[mark]

i am going to build a Polytunnel  on my allotment and i am going to use scaffolding pipes  and Plastic  pipe bent over. but i am struggling how to fasten the plastic to the tubes  and to get the tension :? .iam a total newbie to this so all the help please thanks    

[John]

Hi Mark

I'm no expert on this but did see a  chap on the site build one he bought. Apparently the metal heats up, which reduces the polythene life, so he applied an anti-heat tape to the hoops. This was shiny on the top with a sort of thin foam backing and then the sticky.

To get the tension he dug a trench (about 9 inches deep) down the sides and buried the polythene into them. Put one side in, bury, then one or two chaps pulled tight while one put soil into the second trench.

It was quite an operation and more work than I thought it would be.

Now, of course, he's a smug devil - working in there when it rains on the rest of us

[mark]

Thanks John. Now I have to go around the building sites to see if I can salvage any plastic. I dont like paying for it if I can help it.     They are getting used to me popping around.

[John]

That's what I call true allotmenteering - buy nothing you can beg!!!

We have a site skip about three times a year. It's so funny, people come and put stuff on to it then someone else runs over and bags it. Waste not, want not.

[mark]

I love salvageing. Especially when you look around your allotment and you see all the things you have made or recycled . It gives  you a sense of satisfaction.Also i love it when someone comes up to you and says how much did that cost.? and you say nothin      (yes)

[John]

Seems that often the plot with the brand new shed and very smart deep beds  is the one with the straggly veggies and loads of weeds.

The chap who had plot 29 before me was like that - except I inherited half a plot of horsetail.

Our council offer a brown bin for garden waste, if you pay them 20 a year. So, let me get this right, I pay them to take away my compost material? I think not!

[mark]

and people use the bins? And go to the shop to buy compost AND say how expensive it is. think not.

[Ian_P]

Not quite salvage but in the spirit of allotmenting none the less.

Lancashire County Council allow all residents in the county three 220 litre Blackwall compost bins for free. I have relatives in Lancashire with small gardens that can never use three bins, So I have two from there.

Just this week my dad told me that Wilts County Council have the same scheme but charge £4 for up to 3 of the same bins. So I now have the third I was looking for.

I think that means I have about £120 worth ogff compost bins for £4.

One filling, One cooking, One being used. Or at least that's the theory!

[John]

That sounds a real bargain
Well done.

[noshed]

We're trying to get our council to give us some brown bins for our site. And they've agreed more or less.
At the moment I'm a pallet short so the building compost heap is merging with the rotting one. I have to wait for another paper delivery at work. (Won't be long - some people seem to print everything out twice anyway.) In spite of that there's some good rotted stuff lurking about in the bottom of the heap - lovely smell.

[mellowmick]

Someone on our allotments has built a polytunnel using yellow plastic gas pipes for the hoops. Seems to be about 50mm diameter pipe in 5m lengths curved over and buried at each end, with clear polythene stretched over the top.