A new Polytunnel - oh my!

Of course, I don’t know your specific needs. I recently saw a high tunnel  where the lower edge of the covering rested in a piece of guttering. The gutter was slightly sloped to feed into a 55 gallon drum on either side of the tunnel. Of course, it does not rain inside a high tunnel, so the drums provided a source of water for the plants inside.

That's sort of my plan for the upper side of the tunnel John - I have gravity on my side there! I can collect the water run off in guttering and lead it into the tunnel into a barrel for storage and overflow (hopefully) into my raised wicking bed and overflow from there into the main growing space. I may add more barrels (if I can get hold of nice ones easily) to add more storage, as I expect still to need to water transplants and seedlings.

We've had a good spell of weather since the new year (all our rain went down South) so I've managed to get quite a bit done. Mainly I've been working on the firewood supply, but I have now switched back to the tunnel and started getting the irrigation channels sorted. I made grooves leading in from the East (downhill) side and from a spreader channel adjacent to the wicking beds into grooves in between these. There is also a channel from the NorthWest corner in case that water source becomes useful (otherwise that corner will be a bit dry). A bit difficult to describe, but I took a picture. They're a bit deeper than I anticipated. I have tried to ensure that they are level or slightly sloping down to encourage water flow. The spreader channel from the wicking beds will need to be larger to help the flow too. It's all a bit experimental!

irrigation channel layout from South end

I'm collecting together twiggy bits from the birch that I've cut - these make nice straight twigs so will make good wicking channels. I have some willow cut from last year that is probably still good enough to use (and won't grow!). I may need to use some alder twigs too - not so good, as the twigs are more wiggly, I'll see how it looks when I have everything laid out.

bundles of birch twigs for stick irrigation

My plan at the moment is to lay a layer of green spruce twigs over the broken rock, then maybe a layer of sheep fleece like a soil barrier. Put the stick drains in where the channels are and wrap those with fleece too, then cover the whole lot with the excavated soil. I did a sketch for my sheet hugel thread. This was before I thought of using the fleece as well....

stick irrigation concept

At the moment I'm gathering the materials together. I still need to get up on tall ladders to check the anti-hotspot tape on the ridge at each hoop, and put some on the crop bar brackets. It will be a lot easier to do this before the soil goes back into the tunnel, but I want to leave it as long as possible so that the scrappy bits are exposed to the weather for the shortest possible time as they do have a tendency to come back off in the wind...I will need to get back up again to put the high level vents in - but that will be after the cover is on, so that can't be helped.

Nancy, I just want you to know how I enjoy seeing the progress in the pictures that you post on this project.  

And to honor that day (which will be soon, I hope)  I have been working on a special herbal tea blend of Hibiscus, Chamomile and Mint, and saving a jar of Goldenrod honey, to toast you when I see the photos of the poly being pull across this new to you tunnel.  Seeing the end walls being closed in will be cool too, but the top cover going on will be the big thingy for me !!!

Peace/Heddwch

is plastic a necessary evil in building a greenhouse? trying to recycle plastic for a greenhouse iS probably a non starter. ive been wanting to build a greenhouse for years now but it is slow going accumulating  enough window glass to put it together

bruce Fine wrote:is plastic a necessary evil in building a greenhouse? trying to recycle plastic for a greenhouse iS probably a non starter. ive been wanting to build a greenhouse for years now but it is slow going accumulating  enough window glass to put it together

Nope, it definitely is not. Plastic has only started being used in the last few years, glass has been used for at minimum of 150 years, probably more. 150 year old glass greenhouse is just something I have been in and can prove :D

Glass does break easily, especially with weather events. I tested, and will use, expanded metal lathe mounted on the exterior at least 4 inches off the glass, to stop most hail damage. Won't stop softball sized, I'm sure, but it definitely stops 1 inch. Might help with other random things that break glass too.

bruce Fine wrote:ive been wanting to build a greenhouse for years now but it is slow going accumulating  enough window glass to put it together

Yes, depending on where you are sourcing secondhand windows can be tricky - I guess getting to know window installers might be worthwhile! There are some good ideas on this thread too about designs and sourcing glass.

Deane - I'm hoping the cover will go on towards the end of March/ start of April. That's when we tend to get some settled still, sunny weather (hoping!!!) I've got some offers of helping hands, and am intending to get all covered in a short spell of time - a partically covered tunnel is very vulnerable to bad weather.
I'm honoured by your special brew!