I guess I need to apologize for not updating my website recently but I am assembling ideas and pictures for a future facelifting. One person can easily install the rollup sides. I recently installed it on one side of our first greenhouse (15x40') so we don't need to run the exhaust fan all summer long for benchtop plants. The end hardware (in pic see the pipe extending beyond the end of the greenhouse) is usually bolted on first and you should have those pipes conform to the contour of your sidewalls. If your sidewalls are raised and therefore vertical for a few feet then the rollup end pipes should also begin straight, then gradually bend to your arch contour. Once you determine the height that you are rolling up to you can install a treated 2x4" running board the entire length outside the arches with regular pipe clamps screwed from the inside or bolted from the outside. If you bolt you may need to use a stainless steel bolt for the newer type treated lumber and if you don't use carriage bolts you'll need to allign all clamps so that the heads don't interfere with the wirelock base that you will be mounting to the 2x4". You'll also want to buy or cut the 2x4s so they join midway between arches and secure them by screwing a scrap piece of 2x4 from the inside to allign and prevent twisting of the butting ends. I slightly taper the 2x4 at the endwalls and bend the wirelock base so that it blends into the wirelock of your end arches for a snug fit. You can buy single leg pipe clamps to use at the end arches for securing the 2x4. The choice between screws and carriage bolts is up to you but bolts can get pretty expensive. I'm using the green treated screws meant for the newer pressure treated lumber. Regular galvanized screws or bolts will only last a few years in contact with the new PT lumber. Wherever you secure anything to the galvanized arches a techscrew (drillscrew) works great. I use them with a cordless drill to make starter holes in the wirelock base prior to using the wood screws to secure it because they work better than many of my drill bits. Once your wirelock base is installed you are ready to put the plastic on. Lay out the rollup swagged pipe and put a techscrew at each junction so the pipe won't turn inside the other. For installing plastic I think you need a few extra hands, especially if it is breezy (totally avoid windy days). You want the outside temperature 60-80 so you get a snug fit yet don't overstretch it. Some prefer to start by clipping the film to the rollup bar and rolling it up so that the film is held down on both sides by the weight of the pipe. Others allign one side of the film and attach it; then pull the film to the opposite side and pull it snug and straight while attaching it(2 people). One easier way to start the film over the arches is by using strings and a few softballs (round rocks work too). fold the film double and then form it over the ball and tie it at the base of the ball with one end of your pulling stringline. Do this near both ends and every 20 feet in between. Toss the loose ends of the lines to the other side where one ormore people can pull the film to the opposite side while one person walks inside the framework with a long pole, soft rag or cushion tied to tip, and uses it to push the film over areas where it seems to snag. Be sure to allign one end before you begin to secure the film so that it is square and not puckered. the film is best fastened onto the end arches last and hold off trimming until you are sure you don't need to redo anything. This is my wordy version but there are numerous other tips that others may offer. I don't know if you noticed from the picture but this tunnel has the channel lock system at the ground baseboard. I have trouble inserting the 4' aluminum locking bars in cold weather. I think that you can install the wire numerous times without tearing the film if you are careful. I'm looking into covering this structure with a double inflated film as I've done in my small unit. You not only get the better heat retention but I've not replaced the double film layer on my small structure since 1994. I plan to install a sheet of bubblewrap between two film layers when I replace it. Thats a whole new topic but you may want to look into it. Also consider using a single sheet of film to reach between your rollup boards and separate narrow sheets for the rollup sides. You can overlap 2 wigglewires into the same base channel. I was thinking of doing that with a more durable Tyvec (house wrap) material since light at the lower sides isn't that critical. Let me know how your setup works out.

For years and years I have told my friends and acquaintances that NOTHING will eat a banana peel. My expertise relied on my jogging 3 days a week for years and picking up trash on the road. Kids driving to school late toss out banana skins on the road. Three years later the skin is still there! Eventually, fungi and mold destroy it. Now you have proven me WRONG. I'm 77 and not supposed to be wrong. Now I have to tell people that worms and Mr. LIncoln love to eat banana skins! Thanks a lot! PS. I'm using them now in my garden and worm bed! I can be taught, however reluntanly! Mr. Sam

The word is "Hugelkultur". That's what my mom used to practice, on a small scale. When preparing a vegetable bed, she would strip the area of all the top vegetation - weeds, ferns, shrubs, saplings. She then strips the layer of top soil and put this aside. Next she would dig a trench in the ground - orientated north-south lengthwise. How deep this trench is depends on how difficult the soil is to work on. In this trench, she would throw in all the woody twigs, small trunks, and rotten debris. Next, she would cover this with the weeds/ferns/saplings that she collected from clearing the area. She compacts this down with a "hoe". She uses the top soil she had previously set aside to complete the final layer. The final result is a long mound on which she would grow her spring onions, pak choi, chilli, etc. The mound usually ends up about 20 feet long, about 3-4 feet wide, and approximately 2 feet high. It often ends up not looking all that pretty - it would be crooked, and the height and width would vary. But, boy didn't it produce good crops!! (She would grow sun/heat loving crops n the west side of the mound, and the less sun tolerant types on the east side.). She uses fern leaves to mulch the soil. A heavy tropical down pour would easily wash away the top layer of good soil if left unmulched. I did not know, until recently, that this technique of vegetable growing that my mom used to practise more than 40 years ago actually has a more fancy name "Hugelkultur", done on a much larger scale. Now-a-days, in addition to maintaining a compose bin, I collect the larger chunks of organic waste by setting them aside in a pile through the growing season. In the winter, I trench the beds, throw in all the organic materials, together with any kitchen wastes that may be sitting around, and build up my "Hugelkultur" bed - albeit on a small scale.

I grew up in the 60's in LA. It was all about surfing & the war (protest songs & peace songs). The Beach Boys were huge. The Beattles came on the scene in '64 (I think?). 'Inagodadavida' was the huge underground song. In 1963, the Kingsmen recorded Louie Louie & we sang & danced to that song a million times. Protest songs were 'Eve of Destruction' & 'One Tin Soldier' &, of course, the BIG ONE...Arlo Gunthrie's 'Alice's Restaurant' (You can get anything you want...at Alice's Restaurant...) He still performs the song each year on Thanksgiving Day in Stockbridge, MA just like the song...in the Church. Jefferson Starship recorded 'Miracles'. Wolfman Jack, on KRLA, once played 'Miracles' over & over for 24 hours! Our dream cars were "pony cars" like the Pontiac GTO & a Chevy Camaro Z-28 with a 454. We all carried surfboards in our cars...sticking out the window or tied to the roof. We wore boots (Nancy Sinatra 'These Boots Are Made for Walking') & our skirts got shorter & shorter. Our hair got longer & longer. We used to iron our hair on the ironing board to make it completely straight. In the LA area, we cruised Pasadena Boulevard & Whittier Boulevard on Friday nights. Whiskey-A-Go-Go was the place to see & be seen. Eight-track tapes were THE thing to have in your car for tunes. Bonanza was huge (Sunday nights). Jackie Kennedy did her White House Tour & President Kennedy didn't watch it on TV 'because Bonanza was on! In the later part of the decade, we attended way too many funerals of our classmates who'd come home from 'Nam in a flag-covered coffin (25% of the boys in my graduating class). So, we cried together a lot. I graduated in '68...the year MLK was killed. So was Bobby Kennedy. I've always considered myself fortunate to have spent my teen years in the '60's on the beaches of southern CA. Until the "War" ruined our innocence it was an idealic time & place to be a teen. We entered the '70's a much more subdued crowd.