veg cage

[veggiechicken]

Its that Potty - he leads me astray

[crannman]

thanks poly what make is yours? still like the idea of one dare i say it .......xmas around the corner great present .....

[poly]

Mine’s a home-made debris netting tunnel jobbie, along the same basic frame that I've used for a summer poly tunnel. I find it handy to leave the frame in situ and swap the covers to rotate what’s growing although I've added some extra wooden stakes for stability for the polythene one as it was a bit rocky in last summers storms.

Hope this makes sense-

They are about 30' x 10' ish. Frame is made up of ducting pipe for the hoops (2 lengths of pipe joined with a connector for each hoop) and supporting horizontals attached to the hoops, all held together by trusty cable ties. I've used a slightly smaller diameter pipe for the foundation tubes, cut into I guess about 1 1/2 ' long lengths. These I've knocked into the ground approx. every 3' on both sides. The hoops then slot over these, I add a cable tie to the foundation pipes at ground level to help stop the hoops sink into the ground. Then attach 4 or 5 horizontals made up of pipe, might need connectors to join pipes depending on the size of tunnel. They run the full length of the tunnel, secured in place to the hoops with cable ties.

I’ve used two large wooden stakes at either end to attach netting and make a door way. I already had 2m wide netting and used 3 lengths to cover it. 2 side strips and 1 over the top, again cable ties to hold in place. I think it would be two lengths of the 3m netting, though I'm not quite sure how the door would work? The entrance I've done is very basic using the spare flappy bit from the middle length of netting, hoop to floor and then cable-tied onto a pole to keep in place. But I've seen pictures on the net of proper looking doorways, bit beyond my diy-ing!

Not sure of the cost as some things I already had. But would think it's cheaper than a bought one and you can kind of make it whatever size you want.

[veggiechicken]

That's the sort of thing I'd like to make - so thanks poly
Would there be any merit in running a piece of polythene, along the roof of the tunnel, but not down to the ground (sort of shoulder height) and leaving it in place all year.?
I have an image of the rainwater running onto this "roof" then dripping off into the bed beneath and keeping it watered in summer.

[poly]

Great idea, but I suspect you would need a really sheltered spot to think of leaving polythene in place all year and some more reinforcement than I've got. Pretty sure it wouldn't work here, just too breezy. One benefit of the 'debris' tunnel is rain comes through the mesh and the slight shading and reduced drafts help to conserve moisture once it's in there.

Perhaps a not too wide polythene strip which could feed a water butt may work?

[veggiechicken]

Maybe putting the polythene under the netting to hold it in place?