After seeing the price of Polytunnel kits adverised, and the "suspect" quality , I made my own from second hand scaffolding pipe, blue alcathene water pipe, and a really good quality plastic sheeting from a good supplier.. plus of course some timber. It isn't pretty to look at but it was made to withstand the poor weather we get up here in the valleys.. Cost me approx a third of what they were asking for a "posh" one. It is in it's 9th year.
Approx 20ft X 10 ft... A fellow gardener copied the way we made ours, but his was approx 35 ft x 15 ft. The biggest problem we had was driving the scaffolding pipes deep enough into the ground without damaging the tops of them.
I’ve taken to growing courgettes in really big pots. Saves on space as I can dot theM about and as growth is slightly restricted, you don’t get that manic glut as they get going.I spent most of today in the veggie plot and film quotes were a recurring theme. I started with "I feel the need, the need to weed" and ended at "Looks like we're going to need a bigger plot"
I've planted out nine twenty-cell module trays worth of plants today (some cells contained more than one plant, so it's way more than 180 plants). The main plot totals perhaps a smidge over 120m of beds that are all 1.2m wide. But for about eight metres worth, they're all now full. I need most of the remaining space for maincrop carrots, courgettes and climbing beans. After that it's possibly going to be a bit of a scrabble to fit other stuff in until the first early potatoes get lifted and the peas and broad beans are done. At least there's space to work in the greenhouse now.
Possibly I need to get a bit smarter about interplanting some crops so smaller or short-term ones such as radish and spring onions go between more widely-spaced slower-growing plants, but when I've tried that in the past it's been tricky to get right. Or perhaps I could just make another bed
James
Make it often
Planted 24 sweetcorn only one sprouted.
I can look out of my front window at the sun and by the time I get the boots on out the back it's clouded over and raining..................I believe it was once said that the Continent has a climate whilst Britain just has weather. I'm wondering if that wasn't a typo at the end though, as today I've spent the entire time guessing whether it will be the same in ten minutes time
I gave up on my plan to do inspections today when it became quite obvious that if it was sunny and I decided to get my bee suit on then it would be raining by the time I was ready to go. Instead I have shovelled a load of compost into the trailer (started in sunshine, finished in rain), cleared a no-dig bed around an apple tree, shovelled on some of the compost and planted it with various edible flowers (ditto). So far I've put in nasturtiums, borage and edible lupins. I might add calendula, cornflowers and white-seeded poppies (for bread-making) later.
The postman arrived with some replacement screws for the garden shredder (I'd had to drill one out when removing the blades to sharpen them, and rounded off some of the rusted cross-head self-tappers holding the case together, so I reassembled that (also started in sunshine, finished in rain, but fortunately this time I could watch the rain through the workshop door rather than being out in it). Once done I dragged it up to the compost heaps and hid from the rain in an empty bay, shredding the stalks of the very last of the winter brassicas.
I'm really sick of the mud now. It's getting to be quite depressing.
James
Not too bad on the levels. The Tone has overflowed on the spills into the floor plains due to the rain in Taunton which is unheard of this time of the year. You get the rain and we deal with itI believe it was once said that the Continent has a climate whilst Britain just has weather. I'm wondering if that wasn't a typo at the end though, as today I've spent the entire time guessing whether it will be the same in ten minutes time
I gave up on my plan to do inspections today when it became quite obvious that if it was sunny and I decided to get my bee suit on then it would be raining by the time I was ready to go. Instead I have shovelled a load of compost into the trailer (started in sunshine, finished in rain), cleared a no-dig bed around an apple tree, shovelled on some of the compost and planted it with various edible flowers (ditto). So far I've put in nasturtiums, borage and edible lupins. I might add calendula, cornflowers and white-seeded poppies (for bread-making) later.
The postman arrived with some replacement screws for the garden shredder (I'd had to drill one out when removing the blades to sharpen them, and rounded off some of the rusted cross-head self-tappers holding the case together, so I reassembled that (also started in sunshine, finished in rain, but fortunately this time I could watch the rain through the workshop door rather than being out in it). Once done I dragged it up to the compost heaps and hid from the rain in an empty bay, shredding the stalks of the very last of the winter brassicas.
I'm really sick of the mud now. It's getting to be quite depressing.
James
What variety are you growing?First new potatoes today, grown in pots and take as many as needed and leave the rest growing
Tescos own label for us ... Mind you, I dont have a polytunnel so I can't start my potatoes that early - even chitting in thre greenhouse they didn't get going to the point where they worth planting out until a few weeks ago. My Sagitta are about 18" above the tops of the potato bags now and the Charlottes have been earthed up for the last time but I'm weeks away from any sort of a crop from them. Gave in on any hopes of germinating sweetcorn in time for a crop and bought 18 plants from my local nursery and got them planted out.
