Before the wind started this afternoon, it was a beautiful day. It was in the 50’s, the sky was blue and the birds were hopping around the feeder and following me in the garden.
People often ask us how we keep the plastic on our greenhouses. The wind here can be fierce. I think the record for Rye was 85 mph and that’s hurricane force. We’ve had over 25 years of experience with greenhouse plastic, and we’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. So, for those of you considering building your own greenhouse, here are a couple of tips. Always use UV stabilized plastic. Construction grade plastic won’t last a season in our strong sunlight. Pull the poly over the ends and secure with wood strips. Clips and staples aren’t enough in our climate.
In the summer we put shade cloth on a lot of the houses and in the winter we take the shade cloth off and cover them with poly. We have one more house to cover, but I think we’ll wait until the wind dies down.
Here’s a link to a short video of the wind today, tossing the tree branches and pushing the poly. Watch it in full screen mode with the sound on–it’s more dramatic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B06UBWXtYPM
