Winter projects

[rary]

Vince could you possibly get hold of some barbed wire and lay that on the bottom of the trenches, might help deter anything digging down

[Snoop Puss]

Just digging trenches might be good disturbance. Rats don't like change. The other thing you could do would be put up fake birds of prey nearby. That would make them cautious too.

Barbed wire is useful, but buried, it's a bit of a booby trap for anyone coming along later who doesn't know it's there. I speak as someone who came across a vast amount of buried broken glass.

[Vince G]

The barbed wire is a good idea, but I wouldn't want my successor on the plot to hurt themselves when finding it.

I am planning to fill most of the trench with coarse drainage stone as rats will injure themselves if they try and burrow through that. There is a big bay of the stuff at the lottie for road/track repairs so they wont miss a barrow load or three.

[Vince G]

The new polytunnel cover arrived today, and I built the fence that is going in the trench. Few jobs to do at home tomorrow morning, but Thursday I hope to complete the trench all around the tunnel frame with a view to erecting/burying the fence at the weekend.

I do actually have proper lottie jobs to do at the weekend too: plant my first earlies, plant out young broad bean plants, sow peas, parsnips and carrots....

[Nicos]

Fingers crossed you have decent weather then this weekend Vince!
Sounds like it’s coming together!

[Vince G]

Doubt I'll get the cover on this weekend to be honest. I didn't finish the trenches yesterday and am otherwise engaged today and tomorrow. So will hopefully finish the trenching on Suday amongst the other jobs we've got to do up there. Unlikely plants will be ready to go in the tunnel before mid-April, so time is just about still on my side. Better to put the new skin on when it's warmer anyway as the heat makes it slightly more supple and you can get a tighter fit over the hoops.

[Nicos]

Ah…yes, that sounds logical about the warmth! Good call.

[Vince G]

Managed to finish digging the trenches this afternoon and the fencing has been put in place along the long sides of the tunnel. The trenches are 2 feet deep and the mesh is 1600mm high so I have as near as damn it 4 feet above ground. There is a layer of coarse chippings in the bottom of the trenches. As you can see, the mesh is not secured at the door ends of the tunnel, this will be attached to the doorposts after the polythene cover has been attached to them.

Next stage is to fit the doorposts and bolt them in place through the metal hoops, and to fit boards around all borders inside to which I will attach more wire mesh at the same sort of depth as the outside mesh having dug out all the soil, before re-filling with new soil.

Getting there......

[Snoop Puss]

Really impressive, Vince. A lot of hard work you've put in there. The results are looking very good.

[Nicos]

Cor blimey!…I bet you ache today

As Snoop says…looking great. Well done Vince.

[Vince G]

Door posts and lintels added today, forgot to take pics, doh.

Also strung wires the length of each bed, which I've looped round the bolt holding the doorposts to the metal hoop. Tensioned them as best I could, they're fairly taut. I suspend strings off these up which I grow my tomatoes.

I'll pop over and put the hotspot tape on the hoops on Friday, then if it's not too breezy Sunday, we'll put the cover on.

[Vince G]

Got the cover on today. Obviously I made my life difficult with the inclusion of the rat fence, but it's fairly taut.

Very light winds predicted here for a few days so I'll finish it during the next week or so. Basically I have left:to do....:

Soak the soil I filled the trench with to settle it, and top up as necessary;
fix the rat fence to the doorposts
Put the doors on;
Cover the doors with wire mesh;
fit doorsteps (covered in wire mesh);
lay slabs around the perimeter;
top up soil in beds;
top up purple slate paths;
re-fit auto watering system

Then I think I might just about be done!

[Snoop Puss]

Looking good, Vince. Nowhere near as much to do as you've already done, so you're definitely on the winning side.

Just a thought: might it be worth relocating your compost bin? For the first time ever I've got rodents in mine (I think mice, not rats) and from other Grapes' comments, compost bins seem to attract rats.

[Nicos]

Wow… that’s looking incredible Vince! Very neat and thorough work…well done!
I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed this works really well for you .

[Vince G]

Popped down in my lunch hour today. Dealt with the front entrance. Wire mesh was stapled onto the door posts but there's access to a small bit of the cover at the foot of each door post so I'll have to insert a small bit of mesh in there to deny rat access. Door inserted, nice tight fit with only the tiniest of gaps. Happy with that!

Will try and pop down tomorrow lunchtime as well to do the back door, then further hours in my lunchbreak to do more bits.

Then all I really need to do before I can start putting plants in is to replace the soil in the beds. The other bits on my list above are really just snagging / tidying up. Really need to get some plants in as the utility room window sill is starting to look like a bit of a tomato / pepper jungle!