Selfsufficientish.com

Hi

I'm a lucky chap. a friend has kindly donated the ribs of a polytunnel he had lying around in his barn (amazing what you find left behind in French barns!)

It will only have 7 complete ribs when constructed (I have 14 pre-formed tubes that have a connecting tube on one end and an earth spike on the other). The big question is, what would be the maximum workable distance between the ribs? We've figured that 1m would be reasonable, any further thoughts would be very helpful. Thanks

We've got 5ft spacings between ours (tho' it is a bought tunnel) and it's nice and sturdy... however, we've got ground anchors that are buried 2ft deep!

Ditto.

5' is what the manufacturers recommended. Ours are planted very deeply too, in anchor plates, approx 18" down.

Ditto ditto
Mine is also 5' spacing, but mine has ground spikes too ... or to be precise it has 3' lengths of bigger bore tube that I hammered 2' into the ground.
The hoops then slot into this tube with an exhaust clamp to adjust it to the right height, with the polythene trenched in.
It has so far survived 2 winters of storm force winds 100 yards from the Atlantic.

Everyone is agreed 5 foot, but as it is illegal to have anything in feet and inches in France, 152.5cm.
Rather than bury the polythene in the ground, I have fixed the polythene to a timber 'skirt' fixed to the tubes about a foot off the ground, then the polythene drapes down the last bit to the ground. This gives greater flexibility in venting the tunnel and makes it easier when replacing the polythene.
But I am in London, buring the polythene is better if you live by the coast or up a hill.