Where I live they grow a lot of shade tobacco where they use a white woven mesh type material that lets in the sun to sort of tent the plants. I don't know if you can get anything of the sort where you live but you could use that to tent your plants, this would protect them from weather and blanket them from frost.
The down side to this is you may have to bend your plants over a tad so the tent is not so high, and it will definately stick out like a sore thumb. If these two things do not concern you than it would definately suit your purpose