Allotments 4 All
General => Top Tips => Topic started by: shirlton on January 20, 2009, 16:44:20
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Tony made these arches up out of wilkies garden arches and enviromesh. The smaller one is made using the top halves of the arch and the larger one using the straight bottoms. Tony bent them himself. They are joined together with long canes.My onions and garlic are residing under them to stop the dreaded leek moth.[
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sorry the attachment didn't come through :(.
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Lets try again
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Don't know what happened there. Maybe cos I tried to make them a bit clearer on another program. Never happened before though
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Don't know what happened there. Maybe cos I tried to make them a bit clearer on another program. Never happened before though
It looks like you save the first ones as .png not jpeg or simular
They look smart, especially the curved one, were did you get the mesh from and did you shop about?
Neil
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looking good, shirley, you must have lots of onions and leeks ;D
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Manic the garlic are in the small one and the onions are in the large one.
Nilly we got the enviromesh from Suttons. they are just the right size for the arches. I just make a casement along each length to push canes through and peg it down. I also put heavy bars down the sides to stop the foxes
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Thanks for that post, shirlton- it reminded me that I bought a couple of arches in Argos sale last year with a similar plan in mind. I'd completely forgotten about them- just need some mesh now!
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Thanks for the pictures Shirlton. I'll try and have a go - they would be excellent for my carrot bed this year so I can hopefully avoid carrot fly again!
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looks really good thanks for the tip. any possibility of a picture taken before the mesh was added?
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He has to make some more for my carrpots and leeks soI will take a pic before we put the mesh on
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thanks i look foward to see them :).
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Me too Shirlton, look really good but affordable,
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Shirlton can I be cheeky & ask you to have a look on the Argos site. They have 2 rose arches for the price of one & I wondered if they were the same as the Wilkies ones. It looks such a brilliant idea.
Regards,
Janet.
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Hi Janet I have just looked at Argos and they do look exactly the same arches. The big difference is Wilkies are only £4-99. Thats a 1/4 of the price of Argos
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Thanks Shirlton. Any idea when Wilkies get theirs in stock. Are you going to patent it. ;)
Janet.
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They have them in now
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Thanks Shirlton. I will look out for them when I next go.
Janet.
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Bumping to the top-Shirlton wandered if construction of new ones has commenced very eager to have a good look.
My raised beds are 22' x 4' the arches are 4'7" wide and wandered whether you think they could be bent to fit 4' also at 22' long how many arches would I need? :-\ would I get away with buying 3 which would give me 6 hoops, hope you don't mind me asking
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If they are the same as the ones I got from WilkinsonPlus online a couple of years ago, the way they're constructed gives you three hoops from three arches since each arch is a double hoop held together by cross pieces. You could create single hoop arches by glueing the sections together or getting some nuts to fasten off the bolts that would normally screw through the hooped sections into the cross pieces but I'm not sure how strong the result would be.
I've used mine for netting brassica. I built the arches to about 5ft high and had no trouble bending the bottoms inside my 4ft wide beds.
Now what do I do with the left over straight bits? :)
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Wow shirlton they look great. :D
I brought 3 of these arches from wilko's about 3 years ago,was going to make them up has proper arches but they kept falling apart so i bagged them up and in the shed they have since stayed.
I will now drag them back out and have ago just like your picci.
Just something to add,when i was in Nottingham the other week i went to IKEA and brought some netting (curtains )from them,don't have them here has they are in the shed at the allotment but they was approx 10ftx8 and packed in a pair and cost approx £2.50 for the pair,these are very much like the enviromesh,very tight weave and very light in weight,and washable too.....will be getting more when i next visit..
These would make excellent covers for the arches. :)
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I've been on the look out for some of these arches for a while. I can't see them on Wilkinson Plus website though.
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many thanks Barnowl
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I bought some of those arches from wilko a few years ago, the plan was to use them as fruit cages. They are still in their boxes in the garage because we had so much metal stolen off the plots I assumed I would just lose them as well. But thats another way they could be used if anyones interested in the idea....just a taller version of Shirlton's idea.
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Wilkinsons haven't put their summer gardening stuff online yet. They do normally. Even seeds go on there
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Wilkinsons haven't put their summer gardening stuff online yet. They do normally. Even seeds go on there
Thanks Shirl. I'll keep an eye out for them.
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Hi Shirl, Has Tony started the other ones you need for leeks. We are all waiting with bated breath.
Janet
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I have the pics of the enviromesh frame. will have to put them up one at a time.
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s121/shirlton/enviromeshcages001.jpg)
This is the end of the frame fastened to canes with ties
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(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s121/shirlton/enviromeshcages004.jpg)
The completed frame has used two tops of the arches joined with 8ft canes. If you want them longer you will have to use 3 arch tops.
