Friday 2 September 2011

And, so it began. Adventures with polytunnels...part 1

 All this growing food malarkay has got me inspired and hungry, so onwards towards the goal of producing more Orkney food for our 'eat local' challenge. With this in mind, I've dug out my own recipe for putting up a polytunnel......
The easiest recipe is to take one BRB (Big red beast) lawn mower, mow the designated polytunnel area rather than strim, its faster and more fun. After this operation attach a handy trailer and lay out your ground posts at suitable distances............
 Coax a teenage boy out of the house, give him a spade and after careful measuring out, dig your first hole...........
 Organise chickens into a supervisory team to check measurements of the local recycled cut to size scaffolding posts, now polytunnel ground posts (2m apart) and ask them to thoroughly inspect your work.....chickens are very good at this type of job, attention to detail is their forte.
 Don't forget the use of a well experienced garden dog is also beneficial, in supervising the tricky BRB driving and generally keeping chickens in order by overviewing their operations.....
 As you can see, chickens left unsupervised are likely to wonder if they can make a gettaway on the BRB up the track, thankfully the garden dog was at hand to make sure they didn't escape.
 Equip teenage boy with gadgets such as quick setting post mix concrete and levellers and allow him to have a go, carefully supervised by chickens and overviewed by a dog of course....
 Ta da moment, in goes the first post, perfectly level, chicken and dog and parent inspected! 1 done, 19 to go - excellent job! Retire for coffee and biscuits, whilst chickens write up the paperwork, supervised by the dog, of course.






10 comments:

  1. Woo-hoo! Good luck with the rest of the polytunnel. With a crack team of chickens, BRB, Teenager-with-gadgets and a steady supply of coffee & biscuits, the polytunnel will be up in no time!

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  2. Fantastic! You've worked so hard on that, and had such fun as well :) great combo

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  3. I'm looking forward to hearing about covering your tunnel with plastic on a warm STILL day in Orkney
    Once you got it up you'll wonder how you ever did without it!

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  4. how exciting! i love hearing about your polytunnel and how it's progressing. your chickens amuse me to no end.

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  5. Great that the chickens and doggy helped. Your son is very helpful too of course. looking forward to hearing about what you get planted up in there .

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  6. Thank you all, I'm beyond giddy, out again tomorrow :) the chickens are on standby the boy ready for action tomorrow, even the pesky dogs having an early night......

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