A Stitch in Time Saves Nine
When it comes to polytunnel this phrase becomes gospel. The key to success in your polytunnel career is regularly maintaining your Polytunnel. This will give you both the best conditions for growing and the longest life out of your polythene. The first thing you always should keep on top of is patch work. This involves inspecting your polytunnel for any holes or tears especially if there is windy weather or a storm in the forecast. Any small holes will get bigger and any big holes could mean the end for your polythene cover. The simple way around this is to used polytunnel repair tape. Repair tape can be stuck onto cleaned polythene to repair holes and tears.
Your Polythene
Aside from damages another thing to keep an eye on is how tight your plastic is. Over time it may be possible for it to come loose although if it is tight the day it went on it shouldn’t be a problem. However, if this is a something your noticing you can easily unscrew a baton at a time around the door frame and tighten it more. If you are buying a new tunnel or recovering it is important that the method of covering can be easily adjusted down the line. Once this is all tight you can refit your doors an ensure they are shut in the event of a storm.
Growing Conditions
Its very important to keep your polytunnel in good condition but the main reason for a polytunnel is to grow fresh food. Because of this it is only fitting that you do everything possible to maximise your growing condition. After a while the polythene on your tunnel may become green in areas depending on the surroundings. It’s a good idea to clean this to allow the most sunlight into your tunnel. Other than the sunlight, the other main component to your polytunnel is your soil. After a few years, your soil may become less fertile as each crop goes by. We would advise digging in some well-rotted farm manure or even growing some green manure such as peas. Rotating these in will insure that your ground stays fertile and help to maximise the yield of your crops.
An added bonus as regards soil would be to add some ground limestone to bring up the PH level. You can buy a PH tester in a good garden shop or easily online.
Now you should be well equipped to maintain and make sure you get the absolute best out of your polytunnel.
Happy planting.
Im looking to get my First Polly Tunnel. Im wondering if ye do a call out before purchase to measure the correct location for tunnel. I have two potential locations in my garden. The First is close to the road and has good ground but is close to the oil tank( not sure if this makes a difference). the second is at the back of the garden, the ground can be very wet in winter and is very close to the septic tank. Im just not sure as to where to put it as it can be fairly windy.
Regards Cris Duggan
great blog!