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(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s121/shirlton/enviromeshcages003.jpg)
You will have to sew a channel down the long side of the mesh to slide a cane through. Again if you want the cage longer you will have to use 2 canes so make the channel wide enough to take the 2 canes
Hoe you can understand it all
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Thought you'd lost the plot when I saw three posts together Shirl.... ;D
Good clear pics thanks... :)
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You can also use the bottom s of the arches but you will have to bend some of the straight tubes to make the smooth domed top so as not to rip the mesh
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Thought you'd lost the plot when I saw three posts together Shirl.... ;D
Good clear pics thanks... :)
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Who me lol ;D ;D ;D as if
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Shirl do you think Tone will pop over and knock us a few up. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Brilliant Shirlton :D
Got to go buy another arch now,i have 3 already so another one needed to make 2 like yours......i think you should have a blue peter badge for that ;)
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thanks for posting Shirl the ties make them so easy to put together, will definitely use the idea, tah again for sharing.
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Brilliant Shirlton :D
Got to go buy another arch now,i have 3 already so another one needed to make 2 like yours......i think you should have a blue peter badge for that ;)
Where are you buying your arches?
And where is the best place to buy Enviromesh Shirley?
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Hi Lauren.s
I got mine from wilkinsons last year,they was in the sale for around £2.00 each,i should imagine that they are still around the £4. mark :)
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Little Bee the arches are from the wilkies sale. They are 4.99 now. the enviromesh I get from Suttons seeds. Its abot £12 but if you buy 2 it's cheaper.I get mine from them cos its just the right size for me
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Now what do I do with the left over straight bits? :)
Doh - bend them like Tony has done in the picture at the beginning. ::)
By the way I think if you're buying actual Enviromesh this site works out a bit cheaper than Suttons. http://www.gardening-naturally.com/acatalog/Enviromesh.html (http://www.gardening-naturally.com/acatalog/Enviromesh.html)
Still fairly pricey stuff but mine has been over hoops outside for three years now and still is fine.
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By the way I think if you're buying actual Enviromesh this site works out a bit cheaper than Suttons. http://www.gardening-naturally.com/acatalog/Enviromesh.html
Barowl I did take a look at the above link but found that it doesn't work out much different than Suttons for the size I want which is.............4.5x2.1 or 15ftx7ft.
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It never fails to amaze me how creative some folk are, thanks for sharing your inventiveness. Can I jump on here and ask if anyone's bought any of the Lidl Arches (no parking fees ;)), theirs are £4ish. Also thanks for the tip about the plastic cloche tunnels for Wilkies, went an bought 2 and then went back an bought 2 more. Then thought, hang on that blue water pipe's ony £20. DOH. But settled myself with thought that if you saw it as a barg then it's good enough for me and would hav had to buy the plassi and then do some clever stuff. Hope in time, I'll be inspired to you and others' ability to re-invent stuff instead of getting excited about bargains, sure would help the coffers. Thanks again.
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Shirlton sorry for taking so long to acknowledge - it's just 'brill', I didn't think to use canes to extend, they say keep it simple don't they, you obviously have that practical streak that I am still looking for. I was talking to a Lotti neighbour yesterday and the best we could come up with was to turn them the other way and use them down the centre-not ideal!
I will definitely copy-unabashed for pinching your idea :) :) Thank you for sharing
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I've been looking at this thread again as i finally took the arches I got from Argos out of their boxes yesterday. Don't think they'd ever be strong enough to stand up for long on my plot, but they'll make great crop protection , so thanks again for the idea, Shirlton.
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We have just put one at the entrance to our plot. Ower Tone just drives a couple of wooden posts into the ground and fastens the arch onto them with electric ties. We have also done this with the ones in the garden.
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Look out for these arches in Wilko's at the end of the season. For the last two years I have got then discounted by 75%.
Made up to about half-height, a row of them hold the nets over all my currant bushes and gooseberries, and one straddles a cordon cherry tree with a net on.
The unused straight sections are made up into long straight rods.
Wonderfully versatile things!
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Well... this is brilliant! I'm full of ideas now and have bits of arch and mesh spread all over the living room. The true spirit of the allotmenteer! ;D ;D ;D
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;D
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I'm glad I think like other people! Before I joined up here I saw £4.99 rose arches in QD and thought I could use them for easy crop protection and/or climbing bean support so I bought 4 of them. So far I have used the top curved half of one to support netting over mangetout peas and I have the bottom half for a rectangular cloche/netting support for a future french bean planting. I intend to use the other three for a runner bean arch with canes between the arches and all connected with sturdy nylon cord.
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How "springy" are these, as my beds are only one meter wide.
What an inventive lot you are. Brilliant thread. Thanks all :)