[rowlandwells]

for those of you that bought one of those little green poly tunnels what do you grow in your  little green tunnel have you put a bench or shelves in there and how do you rate these tunnels

i ask this because we bought one two years ago and haven't got round to putting it up till now its going down the allotments in a couple of weeks time because we already have two big greenhouses and a twenty foot tunnel at home but i think putting one of these little tunnels down the allotments will be beneficial i hope

but any info on these tunnels would be most appreciated before we put it on the plot

[AnneB]

I wish you luck with it. 
I have never had one myself, but several people on our allotment site have had them.  I say had them, as they are fine until there is a fairly big storm, at which point the cover usually parts from the frame.  4 of them departed over the course of this winter, and one even had the frame sail over the fence into the park.
One person had secured the cover with additional weights, but the wind got in and tore the cover up.
Until their untimely end I think people were quite happy with them for growing purposes.
I suggest you put it in as sheltered a spot as you can find.

[jambop]

As with all things some find something to be better than another finds it. I have one here in France I have had it for about four years now and I think it has been outstanding value for money. I paid €129 for it. It is 3m W x 4m L and about 2m H.
I learned a lot about the structure after I initially built it and have made some additions which have greatly helped the stability. I am quite a good DIY man so I found it simple some may not find it that easy.
First thing to do is to make sure the frame is anchored to the ground well. I used four hardwood stakes driven  30- 40cm into the ground down each side and then bolts through the tubes to hold it in place. Second make a proper timber framed doorway fixed to the tubing of the frame with screws you can also fix some lateral timber along both sides and the other end. Thirdly make sure the cover skirt is well covered with soil. I took some old planks and after digging a shallow trench around the outside of frame put the cover over and laid the planks on the skirt and covered it all with a generous load of earth all around. The cover can then be fitted and stapled to the lateral timbers and another timber fixed over it into the lateral timber, this greatly improves the fit of the cover and prevents excessive flexing in high winds. I knocked together some staging using some old oak 75mm x 75mm rafters and some donated timber bifold garage doors... jobs a good un and it has withstood some very strong gusting winds in excess of 90 kph. If you add in the costs of the extra timber screws etc I have probably spent less than €200. If you really wanted to you could cover it with pukka polythene as there is nothing actually wrong with the frame. So I have an L shaped staging 2.4m x 3m and 600mm deep and a 3m x 1m framed bed along the other side and a proper door at one end. I cannot fault it for the price.

[AnneB]

As with all things some find something to be better than another finds it. I have one here in France I have had it for about four years now and I think it has been outstanding value for money. I paid €129 for it. It is 3m W x 4m L and about 2m H.
I learned a lot about the structure after I initially built it and have made some additions which have greatly helped the stability. I am quite a good DIY man so I found it simple some may not find it that easy.
First thing to do is to make sure the frame is anchored to the ground well. I used four hardwood stakes driven  30- 40cm into the ground down each side and then bolts through the tubes to hold it in place. Second make a proper timber framed doorway fixed to the tubing of the frame with screws you can also fix some lateral timber along both sides and the other end. Thirdly make sure the cover skirt is well covered with soil. I took some old planks and after digging a shallow trench around the outside of frame put the cover over and laid the planks on the skirt and covered it all with a generous load of earth all around. The cover can then be fitted and stapled to the lateral timbers and another timber fixed over it into the lateral timber, this greatly improves the fit of the cover and prevents excessive flexing in high winds. I knocked together some staging using some old oak 75mm x 75mm rafters and some donated timber bifold garage doors... jobs a good un and it has withstood some very strong gusting winds in excess of 90 kph. If you add in the costs of the extra timber screws etc I have probably spent less than €200. If you really wanted to you could cover it with pukka polythene as there is nothing actually wrong with the frame. So I have an L shaped staging 2.4m x 3m and 600mm deep and a 3m x 1m framed bed along the other side and a proper door at one end. I cannot fault it for the price.

