Kitchen Garden Forum

I have just been offered a brand new polytunnel (8 x 10) for free. It has been lying in a garage for 3 years still in the packaging it was delivered in.

Sounds great but there are a few problems. It will have to go to my allotment as I don't have enough room at home. My plot is fairly exposed and windy but I think I can overcome that with bracer bars. The real problem though is no running water and the fact that I can't really get up there every morning and evening to open and close doors. From my experience with a greenhouse I think that this means that I really can't use it with the plastic cover.

I was wondering if it would be possible to cover with netting to use as a brassica cage and then maybe cover with polythene over the winter (although I think I would only get 1 year out of the polythene doing that).

Any ideas? I would hate to turn down this opportunity and am racking my brains to see how I could use the tunnel - have wanted one for years.

Dear Haggis,
if it is door opening you are worried about there is a solution. Get a couple of the window vent openers that you can have on greenhouses and attach them to the top of the doors. You can also fit shade netting to the doors and have a plastic panel to use in spring and summer as an inner door.
Regards Sally Wright.

Door openers are a great idea, hadn't thought of that one.

My polytunnel doors are the other way round.... plastic outer and mesh inner. The mesh inner has larger square holes (about 15 cm across) cut out across the top to allow pollinating insects in and out. I have not had any trouble leaving the plastic doors open and the mesh doors closed permanently once the danger of frost is past.
The mesh door has the added advantage of keeping the cats and the pigeons at bay.

Good luck with the tunnel,

Diane.

Thanks Sally and Diane - good advice!