Greenhouse, Episode #6

The time was fast approaching when I could button up the wire frame tunnel, wrapping it with the 6mil greenhouse plastic.

First, concurring with reader EarlM, I secured al the wireframe panel edges with hog rings along the joints.  Yes, zip ties are not what was ultimately needed but sufficed for the initial assembly, but the metal hog rings were necessary for the long haul.  Addressing the issue of stable edge joints was paramount as the ongoing vibrations of wind against the wire/plastic would eventually breach the film membrane.  Not good.  However should that ever occur I can repair it with special tape made for that purpose.

And speaking of tape, I decided to cover the edges and hog rings with Ace Hardware store brand heavyweight packing tape.  It is not very good for packing cardboard boxes but really excelled at this application.  Two layers of the thick transparent tape had me ready for the final step of this episode — draping the whole thing with the plastic film and affixing said film to the edges of the wooden structure.

I’d arranged for my friend Boyd to come over to help, and he was a great help with excellent ideas on how to actually do the task.

I spent the next few hours tacking down the edges to secure the lid.  Not all of it was aesthetically exquisite, but it has been holding fast through some pretty fierce winds already.

It’s beginning to look a lot like greenhouse, just in time for Christmas.