Cheapskate Chaz has gone against his principles and "BOUGHT"

[cheapskate chaz]

Yep ! gone and spent haven`t I. It`s against my principles of recycling where I can, but I think it`s justified.
You see , I went and bought a GREEN polytunnel off EBAY. I did my research to get the best item and deal, so purchased a 6X3X2m, 25mm fully galvanised of .9mm gauge...not .6mm and the covering is UPCV protected. I like the idea of multi hoops ( 7 ) not the 4/5 I`ve seen, and it has "proper" metal framed doors, not rollups, plus it has a built in gutter too!
When I construct it, I intend to fit a 10"/12" foot board all round the inside, and yes, that`ll be from recycled wood and fittings...trying to redeem myself there
Incidently, the seller is Grow-ur-own I bought it so I had somewhere to continue growing what I can through the winter months as well as summer.
Even though it`s green it will allow me to grow sun loving Toms as my neighbour Sue proved to me with hers, no more white washing the greenhouse, I can use that for my seeds. Strangely, her toms ripened very well under her green poly-T, whereas mine hardley ripened at all in my greenhouse! they didn`t go to waste as they have been turned into green tomatoe chutney by our local pub`s chef, lucky ain`t I.

chaz

[cheapskate chaz]

The poly tunnel has been up for a couple of weeks now and has a couple of stages in there, growing strawberries on them for now...small but sweet. My only gripe with this one is that it has a door only at one end, the other end has no ventilation in it, so I will figure out how to make one. It does have side vents,low down, the covers double up as rain gutters, which only work when you open the vents, so if you need to close them, generally to keep things warm, then you lose that feature,at a time when it rains most.....!

[craftymarie]

Sounds great - love the rain gutter idea. I don't have that on mine and it would be useful.

Will you need the 2 doors for ventilation during the autumn/winter months? I only opened both mine during the hotter weather and now have one door permanently shut with the other opened up fully every daytime and closed at night. Windows get opened as well most days - except when raining hard.

So you might get away with the one door for a while which gives you loads of time to plan making one over the winter when there's nowt much else to be doing

[cheapskate chaz]

"nowt doing?"I have lots to do, not so much planting out, I`m not that advanced into growing during the winter months although I just planted some sweet pea seeds in a tray.

i won`t be making a door, just a vent window, still deciding what I will grow in there, probably sweet peppers and the like as I`m still a novice at under cover growing.

BTW, you can get poly tunnel gutter kits, but you probably already know that.

[skeggijon]

I've just bought one like yours from the same supplier. I bought my other two PT's from them last year and been very happy with them.
I know big 'proper' PT's have lots of advantages, but I can put one of these jobbies up in a day, if assmbled and secured down with a bit of care are just as secure as the big ones and althought the covering won't last as long, it only costs about £70 for a new cover and can be done by two people within an hour - even with tea breaks!

[cheapskate chaz]

The only advice I can offer in assembly,( I put mine up on my own ) is don`t over tighten the bolts as the frame crushes easily. No tea was consumed in the construction of mine...only cider!

[cheapskate chaz]

An update to my polytunnel so far. Well this windy weather is showing up the weak points....and I do really mean `points`, as the ruffling and rubbing is now getting the material on the parts that stick up to break through...grrrr!
What I should had done at the start, was to apply hotspot tape over the entire frame and doubled up over bolt heads and door frame edges, and I didn`t so serves me right! lesson to anyone considering putting up any type of polytunnel frame...tape it!

Hotspot tape is a foam tape that will give protection from this sort of damage, but alternatively, thin foam placed around raised bits to prevent rubbing of the poly will help.

[Bigmallly]

Get some lengths of pipe insulation from one of the £ shops & cut it into 12" lengths, placed where you need them should serve the purpose.