At the moment I have polytunnel envy.
Next plot has one with a home made frame (wood, mains poly water pipe, all
sorts) but a proper cover.
Said the cover cost about £80.

Now Google offers me either cheap (£60 ish) flimsy looking things which are
generally described as useful for starting things off before taking down for
the autumn/winter, or more serious looking stuff around the £250 mark for a
6 * 10 or 8 * 10 tunnel.

So has anyone found a cheap source for robust polytunnels?

Prices around the £100 mark might be nice.

Prices over £150 have me calculating how many years I could spend in Lidl
buying their tomatoes and peppers before I got my money back.
[£3 a week for 50 weeks gets me a whole load of veggies - how long to grow
enough fresh tomatoes and peppers to last me 50 weeks?.]

Cheers

Dave R

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Apr 15, 6:32*pm, "David WE Roberts" wrote:
At the moment I have polytunnel envy.
Next plot has one with a home made frame (wood, mains poly water pipe, all
sorts) but a proper cover.
Said the cover cost about £80.

Now Google offers me either cheap (£60 ish) flimsy looking things which are
generally described as useful for starting things off before taking down for
the autumn/winter, or more serious looking stuff around the £250 mark for a
6 * 10 or 8 * 10 tunnel.

So has anyone found a cheap source for robust polytunnels?

Prices around the £100 mark might be nice.

Prices over £150 have me calculating how many years I could spend in Lidl
buying their tomatoes and peppers before I got my money back.
[£3 a week for 50 weeks gets me a whole load of veggies - how long to grow
enough fresh tomatoes and peppers to last me 50 weeks?.]

Cheers

Dave R

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

I have a polytunnel. They have their snags.
I would go to a farm auction & try to get a real one second hand. The
proper plastic lasts about ten years (Visqueen or similar).Don't get
the el-cheapo,onlylastsacouple ofyears.

The support hoops need tape to stop wind chafing. (and keeping the hot
metal away if hoops are metal.)

On Apr 15, 7:28*pm, harry wrote:
On Apr 15, 6:32*pm, "David WE Roberts" wrote:





At the moment I have polytunnel envy.
Next plot has one with a home made frame (wood, mains poly water pipe, all
sorts) but a proper cover.
Said the cover cost about £80.

Now Google offers me either cheap (£60 ish) flimsy looking things which are
generally described as useful for starting things off before taking down for
the autumn/winter, or more serious looking stuff around the £250 mark for a
6 * 10 or 8 * 10 tunnel.

So has anyone found a cheap source for robust polytunnels?

Prices around the £100 mark might be nice.

Prices over £150 have me calculating how many years I could spend in Lidl
buying their tomatoes and peppers before I got my money back.
[£3 a week for 50 weeks gets me a whole load of veggies - how long to grow
enough fresh tomatoes and peppers to last me 50 weeks?.]

Cheers

Dave R

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

I have a polytunnel. *They have their snags.
I would go to a farm auction & try to get a real one second hand. *The
proper plastic lasts about ten years (Visqueen or similar).Don't get
the el-cheapo,onlylastsacouple ofyears.

The support hoops need tape to stop wind chafing. (and keeping the hot
metal away if hoops are metal.)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You don't say how large you want it.
Covers can cost you as much as you want to pay, the polythene can have
a life from 1 year to 8 years so you takes your choice and then pays
your money,
Depends how youi cover it, bury the sides in the ground, or fasten to
a side rail or timber.
So many variables.
You can bend your own steel hoops using a semi circircle of prgs
hammered into the ground ( using pipe 1" or thinner) drill a hile
through at the top centre and feed wire through with sections of pipe
as ridge pieces, and then decide how you fix to the ground foundation
tubes made of sections of pipe that the frame will fit into, or
thinner pipe or metal rods that will fit inside the frame.
So many things to think about.
I made my first Poly Tunnel out of 1" black plastic water pipe in the
early 60's when the research stations were still covering conventional
greenhouse shaped structures with polythene held on with battens.
Problem was the poly pipe got soft when the temp inside got to around
100f and saged so had to be held up with poles, but it worked.
If only I had thought of bending metal pipe.
David @ the dry and sunny end of Swansea Bay, well it was till the sun
went down.

