I've just read the article in May's KG on tunnel cloches, and would like to say how pleased I am with my Haxnix ones, I bought two fleece and one net cover at the bargain price of £14.99 each from the garden centre and they are brilliant.
Easy to erect and fasten down, closing ends and one point they didn't mention in the article, on warm days you can just slide the fleece round the hoops to open it up and then slide it back down again at night.
I've been using them to protect things that need hardening off straight out of the greenhouse and then moving them on to the next crop that needs cover, as I'm running out of space and the weather hasn't been warm enough to plant out straight into the open. (and no I haven't enough cold frames)
Row covers
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PLUMPUDDING
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retropants
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Hi Plumpudding,
I don't want to destroy your happiness, but I bought some of those last year. Whilst the net ones are fine and very useful, the fleece ones did not last the season, when they are supposed to last 'for years'.....sorry.
I don't want to destroy your happiness, but I bought some of those last year. Whilst the net ones are fine and very useful, the fleece ones did not last the season, when they are supposed to last 'for years'.....sorry.
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Colin_M
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Interesting, I've bought Haxnix fleece ones in the past and they lasted several years before the fleece finally went this Spring.
Since the current price for them seems to be nearer £20 for the smaller size, I tried an alternate supplier who offered one for about £14. They initially seemd a similar design, but with different fleece material. However just in the process of putting them up, I managed to tear one section of fleece
I fear now that the cheaper ones were a false economy - back to the originals next year!
Since the current price for them seems to be nearer £20 for the smaller size, I tried an alternate supplier who offered one for about £14. They initially seemd a similar design, but with different fleece material. However just in the process of putting them up, I managed to tear one section of fleece
I fear now that the cheaper ones were a false economy - back to the originals next year!
I'm with Retropants on this one. I also have (had) the fleece ones, and they really don't last well. The one I had covering some crops into the Autumn has completely disintegrated. I still have the metal hoops though, which will be useful. I also found them difficult to put up in a straight line, but perhaps that's just me!
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retropants
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Hi Colin, mine were the haxnix ones too, very disappointed, I must say!
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Colin_M
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Hi retropants
guess I'll just have to see how this year's model goes. If they've changed the material used, that would be a shame.
I realise however that there are many ways of approaching this. I've always liked the small fleece & polythene tunnels, as I have a small plot and they give me a lot of flexibilty for the length of row I can protect, as well as being able to move the covers around the plot.
In the past, I've also tried making my own mini tunnels using water piping and long sheets of plastic. Whilst it initially worked, it was a fixed structure and wasn't very good for things like lifting the sides up for watering, weeding etc.
Some of that will be down to my D.I.Y. skills, but I found the ready made ones to be fine for what I need.
guess I'll just have to see how this year's model goes. If they've changed the material used, that would be a shame.
I realise however that there are many ways of approaching this. I've always liked the small fleece & polythene tunnels, as I have a small plot and they give me a lot of flexibilty for the length of row I can protect, as well as being able to move the covers around the plot.
In the past, I've also tried making my own mini tunnels using water piping and long sheets of plastic. Whilst it initially worked, it was a fixed structure and wasn't very good for things like lifting the sides up for watering, weeding etc.
Some of that will be down to my D.I.Y. skills, but I found the ready made ones to be fine for what I need.
LBS at Colne (lbsgardenwarehouse.co.uk) sells fleece really cheaply and also straight metal rods with loops towards the ends (in two different lengths) and you can make your own row cover.
Example prices: 3.20m x 50m £15.48 or, if you want to have much smaller amounts, 3m x 6m £2.87. There are lots of other size variations.
I use a new piece of fleece every year for carrots and parsnips to keep out carrot root fly, then hose it down and wash it in the washing machine. The following year it's used for things like onions, French beans and celeriac (where a small hole wouldn;lt matter so much) as an initial shelter cover.
Example prices: 3.20m x 50m £15.48 or, if you want to have much smaller amounts, 3m x 6m £2.87. There are lots of other size variations.
I use a new piece of fleece every year for carrots and parsnips to keep out carrot root fly, then hose it down and wash it in the washing machine. The following year it's used for things like onions, French beans and celeriac (where a small hole wouldn;lt matter so much) as an initial shelter cover.
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retropants
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Thankyou for the tip Monika, I will be able to re-use the metal hoops using new fleece! 
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PLUMPUDDING
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I'll let you know what condition they are at the end of the season. I know fleece isn't as strong as net or mesh, but it looks quite thick compared to some other fleece I have. Anyway, as you say I can always make some new ones as I have loads of spare fleece handy. They are doing a good job so far.
Hi Monika. Been to LBS yesterday and today. Bought some shuttle trays for 70p. Really good saving I thought. I have planted out my broad beans today this is the first day I could bend down properly with my hip settling down now. I havent covered them with fleece or anything I hope they will be okay.
Does anyone else have a proble buying seeds Everytime I go shopping I come back with more and more. A little bit of this and a little bit of that, oh and I want to grow that, my OH thinks that I have a seed fetish, so much so that I have bought yet some more seeds today but I am going to hide them!!!!! Is there any help for me I dont remember me being like this last year. But then I didnt have a polytunnel which is now groaning with produce waiting to get in but some things are starting to get leggy. Got to go and hide my seeds.
Does anyone else have a proble buying seeds Everytime I go shopping I come back with more and more. A little bit of this and a little bit of that, oh and I want to grow that, my OH thinks that I have a seed fetish, so much so that I have bought yet some more seeds today but I am going to hide them!!!!! Is there any help for me I dont remember me being like this last year. But then I didnt have a polytunnel which is now groaning with produce waiting to get in but some things are starting to get leggy. Got to go and hide my seeds.
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donedigging
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Hi Catherine,
I'm just the same, went to the garden centre last weekend for some compost, OH was out when I left but was back when I returned, so couldn't get it out the boot. It's now Saturday and OH has cleaned my car and found it!!!
I'm just the same, went to the garden centre last weekend for some compost, OH was out when I left but was back when I returned, so couldn't get it out the boot. It's now Saturday and OH has cleaned my car and found it!!!
On the tunnels, I have a couple of the netting ones, but found they blocked out too much light. I only use them in the early stages now - I prefer pond netting to most other types, its the right sized mesh and lasts for years.
I sew channels in the fleece about a metre apart on my sewing machine and when it goes out I tread the hoops through the channels, it stops the hoops falling over and you can lift up the sides easily to water too.