It has been a long-term dream to live a self-sustainable, self-sufficient, eco-friendly lifestyle. In September 2021, the allotment was the start for taking steps towards making this dream a reality. These vlogs document the journey. Follow along to watch me try to achieve these goals and learn some things along the way.
Thank you for really good advice. We put a new poly tunnel on my allotment in February 2024 & followed all of your ideas. Despite very high winds, torrential rain etc the tunnel remains intact 👍 Two other tunnels on the allotment where destroyed & they had only limited anchoring so proves your ideas really work.
1:00 When you sunk the pole frame in the trench gap did you use soil to cover the polly tunnel skin cover inside or outside?,the skirting of the polly tunnel i cant see if this is inside or outside?
Yeah, they are a complete joke. The frame has been pretty decent. It's held up with the new decent cover on. Just the outsunny cover might as well be cling film.
@doogee6157 www.firsttunnels.co.uk/polytunnel-cover-calculator There is a calculator via this link that will assist with your query. I fint know.what the size of your polytunnel is to answer the question sorry
@@reveriehomestead cheers for that , i havnt got the tunnel yet so is difficult to measure for calculation thats why i was asking. am guessing in the £70 ball park for upgrade cover. thanks
@doogee6157 ours was £104 Inc delivery. I think I slightly overshot the size though so could have been a bit cheaper. I wanted to make sure there was enough to do a deep trench and still ended up trimming it.
Not bad, ive had a strong wind knock down my make shift greenhouse. Ive since decided to get a more heavy duty one. The problem with high winds is you are basically screwed unless the greenhouse is wind resistant and strong by default.
So true. Greenhouses are a different thing all together. Some of the frames are so light that it amazes me that they stay standing from the weight of the glass. I've gradually been replacing the greenhouse glass with plastic sheeting that is secured with self tapping screws.
That’s exactly what happened to me… same tunnel from outsunny…the only good thing was the frame..i have to replace the cover every 12months and i am on my third x 2 as i put two frames together so i had a 6mtr tunnel cause they where selling like crazy and never had any in stock… unfortunately they do not do a 2 x 2 x 6 so i have to get 2x3mtr covers and i use plenty of them pipe clips.. worked out better and withstands the high winds..👍🤞🤣
Those corkscrew anchors look solid, exactly like what I wish I had for my polytunnel (rip), but I think I'll be referring to this video for next year installing a new one.
"We aren't sponsored by them or anything like that... we bought it with our own money." **camera swings around to show a disintegrated greenhouse** Me: I don’t think that disclaimer was necessary.
Strangely, I was just looking at one of these tunnels from Outsunny, through Amazon, and decided to look on you tube reviews, to see if I was going to get my moneys worth. I am certainly glad I came across your vid, as you have saved me a lot of time money and frustration. There is no way I would buy from that company now. Thanks for sharing.
No probs mate. You're definitely better off getting a cover from elsewhere and investing a bit more for a greater longevity. Good luck with your tunnel and wish you every success.
I have the exact same didn’t last 12 months… the cover did exactly the same… the only good thing about this is the frame… I’ve recovered it put the tube clips on and its brilliant…I had to make a few adjustments but I love it…
Lovely to see you back in the garden. Glad your taking measures to protect the poly and hopefully you can get some things in for fall/winter. Have a great week and happy gardening 👩🌾, Ali 🥰🇨🇦
Awwww thanks Ali. We've had a little break from video's partly due to Belles health but also the weather has been absolutely terrible here. Its rained almost every day for around 6 weeks. We actually have some of your tomatoes in the polytunnel. We went with the Black Beauty and they are growing fantastically. Just starting to fruit now so fingers crossed for a good crop. We can't wait to taste them. Next year will be a complete Ali tomatoe special in the polytunnel for sure. I hope all is well over in Canada and you're having a great crop so far this year. 🤗
I'll never forget that video where you showed how it turned out. I have come across plenty of outsunny products on amazon ever since and every time i see their name i just scroll over. I don't know how much business they have lost due to their incredibly poor quality and even poorer customer service but im pretty sure it would have been cheaper to refund you or replace that cover for you. Not the smartest cookies in the jar, lol. Hugs from Ireland.
Thanks for watching. I still can't believe Outsunnys attitude to business but hopefully we can help others avoid the same issues. How are things over in Ireland? The weather has ben terrible here, non stop rain for 6 weeks. We are desperate for a sunny spell, everything is stunted.
@@reveriehomestead Oh yeah, same here, we had 6 weeks of rain with only 5 days without, outdoor cucumbers have given up for this year, though some of the F1 tomatoes may recover if we can have a few sunny days. Good to have a polytunnel where things can grow better! ;-)
@@revvend gutted. Our cucumbers have been the same to be honest. We have ours in the ground in the greenhouse and the soil is that saturated outside that its soaking into the greenhouse and overwatering them. The polytunnel has been a lot better though. I hope your toms bounce back. There's meant to be some good weather on the way for us over here so hopefully the same for Ireland. It will be a shame if you lost them as well.
