Cloches

Claim 1

A garden cloche comprising: (a) an umbrella structure including a canopy stretchingly attached to a framework which is mounted on a shaft, (b) said framework including a collar assembly fixed to the shaft, and a single carrier movably disposed on the shaft between an open framework position and a closed framework position. (c) catch means for releaseably holding the single carrier in a fully opened position of the framework, (d) said canopy having a depth greater than half of the overall width of the canopy when the framework is in the fully opened position, (e) the canopy being formed of a transparent or translucent plastic sheet material, (f) the shaft including an apex part and a bottom end part, (g) said apex part projecting through the canopy and supporting the fixed collar assembly and a knob or handle, (h) said bottom end part being remote from the apex part and including an elongate spike having a length, which length is sufficient to enable the bottom end part, when the framework is fully opened, to be inserted into level soil by pressing vertically downwardly on the knob or handle until peripheral end parts of the framework abut, engage or are proximal to the soil, (i) said canopy being stretched over the framework with said single carrier releaseably held in said fully opened position by the catch means to form a covering enclosure over a defined area of the soil.