Polytunnel Planning

[Fulmar]

Dear Folks

We're buying an 8 x 10 polytunnel soon with the intention of growing mostly tomatoes with a few chillis and bell peppers. I'm new to this and am looking for advice on the best layout. I did think of laying a central path with 6" raised beds on either side. If I do 2 beds each side, I could fill 3 with tomatoes and the other with the peppers and rotate on a 4 year cycle to prevent build up of pests. Does this seem sensible? Also how many plants per bed should i be putting in?

Thanks in advance,
Fulmar

[SarzWix]

My greenhouse is 12ft long and I can get 8 tomato plants down each side, with a gap in the middle so they're 4 + 4. They seemed to be happy with that spacing.
With your rotation, you should be careful because peppers can be prone to the same pests as tomatoes. I think it's redommended to remove and replace the soil periodically, but I've never done it, only read about it

[Fulmar]

Dear SarzWix
Thanks for the advice re the pests. Makes me wonder whether growing in pots is a better option?
I was hoping to grow a bit more densely. I guess I'll just have to experiment.
Fulmar

[SarzWix]

Well, at 8ft wide, you've a bit more width than me, so you might be able to plant say 4 behind and 3 in front, staggered so that they have more room/air/light - as long as they were cordon types and not bushy ones.
I know some people grow in their border for a few seasons and then cover it up, grow in pots for a year or 2 to give the soil a rest, then go back to planting in the border again. You need to add muck/compost every year too to keep up the soil fertility.

[TobyB]

If you are putting your new tunnel up, I thought you may like this guide I found on polytunnel building. I did not buy my tunnel from this site, but found the guide while shopping around. Go to this polytunnel page Polytunnels from Bau Outdoors & about half-way down the page, there is a link which takes you to the company's polytunnel guides. They helped us out for sure.

We made a central path out of decking off-cuts & went for a 3 + 2 staggered approach down one side for our tomato plants. We have been told to simply add manure each year rather than rotate in any way. Should we be changing the situation of the plants from year to year?

Toby

[OverWyreGrower]

We're (hopefully) getting our polytunnel in the next couple of weeks...

We don't plan to plant directly into the ground this year, but instead will be using growbags and temporary raised bed structures...

I want to use the tunnel for a year before I settle on a permanent layout for it, and hopefully the year of being covered will help our weed-infested ground to calm down a bit.

[Fulmar]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Toby, I like the idea of staggering the plants - should give them a bit more room. The guides are good too - thanks

OverWyreGrower, a cracking suggestion as we're still debating the best position for the tunnel in our limited space.

Cheers, Fulmar