That sounds a very sturdy modification Jambop, it has obviously served you very well.   It might be that your greenhouse is a different species to the one I am thinking of.  I think there is a variety of different builds and specifications.   The ones I am thinking of that are relatively cheap to buy are very susceptible to wind damage if installed unmodified.  I am not of course referring to those known as pop up or blow away frames, but the ones that are around the size of a greenhouse, say 8' x 10'.

[Enfield Glen]

They really are not robust enough to survive any bad weather over allotments as they tend to be quite exposed. I use corrugated plastic roofing  as this is much more robust.

I use it for early crops of Lettuce, Radish, spring onions, Spinach, Pak Choi etc and as a half way house when I plant out courgettes and cabbage to protect help adjust them from the greenhouse to the allotment.

[Wellington]

I have this one. I put it up by myself yesterday, and it was still there this morning (apart from the piece that is missing from the door)

I paid a little extra, because I loathe  roll up doors. This ones seems ok, but the gutters (also an important feature for me) are really low, and a standard water butt is a foot taller than they are. I haven’t staked mine down, but weighed it down with sandbags full of stones so I can move it next year if I don’t want to keep it where it is.

I haven’t put any staging in it. I will most likely just plant tomatoes, peppers and chillies straight into a bed down each side and a loofah to scramble over the ceiling. I was planning a couple of aubergines, too,  but I can’t find any plants.

[rowlandwells]

interesting replies and it sounds  from what Jambop and the rest of you is saying one needs to anchor this poly tunnel securely down to the ground

so I'm going to take what your saying on board when I put it up down the allotments there are several already down there and i think looking at them people have made a strong base and i mite make some modifications like Jambop suggests i have also thought about putting a scaffold net over it during the winter we have a large hedge that does help as a wind break

i only know of one tunnel blowing away and that wasn't fixed down properly so thanks all for your replies hopefully get it up vey soon

[jambop]

This is the type I have. I have made a door in one end, if I was building it again I would make a door at each end and put extra timber along the sides as the is good to fix the cover to. The cover on mine has held up well but it could be covered with proper polyethylene should you wish the construction is of 25mm galvanised tube and there are five arches and seven lateral tubes. At €129 plus some scrap timber I had lying about I am more than pleased with the performance.
I may actually rebuild this one and if I do another door and two levels of timber framing around the whole structure. One other thing I would add I do not know how the tunnel would stand up to say six inches of heavy wet snow on it! We do not get any so it does not matter to me.

[mumofstig]

John's polytunnel advice is here

https://www.allotment-garden.org/polytunnel-growing/

[rowlandwells]

yes I take your point Jambop two doors would help I put two doors in my big tunnel and it helped with the ventilation although i have put up a large poly tunnel before the little green one is a first especially on the allotment and as  said if its not constructed properly the wind will take it about three fields away 

I am a present re-fitting one of our tunnels its  25ft tunnel I've misted using it this season because  we raise our brassicas plants prior to planting on the allotments and also put our hanging baskets in there to but i made the mistake of putting the  baskets on the tunnel frame that with the weight pulled the frame causing the plastic cover to come loose I've learnt my lesson anyway the cover was on its last legs

so  being constructing new door frames and doors heavy duty hanging basket rails new poly cover and removable growing benches also its worth looking at Johns poly tunnel growing site good growing advise

 I'm going to put up the little green tunnel asap down the allotments and  i hope we are not having the snow your anticipating for the UK this or next year 

[amiman]

We have a 8x10 green polytunnel from Feelgood Polytunnels it has survived 2 winters on our plot. It has a hinged door.
The flaps are buried in the ground.
We put this on a new plot we got, while clearing the plot we found 6 concrete strengthening bars 6 foot log they are ribbed and around 15mm thick. I drove these into the ground about 2 foot and placed one on each upright on the tunnel frame then fastened them to the frame using tie wraps I hasnt moved and we get a lot of wind on our allotment.
https://www.feelgooduk.net/polytunnels-and-accessories