Polytunnel Three Months In

It has only been Three months of having the polytunnel and in that time we have achieved so much more that we ever had growing in and out door. Don't get me wrong I love our double glazed hot house, but even that has been out performed by the polytunnel.

In only three months we have experienced most seasons of weather from snow to blistering hot sun and through it all we have managed to grow. The only concern I have with a tunnel is the wind and it has performed amazingly. I have even sat inside our tunnel on a windy wet day and there is little to none movement in the frame, the outer skin moves a bit but that is my fault as I haven't got it as tight as i would like, but for a first go i am more than happy. Considering the polytunnel is basically a big windbreak it is a credit to Northern tunnels, they have built such a solid kit that is so easy to install.

It may be easier for me to write about the down sides as there are so few and to be honest it's not even an issue it's more of a learning curve on my part. So the only problem I have come across is water management. As you're under cover the water management is completely on you, it doesn't matter if it's cold and wet outside, you can guarantee it will be warm and dry inside the tunnel if you do not keep an eye on it, things can change quickly. So to combat this I have installed an irrigation system, it still needs tweaking but it is a massive help. I will do a blog on the system I have installed in the future as I am also looking at adding a timer to it.

In the photograph above you can see the irrigation system I have put in, I have run piping down the frame and added misters over the beds. I am also running drippers in the actual beds but for now I haven't got them working the way I would like them to. Also the kids really love being in the tunnel when the misters are on, its a nice way to cool down on a hot day.

In the three months with the tunnel we have already harvested Potatoes, Cauliflowers, Cabbages, lettuce, Kale and Courgette. The Cabbage Caulis and lettuce being the things that we have never had any luck growing and if and when we did they would always get eaten by slugs or become a home to caterpillars.

We are growing Potatoes, Tomatoes , Cucumbers, Kale, Lettuce, Beetroot, Melons, Carrots, Sweet Corn (Glass Jem) , Peas , Beans , Tromboncino , Courgette and one Luffa to see how it does. For the first time this year we are able to grow 2 different types of Sweetcorn as the tunnel ensures no cross pollination with the ones we have outside. The difference in size, although planted at the same time, is unbelievable.

I am so happy with how the potatoes have grown in the tunnel, again we have never really had a good crop outside but this year it's been amazing. and I am hoping that we may be able to grow these all year long. The one thing we will change next year is to make sure we don't grow them in Coco Coir. The ants love the stuff and as such, we have had to harvest some of them sooner rather than later. We still had a lovely crop though!

To be honest I am happy with the performance of the tunnel. I truly want another one, as we don't have much luck growing outside, it's down to a mixture of mother nature and also managing our time as parents with our time as allotmenteers. It just seems that we have a lot more control with the tunnel which really works well with our lifestyle.

If you would like to see more of our adventures with our polytunnel don't forget to take a look at our Instagram