January 22nd 2020

The Poly tunnel is up!

After having to wait a few days for storm Brendan to whistle on by I managed to get the Polly tunnel up on the plot, Its a Von Haus Tunnel,
and I think it probably sits quite comfortably in
the "Blow away" category, Knowing this I put quite a lot of effort into ensuring it was well anchored to the ground, I built a wooden ground frame and drove long steaks at angles into the ground to attach the frame to then once the metal frame was assembled I used lots of thick cable ties to secure it to the wooden frame, once the cover was on I stapled it all around the bottom to the wooden frame and so far its survived a "Blow the wheelie bins over" strength wind so I'm pleased that its pretty well secured.
The tunnel itself didn't have the ability to lock so I attached some wood to the outside (Also this means I wont destroy it with my strimmer) and that allowed me to place a lock on the door.

My plan is that this year I'll be growing my big tomatoes, Aubergine & Peppers in there along with some pots with very early stuff in and the odd early lettuce.

I have bought 10 25l pots so I can get some potatoes going in the tunnel now, filling 2 pots every two weeks to ensure I'm never short of a spud!

Ive also started to put the net over my one of my Brassica beds, this one is the biggest on my little plot and its one I can walk in, I'm trying to keep it neat as possible as it is going to be a permanent structure for me to move around the plot year after year.

This bed also got a Manure mulch after I found a stables that would let me fill up with as much as I wanted (I'm sure I'll be making a few trips this year!)

so far this month I've sewn Peas, Cauliflower, Leeks, Aubergine, Sprouts, Calabrese and two varieties of lettuce (Butterhead and cos), the plan is to get them all up to the Poly tunnel once they have started up, The peas and Cauliflower went out into the mini garden greenhouse today and will stay out whenever the temperature is above 6 degrees for the first week then I'll leave them down to 4 degrees the week after so they get enough light and used to a bit of a chill.

That's the plan anyway, and plans along with the weather quite often change...


Best wishes
David