The Polytunnel
8 metres wide and 24 metres long this is very useful for extending the season for salad and vegetable crops and for more reliable growing of tomatoes, melons, squashes and peppers. The temperature is always at least 5°C warmer than outside and as much as 15°C on sunny days. In winter especially when there is a risk of frost on clear nights the same clear skies during the day mean the sun warms it up enough to keep the temperature well above freezing. I often say that walking into the polytunnel is like moving at least 500 miles further south!!
As you can see from the pictures I also use it for seed propagation in the spring. We also buy in quite a lot of bedding plants as small plugs which I then grow on in cell trays on the benches and racks. These are kept inside the polytunnel till they are large enough to move to cold frames and eventually, when the danger of frost is over, into the garden.
I also keep a constant supply of pot plants going for the windowsills of the conservatory. Cineraria, primrose and cyclamen in winter and spring. Begonias and geraniums in summer.
8 metres wide and 24 metres long this is very useful for extending the season for salad and vegetable crops and for more reliable growing of tomatoes, melons, squashes and peppers. The temperature is always at least 5°C warmer than outside and as much as 15°C on sunny days. In winter especially when there is a risk of frost on clear nights the same clear skies during the day mean the sun warms it up enough to keep the temperature well above freezing. I often say that walking into the polytunnel is like moving at least 500 miles further south!!
As you can see from the pictures I also use it for seed propagation in the spring. We also buy in quite a lot of bedding plants as small plugs which I then grow on in cell trays on the benches and racks. These are kept inside the polytunnel till they are large enough to move to cold frames and eventually, when the danger of frost is over, into the garden.
I also keep a constant supply of pot plants going for the windowsills of the conservatory. Cineraria, primrose and cyclamen in winter and spring. Begonias and geraniums in summer.
The Polytunnel during March
I start to sow seeds in trays in the propagator at the beginning of March. Once they have germinated I prick them out into cell trays and move them to the middle of the polytunnel, benches or racking to grow on till they are ready to plant outside or the borders of the polytunnel or greenhouse.
April.
Time to build a temporary greenhouse within the polytunnel with polycarbonate sheeting to give extra protection to the squash, pepper and tomato seedlings on cold nights. The large pots contain first early seed potatoes, Arran Pilot and Lady Christl
May
The squashes have now been transplanted to their 7.5L pots. Once there is room they can be sunk into the borders to grow and fruit. The potatoes have grown well and it will soon be warm enough to move them outside. By the end of May we can start to empty the pots one at a time to supply us with delicious new potatoes every day. The least hardy of the bedding plants still wait in the racking until the risk of cold nights has finally passed.
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