I didn’t dig out for mine i just placed it on the turf and built a shelf right across the back and down one side and screwed into the tubing… it doesn’t even move in the wind… i also used them poly clips for the cover….i joined a 3mtr and a 2.5mtr together…. Just get carried away always adding cause one year the wind blew the back end off 😂 then i built a raised bed all around the outside and back… the other side of the tunnel is up against the fence….neighbours love me 😂😂😂 I prefer the plastic with the weave in cause its a lot stronger and it’s doesn’t tear as easy or degrade into bits like the first cover did….
Well done we had the same problem on our allotment site fences down greenhouses smashed to pieces and of course poly tunnels that decided it was a paraglides 😂🤣 not one bit of help from our local council … but we all pulled together good video good luck hopefully we don’t get gales like them again … Toon Army
Oh yeah! The winds over in Toon city are some of the worst I've experienced. Absolutely baltic as well. Terrible you didn't get help from your council. It's a running theme of England's allotments unfortunately. Great that we have access to plots but it could be run much better. Thanks for watching and I hope you have better experiences in the future 🙏
Wow, what a con!...and you made a really big effort, secured against the weather only to ,lose it to UV rays.....better to just buy a frame and use better quality sheeting.
A little tip not sure if you have them Where U are but get pipe insulation it’s a black rubber with a slit down one side and adhesive in the slit put these on any of the metal structure that touches the plastic it will stop the degrading of the plastic that touches the metal
We had the same thing happen in Texas... the plastic we got did the same thing... we changed companies and plastic, and have had great success now. Blessings
Girls, sheesh.... lol Hopefully she's been rehabbed? A rooster will fix that problem too, if that's possible. That's part of their job squashing the cat fights between their girls.
Awww thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately we aren't allowed to have roosters due to the rules of the site. We are in a residential area so its counted as a noise distance for the surrounding residents.
I have an identical Outsunny poly tunnel frame where the cover has disintegrated and needs to be recovered so I am really looking forward to watching your upcoming video especially as I was looking at the First Tunnels polythene myself. When will your video be out as I'd like to watch it before I attempt my revamp?
@@reveriehomestead ..to keep your tunnel from getting torn to shreds or blowing away obviously. you could probably have filled the channel with gravel aswell though, especially if you anchored the structure to wood. ask the future tenants how they feel about hitting tent pegs with their mower, it just doesnt seem like a very good application.
Well you have your opinion and we have ours. We know that we had a lot less hassle removing tent pegs and re digging a trench than having to remove concrete or gravel for the new cover to go on.
So nice they are outside and enjoying the sunshine 🌞. Wow lots growing and the fruit bushes look excellent 💪. I haven’t grown mint for years but I may do some this year. 😮 that’s awful if someone is spraying and it’s getting blown your way 😢😢. Hopefully things will recuperate the lemon balm could probably get a big haircut. Hope you both have a fantastic week, Ali 🌞🇨🇦
I know that with professional covers you need to make sure that you have the right side facing outward, one side has the the uv protective layer and the other has a anti damp(water droplets) layer. Using the wrong side has the same effect you have with your plastic. I am not defending Outsunny, I know their products are not the best. But just like so many companies, things get made bulk in China and redistributet by the brand. In the UK you have(the unique position and) a lot of options for greenhouses at wide price ranges. There are worse greenhouses than Outsunny in the Netherlands, also not as many choices.
Hi Dennis, thanks for watching. We're aware of the different sides having different purposes but the Outsunny tunnel was made to shape of the frame and not a flat sheet. You can only put it on one way so its possible that they made the tunnel the wrong way around but that would still be a manufacturer issue.
My experience is…. The cover may last a couple years, but again a rough storm can damage the cover fairly easily. As for the frame it can last several years. It’s not a good sign that your cover literally crumbled and cracked within such a short period of time. My last poly had three covers in its 9 years of use. The last storm finished of the frame.
Hi I have had a polytunnnel for 30 years and replace the cover every seven or eight years, they usually split on the lines where the covers were folded. The sides are dug into the soil and the bars covered with pipe insulation. I have never had much wind damage even with no doors on either end, I think you will have no trouble with your new tunnel if you use a good poly cover from a commercial supplier.
Thanks Penny. Unfortunately the cover disintegrated as it was not UV protectant but it was advertised as it was. We've purchased a new cover now from a great tunnel supplier and so far, so good. Thanks for watching and sharing your knowledge. Happy growing!
