Maybe you could have a raised bed w/wooden sides with different tops created to protect your plants from what nature throws their way. Plastic or plexiglass tops to protect from frost, a frame w/tulle fabric to protect crops from moths, etc... I read about it & saw illustrations in The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch. She also mentions chicken wire to keep out the critters that munch, lattice to protect from sun, & black plastic to protect from weeds. Seems like a really neat idea for people like me who garden on a small scale. I'd like to try it with my cole crops because mine always get hit by moths.

I'll warn you now, it's going to cost you an arm & a leg to surround your garden with plexiglass. I would rather fashion something up to use ONLY when needed, and due to cost, it wouldn't be plexiglass, but somehting more along the lines of a frame with constuction plastic. I plan to build PVC framed frost tents like that for next year, so I can start tomatoes and peppers a bit earlier.

I don't know how familiar you are with plexiglass, but it isn't very easy to work with, as far as drilling and cutting is concerned. It breaks very easy when you try to cut it, so you have to be very careful. The better option would be lexan/polycarbonate, but the cost is immense, around $360 for a 4'x8'x3/16" sheet. The only plexiglass that wouldn't cost you a fortune either is the really thin stuff, which breaks too easy. I would worry too, like you said, about airflow. Good airflow is vital, especially when it comes to fungus. Also, you're going to have trouble with birds crashing into it, as well as bees. I know it sounds silly, but bees do fly fast enough to crash into glass and hurt themselves. Also, they will get confused trying to enter and exit your garden. I notice bees having trouble with the 3' tall chicken fence I have up. They seem to fly around looking for a way out, before figuring out that they have to go over it, or through it, which they are reluctant to do.

So, my final thought? Put up hardware cloth fencing instead, which will act as a windbreak, but still allow airflow. You can get it in 1/4" mesh or 1/2" mesh, obviously the 1/4" being a better windbreak. The cost is around somewhere in the range of $30 to $50 for a 50 foot roll, varying depending on how tall and what size mesh. Much easier on the birds, bees, airflow, and your wallet.

Joe

Plexiglass photodegrades and will turn brittle before you know it. Then you'd have shards all over your garden. Been there....

We have a very windy site, too, and I've given up on anything that doesn't allow some wind to pass through. Plastics end up in the trees, but I can keep spunbound rowcover nicely tucked using boards or pieces of firewood. In late spring I switch to tulle becaue it looks better and the winds aren't as bad then.

If you're trying to protect your crops from cold winds during the first few weeks you have your plants in the ground, I think a row cover would be a lot cheaper and more effective. I've done this with cole crops and have been able to get them in the ground in April, when it's still in the low 20s some nights. The plants grew huge, as did the spinach I planted alongside them.

For this purpose you want a fairly heavy-duty row cover such as a Garden Quilt. If you're gardening on a larger scale, Johnny's has a wide selection.

It sounds like you might also consider low tunnels, semicircular hoops of plastic above your beds supported by bent pipe or wire, which have been discussed in a couple of recent threads. They trap more heat but are higher-maintenance than row covers.

We have struggled for years to grow great vegetables in our raised garden because of very windy local conditions however since I installed lift out 500mm high acrylic sheets around all edges the garden has absolutely flourished- a great fan of it.