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It's gale season in the West of Ireland where we reside in the countryside next to the sea.
It's a very mild climate but it's very wet and windy too. This morning we woke very early to thunder and lightning and some people had no electricity and we had no wifi.
We recently decided to erect a windbreak fabric fence to hopefully protect the Western gable of the polytunnel.
I hand dug four holes over two feet deep and over a foot round. I dug the holes with my trusty shovel and long crowbar
Of course I struck the usual digging obstacles like stones and clay. "We call it blue till" a West Cork farmer once said to me when I commented on the clay in a field.
Number one son came home early the other day and cut down some thick timbers into about 7 foot lengths and we stood them and wedged stones around the base of them with the sledge hammer.
Then we stapled the green wind fabric mesh netting to the uprights and nailed batons on to them and I forked fym to anchor the netting.
It turned out to be a fine job.
Windbreak fabric mesh is great for protecting a newly planted hedge from wind burn.
Do you use it around your garden, allotment or smallholding?
Good work! I think I will have to invest in something like that when I get a different polytunnel next year...or perhaps a polycrub would be better...that is what we saw most places in Lewis instead of polytunnels!
ReplyDeleteThanks GZ. I have seen quite a few polytunnels with polycarbonate sheeting recently. We have had 3 polytunnels that needed new plastic due to wind damage and the son breaking the plastic down. The polycrubs look great. Are they expensive?
DeleteYes..."prices start at £2,800"...built in Shetland to withstand their weather, frames made from redundant salmon farm piping.
DeleteAnd I doubt if any will be going secondhand..they look as if they last!!
That's 3,200 Euros. They look really sturdy and I love seeing stuff recycled and repurposed. When I had my allotments in Blighty one plot holder made a polytunnel from plastic water pipes and covered it with builders polythene. His vegetables flourished and didn't care they lived in a homemade polytunnel.
DeleteSounds like a sturdy structure. Well done that man (and son).
ReplyDeleteThanks JayCee. We even suggested planting an hedge for a permanent windbreak but the livestock would probably ring bark them. Dry today for a change. Back to the rain again tomorrow. October was the wettest month on record in Cork.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good job.
ReplyDeleteWith all that spare water you could start growing rice.
Ireland should export water Tigger's Mum. It's actually not raining today. No rain until tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteNo I do not use it around our garden Dave but it would make some nice curtains inside the house I think.
ReplyDeleteHippies Are Us. Your local store for ecological and environmental minded people. Steve Hillage and Hawkwind records, black bean sauce, hashish pie, wind chimes, Rizla cigarette papers, bongs, patchouli oil, cheese cloths shirts, incense sticks and gale fabric mesh curtains a speciality. Thanks YP.😊
ReplyDeleteCertainly some clever folk at the small holding!
ReplyDeleteThanks Debby. We will see what Mr and Mrs Wind think about our efforts to control their gusts.
DeleteThat's the stuff we call shadecloth and many people rig it up over gazebos or porches where the sun comes right in, it helps to keep things a bit cooler. Many people use it to shelter garden plots or just over pots to keep the plants from getting sunburnt or to keep out those pesky cabbage moths. I have a folder somewhere with things I'd like in my "dream house" and several pages are devoted to the construction of shade houses, much like your poly tunnels.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of shade houses River. They sound a great idea.
ReplyDelete