Thanks for watching. We have removed the cover thanks. We had left it on more so we could do a video showing how bad the cover was. Weve now finally got our new cover on yay! New polytunnel video pending lol
Good to have you both back. Your so right I sowed tomatoes early March and then more the other day and they are actually better than the March ones. Chin up your doing great guys and your over 220 now, Ali 🇨🇦
Thanks Ali! The first tomato seeds broke ground yesterday so we shall see how they go sowing a bit later. Hopefully the next few weeks will see lots of green shoots coming up from all the sowing. Hope you are doing well and having a good start to the growing year. What tomatoes are you growing?
@@reveriehomestead 🤣🤣 the question is what tomato am I not growing 🤦♀️ Tomatoes 🍅 2023 Orange Accordion Black Krim Pink fang Black strawberry Copper River Orange Queen (dwarf) Korean Long Alice’s Dream Ananias Noir Captain Lucky Honey drop cherry Black Beauty Black and Brown Boar Dr Wyche Yellow Michael Pollan Dwarf RussianSwirl Pink Boar But I do give some to friends and family
@@myrustygarden oh my word! And Belle thought I was bad for tomatoes and I'm only growing 6 varieties. I have some serious tomato plant envy. I'm so jealous. Do you have favourites or is it just too hard to choose?
This is so sad, but I do understand you pain because the same thing happened to me when I bought what I thought was UV cover for my old poly tunnel frame which had disintegrated over time. It’s split at the top and just collapse down both sides I have since covered it in netting and now use it as a fruit cage. Very naughty of Outsunny to not give you the support that you need
Disgusting customer service, I will be sure to avoid this company and won’t recommend it to anyone. Thank you for sharing your experience with the poly tunnel and out sunny. We all spend ages trying to rid our plots of unwanted plastic, hope you can rid yourself of the majority of the bits 😢 Keep smiling 😊
Can’t believe you put out a video just now. Saw your first video yesterday and was about to go down this route. Might rethink the whole thing now! Thanks for the update. What a disappointment! Do post a link to the good cover.
Hi Frank, glad we saved you from the misery of the effort of building a polytunnel that will eventually crumble through no fault of your own. The cover weve gone for is the one below. www.firsttunnels.co.uk/polytunnel-coversDetail/super-therm-polythene We also got these doors which are pretty impressive so far. northernpolytunnels.co.uk/pvc-double-zip-vent-door Thanks for watching!
Omg 😱 that is 🤬🤬🤬 the plastic on my poly has been on it for 6 years now and only holes are the ones I put in it 🤦🏼♀️. So sorry this happened but hopefully 🙏 you can recover and keep smiling. Happy Easter 🐣 Ali 🇨🇦
Thanks Ali. We're pretty upset about all the plastic wasted. Its been sat in the car for weeks because we just can't bring ourselves to put it in the dump. Hopefully the new one will be a lot better. We've just put it up so fingers crossed it lasts a lot longer. Thanks for watching as always and have a great weekend. 😊
Soooo annoying Simon. We're so behind on our sowing now as we had planned on having the tunnel to start seeds off in. You live and learn I guess. Thanks for watching and advice on the skin
Oh man, I'm so sorry to see what happened. Outsunny is an incredibly pathhetic company, a couple of years ago I lost 3 smaller walk in greenhouses from them before I learned my lesson... :-/ I had the same exact issue: their plastic covers are NOT suitable for outdoor use, they disintegrate in the sun. I'm in Ireland, not exactly famous for sunny weather, and their covers didn't even survive a single season, I started using them in March and by mid July they were all in shreds littering my garden with microplastic bits. That was my first growing season, I knew nothing and I was heartbroken to see how these companies lie through their teeth and cause environmental pollution in people's gardens. Going after unhappy customers to get their reviews removed only confirms how spineles they are. :-( I remember I then got my replacement plastic from myfirsttunnel or firstunnels or similar, a UK company, they could deliver to Ireland before brexit. That plastic is still on and fine, had a few holes to repair over the years but overall it is still up and works just fine. I actually plan to dismantle those small greenhouses this year and merge them into one larger one: lesson learnt, will only ever get professional plastic from a reputable company.
Thanks Leah. We are gutted about all the bits of plastic everywhere. We are trying to be as green as possible and its devastating to have to put the cover into landfill. We got our new cover from first tunnel as well. Got it on last weekend and so far so good. We got some great vent doors from northern tunnels as well which seem great so far. We will pop a video on the updated tunnel in the next few weeks. Thanks for watching and for sharing your experience. I think we will chase Outsunny a bit more if this is happening so much. You're totally right that its bad that they are advertising these things and not following through. Happy growing over there in Ireland
I've just got my first tunnel You can buy Big Ben hurricane ground anchors the biggest will take 1.250kg of weight before failing there a Cork screw style
