece is in direct contact with plants, remove as soon as weather conditions improve, as it reduces the amount of scarce winter light getting to plants and can also provide a haven for pests.
You can make a framework to cover plants, known as a cloche or tunnel, to support sheets of fleece. As long as there’s a gap of at least a few centimetres between plants and fleece, the cover can be left in place for weeks or months.
Use heavy duty fleece as greenhouse insulation, fixed to the inside of the structure using clips or double-sided sticky pads.
How to store garden fleece for reuse
With care, good-quality fleece can last for several years as it’s rot-proof and washable. If dirty, machine wash on the gentlest cycle or wash by hand, then allow to dry completely before storing in a dry place out of sunlight.
Pollinating insects are kept away from crops that need pollination, such as strawberries. For these crops, delay putting fleece over the crop until flowering has finished and the fruit is set.
Weed growth is boosted by a fleece cover as well as plant growth. Remove every so often in order to weed.
Pests such as slugs and snails can thrive under the protection of fleece. Inspect plants regularly for signs of damage and take action as appropriate.
Available in 20m, 30m and 50m rolls and delivered straight to your door!