On Apr 15, 6:32*pm, "David WE Roberts" wrote:
At the moment I have polytunnel envy.
Next plot has one with a home made frame (wood, mains poly water pipe, all
sorts) but a proper cover.
Said the cover cost about £80.

Now Google offers me either cheap (£60 ish) flimsy looking things which are
generally described as useful for starting things off before taking down for
the autumn/winter, or more serious looking stuff around the £250 mark for a
6 * 10 or 8 * 10 tunnel.

So has anyone found a cheap source for robust polytunnels?

Prices around the £100 mark might be nice.

Prices over £150 have me calculating how many years I could spend in Lidl
buying their tomatoes and peppers before I got my money back.
[£3 a week for 50 weeks gets me a whole load of veggies - how long to grow
enough fresh tomatoes and peppers to last me 50 weeks?.]

Cheers

Dave R

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

try a google search for "Home-made Polytunnel"

At the moment I have polytunnel envy.
Next plot has one with a home made frame (wood, mains poly water pipe,
all
sorts) but a proper cover.
Said the cover cost about £80.
snip

Whatever you decide to buy make sure that you site it in a sheltered
position. Last year mine got blown down twice and most of the plants lost so
I haven't bothered this year :-(

kate

On Apr 15, 7:54*pm, "Kate Morgan" wrote:
At the moment I have polytunnel envy.
Next plot has one with a home made frame (wood, mains poly water pipe,
all
sorts) but a proper cover.
Said the cover cost about £80.

snip

Whatever you decide to buy make sure that you site it in a sheltered
position. Last year mine got blown down twice and most of the plants lost so
I haven't bothered this year :-(

kate


Mine is in a very exposed position. Yours can't have been properly
erected/constructed.

Whatever you decide to buy make sure that you site it in a sheltered
position. Last year mine got blown down twice and most of the plants lost
so
I haven't bothered this year :-(

kate


Mine is in a very exposed position. Yours can't have been properly
erected/constructed.

and you know that how exactly ? do not bother to answer, I was only being
friendly the info might be useful to other people


k

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...
At the moment I have polytunnel envy.
Next plot has one with a home made frame (wood, mains poly water pipe, all
sorts) but a proper cover.
Said the cover cost about £80.

Now Google offers me either cheap (£60 ish) flimsy looking things which
are generally described as useful for starting things off before taking
down for the autumn/winter, or more serious looking stuff around the £250
mark for a 6 * 10 or 8 * 10 tunnel.

So has anyone found a cheap source for robust polytunnels?

Prices around the £100 mark might be nice.

Prices over £150 have me calculating how many years I could spend in Lidl
buying their tomatoes and peppers before I got my money back.
[£3 a week for 50 weeks gets me a whole load of veggies - how long to grow
enough fresh tomatoes and peppers to last me 50 weeks?.]


No supplier recommendations yet, and a general feeling that DIY may be the
way to go.

To answer questions - size required is 6' * 10' or 8' * 10' - so about 3
metres in length.
Budget around £150 or less than £100 if possible.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Sun, 15 Apr 2012 23:49:19 -0700 (PDT), harry
wrote:



Whatever you decide to buy make sure that you site it in a sheltered
position. Last year mine got blown down twice and most of the plants lost so
I haven't bothered this year :-(

kate


Mine is in a very exposed position. Yours can't have been properly
erected/constructed.


So what hints do you have for keeping them where they should be?
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On 17/04/2012 13:24, mogga wrote:
On Sun, 15 Apr 2012 23:49:19 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:



Whatever you decide to buy make sure that you site it in a sheltered
position. Last year mine got blown down twice and most of the plants lost so
I haven't bothered this year :-(

kate


Mine is in a very exposed position. Yours can't have been properly
erected/constructed.


So what hints do you have for keeping them where they should be?

Make sure it's a strong, well-braced tunnel - there are different styles
& different thicknesses of metal tubes

Make sure that the plastic is tensioned tightly (in our case the plastic
is secured in a metal bar that's clamped to the hoops, and can be
tightened 'drumskin-tight')

Also, the hoops of our tunnel are set in a 9" x 9" concrete strip...
...but then, it does get windy out here.

A polytunnel _wants_ to become a kite - you have to find ways of
preventing that from happening...

Adrian