Eric,

These are BEAUTIFUL!

Can you make a few for me, and send them over? I could one 4 X 10, a 3 X 10, and a 4 X 8. Thanks. Let me know when they are done and I'll send you my address!

j/k. These are great though. I think I'll be making my own versions. Now I just have to figure out where I will store them when they are not in use!

Thank you.

We will be using them most of the year. No need to store.

Cover them with plastic for season extender. Covered with Remay for bug control. Deer fence covered for chicken tractor or chicken runs. Very portable.

Eric

I looked at them last night on the other thread and I think they are wonderful. No if I can just talk my neighbor into welding them for me. LOL

Well maybe barter with him/her, with all the extra veggies you can grow. "Vegetable futures"

Eric

Very nice. Do the verticals extend below the side stringers?

Dan

Dan,

No, They are welded on top. Take a look at photo #3. The verticals are 8 inch stubs. The cross brace is welded 3.5 inches above the side stringer. That leaves a 4.5 inch stub for the irrigation tubing to overlap. The deer fencing keeps the tubing in place.

Eric

Eric, Is that plastic fencing, or plastic coated fencing or just wire fencing? I am not familiar with deer fencing.

sooner,

The link below is an example. Buy locally if possible.

Heavy duty plastic fencing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heavy duty plastic fence

wow,those are great! They look too heavy to be portable? I am curious, do they "flip up" or something so you can tend to the rows on the inside?

ezzi,

Like you see them in the photo, we just lift and lean it agents its neighbor. If its a solo tunnel you could prop open with a stick or maybe roll it completly over.

Eric

I built 6 of theses tunnels for my brother. Now it's my time. 6 or 8 for me. Mine will be 3ft x 10ft. Two end to end will cover one raised bed. Here are some photos of my first one.

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Tomorrow I will finish installing the plastic deer fence.

Eric

One of six ready for the garden.

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Ok, talk to myself later.

Eric

Nice. No purlins for wind protection?

Dan

Dan,

Do you have any ideas. I thought about putting in a diagonal brace on the ends. This keeps the deer mesh tighter also. Try to keep this tunnel light weight.

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Eric

No, you need to keep your plastic from gaining height aerodynamically and flapping up and down on the hoops and mesh, which weakens it. This is why you'd attach purlins in this setup, as you will find it hard to attach clips to keep the plastic from flapping with the mesh in place. But we have tremendous wind here and you have less there, so it may not be an issue for you.

But as to the lateral pressure from wind, most put a brace at the very top. 1/2 in EMT with a notch in either end, PVC if the plastic is warranted with PVC touching it, maybe rip a furring strip and cut notches in the end. Lash all with cord.

If I were to do that rig, I'd leave some rebar on the ground side as well to shove in the soil. And its a clever idea and i'll reflect on it when I start mine out of cattle panel here soon.

Dan

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to post the photos - really makes your construction technique clear.

nhbabs,
Your welcome, but is the design any good? Triditional you would use pipe clips to hold the the cover on. Like Dan stated. Now I may have to use shock cord or something over the top.

Dan, not sure I like the pegs in the ground idea. I will be lift one side of the frame for weeding and harvesting. Pivoting wood cause the pegs to tear through the soil.

Eric

Fair enough. Mine will be mounted to wood and sit on a base with hinges, so I'm in that mode, as well as securing against the constant, harsh wind.

Another idea for reducing aerodynamic flapping is running twine across the top.

Dan

Dan,

I'd like to see your cattle panel setup. Will you be posting pictures?? I think the panels here are about $60.00 each. 5ft x 16ft. Will you be building one tunnel per panel?

Eric

I'll post Eric. Here they are 19.90/per, one panel/tunnel.

Dan

Run some twine diagonally across each 'bay' to secure your material, snug it to the frame. For really windy locations, leave 6-8 inches of material and plant a couple dirt-filled bags on the weather side. Bungie cord to really snug it down.

I know that sounds like a mess, but it really is an elegant method to secure material - twine is pretty cheap and it composts to boot, should last a couple seasons.

Nice frames - thanks for sharing!

sfallen2002,

Well thank you very much! That's my best Elvis

I'm leaning towards some cheap bungies. They would be a little easier to go from Reemay to plastic as the season progresses. You can see in the first photo my brother is using bricks. Sandbags might be better.

Eric

Jonny's Seed has pictures using the sandbags & they don't rip the material like brick or stones. Bungie might work in place of twine, but what I was saying about the twine & what sfallen helpfully clarified about my unclear comment is twine diagonally is easier & cheaper & reinforces itself, whereas bungie cords don't, unless you can get 6-footers and run diagonally ($$). Eliot Coleman has a couple pictures of twine in one of his winter gardening books. Target dollar bins have rolls of jute twine.

Dan

I am very interested in this as I was planning on building something that sounds similar. I would love to see the photos, the seem to have been taken down. Any chance you can upload again or email to me.... thanks.

Looks like I forgot to post pix:

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Dan