Corrugated Cloche/Tunnel

[Cranford Steve]

Hi all. I was at the Builders merchants this morning when I had an Idea. Its probaly been done before but I will share it any way. I saw some corrugated plastic sheeting and it was a good width and about 2.4mtrs long. It is quite flexible so I thought why not make it into a cloche for winter. All I am going to do is drill six or so holes into the sides and then bend it into a curve, attach wire through one hole and tie off and then through the adjacent hole and do the same. To me this is a wonderfull and quite cheap tunnel that can be used time an time again!

[taff]

well, thank god for that, I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but there's a use now for the six sheets i collected from freecycle a while ago
cheers ears

[bearded bloke]

When you curve the sheets get the top one to be a crest,then in the valleys either side drill 5mm holes at 100mm centres & it will water your crop when the rain falls

[endymion]

Hi all. I was at the Builders merchants this morning when I had an Idea. Its probaly been done before but I will share it any way. I saw some corrugated plastic sheeting and it was a good width and about 2.4mtrs long. ... All I am going to do is drill six or so holes into the sides and then bend it into a curve, attach wire through one hole and tie off and then through the adjacent hole and do the same. To me this is a wonderfull and quite cheap tunnel that can be used time an time again!

You don't need to go to all the effort of drilling them (and the plastic sheets are easier to store flat) - just put a couple of (or three or four) canes in a line and push one long side of the plastic against them where they meet the ground. Bend the other long side gently downwards and hold it in place with another row of canes.

Top the canes with little flowerpots, plastic kids' "skittles" from the £1 shop, table tennis balls - anything that'll stop them poking you in the eye.

You can vary the height of the cloche by varying how far apart the canes are (the ones opposite each other, not the ones along each side). Does that make sense? - Long sides closer together mean a taller arch.

If you can manage to cut another piece of plastic into, say, four pieces, you can use them to protect the ends of two cloches and stop them turning into wind tunnels. Again, it's easy to keep them in place with one or two short canes, they don't need to reach the top of the plastic, but do work better if they point inwards ever so slightly. You'll soon work out what's best.

[Cranford Steve]

Brilliant, didnt think of the cane method! Will give that a go as well.

[chris]

Gardman (I think) sell a similar solution.. they have metal hoops to keep the plastic sheeting in place.