Cannibalisation of old polytunnel

My new polytunnel has been delivered, and no doubt will be assembled over the next few days; however, I am reluctant to completely waste the old polytunel, and thought I could make something of it - particularly as I have wood knocking about in the shed.

In my head, I have the idea that I could do one of two things (bearing in mind that the zips are completely knackered, and there are some holes that would want patching):

- Split the frame by taking the top half off (the curved upper section), and then make use of the bottom half by joining it together to make a square section, low level tunnel (although I am concerned that this might be too wide, and the sides could be a pain to form

- Split the bottom half of the frame to make two narrower, triangle section tunnels that are more of a cloche than anything else.

I've done some very quick (and pretty poor) diagrams to show the bits I would use:


Remove the top section above (green)

The remaining frame, rejoined (with wooden bracing) and flipped

Or the second, cloche option:
Advice, comments, suggestions etc all gratefully received.


I'd also appreciate advice on what would be suitable to grow under these, bearing in mind that the crops will also have to be happy in pots or re-usable growbags which have a depth of about five or six inches.

 

I really don't want to see it go to waste, as its only six months old - sadly, I have since found that this particular brand of polytunnel seem to have a really bad name for zip failures; in fairness, the weather this year has been the most damaging thing, although having to move the tunnel to get the fence replaced also didn't help.

I'm also determined to learn from this years mistakes (which include rubbish lettuce and radishes), and get some decent food coming out of the garden. Its going to take a bit of graft, particularly at the start of the year, but that will settle quickly to watering and feeding, and I think that it will be worth it in the long run - hell, I might even save a few quid once everything gets going.

I'm not overly bothered if I don't start growing anything in them until next year - indeed, I might well make the modifications and construction of them my winter project - but I would like to press whatever into service early on next year.

Sounds like a good idea - I just couldn't cope with two full size tunnels (Mrs C would disown me for a start!)

 

14' x 30' for chillies! Good grief - I have seven chilli plants on two windowsills in the house and I am over-run with the things! I take it you sell them or something?

 

Good luck! You're off to a flying start with a huge poly like that.

Website seems to work well too, apart from the 'no stock' issue that you are working on I've bookmarked, so you may well be getting an order from me in the future

 

Thanks

I like to hear of people getting ahead with a good business idea - especially those who put in the graft and genuinely want to do well by their customers.

In fact, more and more I am going to independent businesses with my custom, simply because I am tired of feeling that I am getting 'tucked up' by bigger businesses - and I can't be alone in feeling like that.

 

I've no space to keep the frame in its entirety, and going by my experiences with the replacement blowaway today, it appears that recovering it won't really solve my pro
I can't cover it with the normal poly film as used by the 'proper' polytunnels, simply because it has to stand on a patio - I can only hold the edges down with bricks, and have no way of building a wooden door frame either (well, not without making a frame for the whole front of the thing.

Sorry, my diagrams were really poor - my idea was to use the V-shaped section of the frame, braced with modified cross-members made from other bits of the frame, and then use cable ties to attach the cover to the frame once relatively tight. My intention then was to use the upside down V-shaped cover to simply plonk over stuff as a sort of lift-off cloche?