The polytunnel has been a constant source of shame for me over the winter. Full of dead plants and a thick green slime on the plastic.
I was desperate to get it back into tip top form this year, it's such an amazing space for growing I really need to be making the most of it.
Do you grow under cover much?
What are your favourite crops to grow under plastic or glass?
Pure Carpentry horses here (and a peening pony). I hate seeing them outside in the rain but don't have enough space in my already packed out workshop to store them. Instead I thought I'd overwinter them in the tunnel.
In the picture I have my Spoon mule, a peening pony (for my scythe blades) and a shave horse (used in a number of videos and articles), I also put my old sawhorse in there as well.
I plan to get the other half of the tunnel cleared out in the next week or so. Then I have some oak beams I want to dry off before I build a little lean-to over the boiler. They've been sat out for so long if I don't do something with them soon I never will. I figure the polytunnel will be a nice place to work over winter for a few jobs anyway.
Anyone else use their polytunnel/hoop house for other purposes?
The biggest one being just how much I try to squeeze in there!
The polytunnel is clear of ducks! This makes me so happy!
I swear there is no chance they are going in there this winter should their be another lockdown. Their new pen (in another post) will be their permeant home.
This year I'm trying to go for lower effort in the veg garden. I want a year to get on top of the weeds, they're really taking hold in some beds and having imported bindweed (unwittingly) I need to do something to stop their advance. So I've sheeted over a few outside beds and will sow some green manure on others.
I've gone for just a few crops in there, all with similar spacings. Tomatoes down both sides, 51 plants in total, then some melons, about 16 cucumber/gherkin plants and about 10 ground cherry plants. So not the sheer number of different plants this year, but with the automatic watering, easy weed control and a good trellis system that I've wired up I'm hoping the hardest bit will be deciding what to do with all the tomatoes!
There's about 20 types in there as well as some grafted ones I bought in. I'm really pleased with the plants I grew from seed and love their root system. I have also got 5 "storage" type tomatoes that are supposed to harvest on the vine and eat as they ripen up to Christmas.
I think the two greenhouses will have a year without tomatoes because of the sheer number of them in the polytunnel, I plan to fill this with cucamelons, and maybe try to grow some strawberries in there - or at least get some plants strong enough to grow well next year (I never do well with strawberries).
Anyone else go their undercover growing sorted in this terrible spring we're having?
The polytunnel has been a place of absolute abundance for us this summer - but it's not been a place I'd be keen to show people round! It is full to bursting and a complete jungle, next year I'm already planning to do things a little differently in there!
I did a short video showing you round and also showing you where I went wrong.
Let me know what you think and please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you don't already!
For some reason you need to view this in full screen rather than on the mobile app to watch the video.
