I save my empty one gallon milk jugs to make a cheap cloche. I cut out the bottom, then weave a bamboo skewer down each side to hold them down. The cap can be unscrewed for watering. I plant my tomatoes 2 weeks before the average last frost date, and remove it 1 week after. The plants are usually pushing at the top by the end of the 3 weeks.
Another thing that works great is to cut a 5 ring piece of black plastic drainage pipe and place it around plants with 1 of the rings pushed into the dirt. Slow growing plants in the spring grow faster with the pipe. The pipe can be found in the outdoors department of a store like Lowes. It comes in 10 foot sections and cost about $6. You will not believe how good this works until you try it. They are good under the milk carton, but they are also very good without the milk carton. They transmit heat to the soil, and protects young plants from the wind.
