HI Charlie

On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:34:48 -0000, Charlie Pridham
wrote:

In article ,
says...
The message
from "Kate Morgan" contains these words:

I have just come in from my greenhouse muttering about the fact that
greenhouses like workshops, are never big enough :-) As we are
planning to
move to Scotland my husband suggests that I go for a polytunnel. I am
beginning to warm to the idea but would appreciate some opinions from the
group :-)

Whichever you choose it/they will need to be well anchored in Scotland.
I am sure there are people on this group who can give you more expert
advice than me. I only know what I found out when I asked on behalf of
my stepdaughter who lives on the Isle of Lewis - where it is windy!

Come in Compo ......

BTW she was thinking of a polytunnel.
E-mail me if you want to.

Jennifer

If you bury the cover around the edge rather than using the grip rails
then they will withstand 120 mile winds no problem, the down side is
having to recover them every 5-7 years and the covers need cleaning about
twice a year.

Alternatively..... g

When we put up our tunnel last year they advised us to runs a concrete
'footing' all the way round the legs of the tunnel. This ended up
being about 12" wide and tapering from 8" inside to 6" outside.

Then we used the grip rail - and (so far!) it's withstood all the the
sou-westers can throw at it.

We're in a moderately exposed part of south-west Ireland....
and the supplier we used had installed tunnels in this way on the
'off-islands'.....

It's a fair bit more work - but replacing the cover's going to be much
easier !

Another tip they gave us was to tension the cover as tight as possible
when first erected (Springtime) and give the grip rail a good thump
with a 4lb hammer on warm days throughout the summer.

Cover is now as tight as a drum - apparently it's the flapping about
that can really shorten a cover's life...

Adrian
West Cork, Ireland