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Hello all. I'm now managing one plot for a youth group / community centre that I work for and have 2 half plots of my own that I work on with my girlfriend and a friend so the time has come for us to buy a poly and greenhouse to give us a fighting chance of starting off enough plants and to extend our growing season.

So plan is to wait and buy a 2nd hand greenhouse and purchase a cheapo poly off ebay.

Now I know that you get what you pay for but we just can't justify anything like the kind of cash that a first tunnel etc would cost (when I say justify I mean we haven't got the cash! )

So has anyone got something like http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-5-m-x-2-m-L ... 272wt_1199 how many years have you had out of it if you do?

We're hoping for 2-3 meanwhile accumalating everything we'll need to build a more sturdy one (scaff poles and the like)

Anyone recommend one of the cheap ones?

Any tips for putting it up?

Thanks ishers

Hi! We havent got a poly tunnel but looking at thepics of the poly tunnel its the same as our greenhouse(same materials used and price)and ours has been fine.I would say though our greenhouse is not in an open aspect,its wedged between two 6 ft fences in a corner,so away from high winds!We brought ours last year (did'nt want to invest in a glass one as we did'nt know how long we'd be here for)but it served us well over last spring/summer and we dismantled it and have stored it over the winter,figuring as its plastic,it would not fair too well with hard frosts or snow.

Shelter is important, Snow is a killer, make sure it's flat, keep the plastic unwrapped in the warm for a day or two so it's creases drop out, use the ropes and things to tie it down, use cheap cilicone to seal exposed edges, don't try and stand on the frame.

If you've not got the money, you've not got a choice, give it a go, it will last a season, if that sufficient payback you are onto a winner.

I wonder sometimes though if the old fashioned idea of pallet wood and window frames ripped out of houses fashioned as "cold frames" might be just as productive, and certainly "greener"

Good point,there's a replacement window firm near us and there's always a big stash of the windows they've replaced outside their unit.A quick look through your local yellow pages might find one near you.You can make a complete GH out of these frames,and if you can't get them for free they should be for buttons.

That sounds like a plan and I have seen them made like that from afar on an allotment that I cycle past. How do you attach the windows to a frame though... My diy skills are not brill.