New polytunnel

[Doive]

It's been a long winter up here... a friend of ours gave us a big roll of plastic material for free, and after measuring it all up, I went down the local timber merchant and bought a load of 2x2 timber. It's taken about six weeks worth of weekends to go from nothing to a fully functioning polytunnel. Scaffold boards and sturdy uprights provide a good strong lower section, and stop the top from blowing away. Total expenditure is probably the wrong side of £200, but for that we have a 24' x 8' growing space. This weekend just past saw over 38C, so need to get some autovents for the windows, but should be good for the cukes!

Next step is to get the auto watering system up and working.

[Hans Mum]

Fabulous .......and a bargain at that price looks like it will last a long time too.

[redser]

I don't mean to be mr doom and gloom as you've done brilliantly here ... But what type of plastic is that? You need to use UV resistant horticultural plastic. The regular stuff will break down quickly in the sun, wind and cold.

[Tripmeup]

Great work, hope it works out great for you!!

[Brom]

Wow! Well done! Looks like you've done an excellent job there.

Have to agree, it's been a long, wet and windy winter up here, hopefully getting warmer now.

Just an afterthought, I had an autowatering system in my polytunnel. It's fine if you only grow one thing, but setting it up for the many and varied plants we grow became very difficult. I have left a tap inside to connect my hosepipe to and have reverted to hand watering as it gives more control. It's a bit of a bind but get much better results this way.

[Doive]

Thanks guys, it's been a lot of work and it's still ongoing.

Redser - believe it or not it's actually really thick plastic sheeting normally used for cloaking buildings for asbestos removal. It's quite a bit thicker than the horticultural stuff, and it's UV resistant and intended to have a very long life - can't have asbestos escaping!

Brom - I'm setting up lots of drip type nozzles with controlled flow rates, so in theory the big leafy heavy feeders will get a decent drink every time, while the smaller less leafy plants will get less water. I work away during the week, so I need a system that's entirely self sufficient - hand watering simply isn't an option.

Had 41C registered on Saturday past, am setting up an internal partition to allow a hotter end and a cooler end to be created - I know cukes like heat, and tomatoes less so.