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Have you ever left your poly tunnel up over winter?
Mel Mcbride
Posts: 112
Mines up against a high fence, on the west of it. We have roughly 29MPH gusts today and the polytunnel is looking a bit on the scary side, blowing about. It's still secure, and the bottom pegs aren't coming up yet. But this is nothing compared to the gales we're likely to get this year.
Do you take yours down over winter? Or have you found a way to cheat the wind? It's a small one. 3m by 4m - maybe 5m, I forget now. It's a green one, the ones you typically see in garden centers.
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My neighbours leave their's up all year round, but it is protected by the house and trees.
Mel can you add housebricks / rocks at the base to give more strength?
I had one that was 8 foot by 10 foot and it survived 80MPH gales last winter totally unharmed (didn't survive the local little darlings who attacked it with bricks during the summer - but that's another problem), just depends on what quality it is, mine is dug into the ground, so its pretty solid!
My 28'x21' by Northern Polytunnels was erected in 2005, still has the original cover and has withstood all that Mother Nature has thrown at it here in Aberdeenshire.
Is that the one made from the same reinforced plastic as the mini growhouses ? Clear plastic cover reinforced with green threads ?
I don't have a polytunnel because my garden isn't big enough, but I do have a 6' x 4' walk in mini greenhouse and a 4 tier mini growhouse, both with the reinforced covers.
During those recent strong, gusty winds we have just had, neither of my plastic growhouses moved at all. There were wheelie bins being blown over, one of my neighbours had the felt ripped off his shed roof and I had another neighbour's children's toys blown into my garden...even my Mum's aluminium rotary clothes dryer was bent in a strong gust.
The layout of our back gardens is that ours back on to the next street's back gardens. The streets both run East - West, so the houses form a wind tunnel along the full length of both streets, through all of our back gardens.
We have a concrete coal bunker, with the opening side facing West. My mini growhouses are in the space directly behind the back of the coal bunker.
I knocked in 4 large posts, 1 at either end at the back of the coal bunker and another 2 between the coal bunker and a post & wire fence (the posts form an L shape). I screwed on 2 rails, 1 at the top and 1 about a foot from the ground, along the long side and along the back of the L shape. I then attached a length of 5 foot high brushwood screening to the posts and rails with screw in eyes and wire.
I positioned my walk in mini greenhouse, sideways on, at right angles to the coal bunker and up against the short post & rail end, secured the base to the ground with steel pegs (some tent pegs and some weed control fabric pegs). Then, I tied a length of polypropyline rope to the corner post at the bottom and along the back to the next post. Then I brought the rope across the short side of the mini greenhouse, along the front (about a foot from the ground), and tied it to the bottom rail of the long post & rail section. From there, I tied the rope to the top rail and repeated as above, tying the rope to the posts and around the mini greenhouse. The end of the rope then goes up and over the top of my mini greenhouse, from the post & rail fence to the post & wire fence.
My 4 tier growhouse is in front of the mini greenhouse, to the left of the door, and there's a small gap (about 8") between growhouse & mini greenhouse. The 4 tier growhouse backs on to the coal bunker.
To secure the 4 tier growhouse at the ground, I pinned the base as above. Then, I knocked in a tree stake at each end at the front of the growhouse, screwed in some eyes then ran a length of wire from the top rail of the post & rail, along one side, through an eye on the first tree stake, across the front to the next tree stake, then back down the other side back to the post & rail fence. The top of the 4 tier growhouse is secured to the wire holding the top of the brushwood screening with a bungee cord which has a strong clip on each end.
Neither the walk in mini greenhouse nor the 4 tier growhouse moved at all during the recent very strong gusty winds, despite being in direct line of the wind coming from the West. The brushwood screening acts as a wind break but still allows enough light into both mini growhouses. Being behind the concrete coal bunker protects both growhouses from gusts at the base (which would normally send the plastic/aluminium structures into orbit).