Polytunnel Purchase

**marathon** · 21-04-2009, 01:47 PM

I would say go for the widest you can.
I have a 20ft by 14ft and it allows me 2 x 4ft by 20ft and 1 x 4ft by 18ft with two paths each of 1ft. Plus at one end I plant the width of the poly tunnel so the paths stop 3ft from one end of the tunnel. Hope that makes sence.

I did buy the leg supports from firstunnels when I ordered the polytunnel. I leave the legs where they are and just rest battoning over them. I then just remove the battoning to allow any plants to higher. I don't alway remove all the battoning might reducing it to a depth of 15inches rather than 40inches when in full use the staging area is 10ft by 3.5ft. The treated battoning was from B&Q and cost about �5.50 for the lot.

It's a must to have door ar each end I have a wide door at the front and double door at the other end. The wide door end isn't used for access as i plant the complete width of the tunnel at that end and only have the door for the air ventilation.

**OverWyreGrower** · 21-04-2009, 02:29 PM

We are picking our tunnel up from First Tunnels on Friday! Yay!

We've gone for a 10ft x 30ft, as that's the largest we could afford.
We've also got crop bars, ground cover, the basic irrigation system and a double door at the front.

We're not planning on planting straight into the ground, as the soil where we are is quite poor. We're going to use a combination of pots and growbags for this year, and see how it goes. We may put raised beds with bought-in topsoil in next year.

I would always say - buy the largest you can afford. We went for the double door at the front so I could get my wheely trolley into the tunnel, and the back door will be for ventilation only.

Think about watering. Since our tunnel will be 600 yards away from the nearest tap, but only a short walk away from the extra long hose we have to top up the duck pond, we've gone for an irrigation system.

I didn't bother with staging, as I have 3 wallpaper/paste tables that I currently use for potting up/seedlings, so will just move those into the tunnel when we build it.

First Tunnels currently have a huge workload, with orders at this time of year taking much longer to process and deliver etc. I hadn't factored this in, and as a result, our tunnel has taken 2 weeks longer to get to us than I had originally planned.

**Duronal** · 22-04-2009, 10:08 AM

I managed sited a 14' by 20' tunnel on my allotment this year, It's been great so far. As i'm growing for 2 people then this is ample room for the tender crops (toms-cukes-peppers-chillis) and there's still room for my sweetcorn, strawberry's, carrots, and onions.

I have a door at one end and a non opening door at the other, I've not had any problems with ventalation this far but it's still early days. The opening in the fixed door is 3'8" by 3'5" wide with a lite mesh covering it seems to do the job.

Don't be afraid of trenching your tunnel either, it does take an hour to dig the trench prior to construction but it's a doddle to back fill and very secure. - if you don't fancy digging it all in one go then you can take your time over a weekend.

As for benching i wouldn't worry about it too much, If you don't have it staright away at least you'll have the option of full length soil beds for your first couple of seasons, you could use an end to site your staging instead. Crops bars will be very useful although i'm not conviced about the irrigation systems, maybe i will be at the end of the summer though

My only other thought would be to ensure that you get a tunnel with the strightest sides possible. My tunnel is semi-circular in shape and thus i have to ensure that my tallest crops are in the middle with the shorter crops at the sides. Whilst this isn't a big problem this year i'm a little concerned about next year's crop rotation.

One last thing to note is that you can collect rainwater from your tunnel, It's not always easy to work out how but there are gutters available on the market or you can make your own by recycling the poly offcuts. something like this.....http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ing_30619.html

Good luck with choosing your tunnel, your growing world will never be the same again!

D

**marathon** · 22-04-2009, 11:45 AM

I have the stick on gutering which is working well so far. Only cost �14 and you just stick it on - simple as that.

Watering can be a bit of a pain but i have set up a water system running off the waterbutts. One piece of guttering on each side of the PT runs into waterbutts (2 butts on each side)with pipe running of the waterbutts which run down the side of the polytunnels on the inside of the cover. I then have smaller tubes runner from the main pipe. So my two outside beds are watered very easily. The bed in the middle needs watering by hand.

**Duronal** · 22-04-2009, 09:03 PM

i'd love to see a photo of that marathon, please could you send me one?

**sewer rat** · 22-04-2009, 10:13 PM

Originally posted by Alison View Post

Have just had a somewhat unexpected bonus from work which means that I can afford to invest in a polytunnel. I won't be getting it until the autumn as the area where I want to put it has potatoes planted there at the moment but am doing a bit of investigation work first.

1 - I could sensibly site a 10' wide tunnel, probably 20' long, is this a reasonable size - I seem to remember people talking about massive ones last time I asked about these!
2 - Some seem to have doors at both ends, some a door and a vent, any comments?
3 - Is it worth getting bespoke benching for one side or will it be in the way of what I want to grow in the ground and actually be an expensive mistake?

Probably more questions to come but I've got a few months to decide

1. Get as big as you can - they are like sheds and greenhouses - they will fill up quicker than you can blink.

2. That size you would get away with a door at one end and a louvre / vent at the other.

3. I wouldn't bother with bespoke benching - I had some for the first two years in my tunnel but removed it this year. Just use an old table in the corner for potting.

Don't rush in to deciding which tunnel to buy and who from. There are pro's and cons to each type. Decide on whether you are going to trench or fit base rails. Look at how easy it will be to tighten the cover a coule of years down the line - I have base rails and it's a real pain in the ass, my mate has a tunnel by a different manufacturer and he can raise the hoops from inside his tunnel to retension the cover.
As for irrigation - do you really need overhead irrigation - okay for salad crops and seedlings but if you are going to grow cukes, chiilies or toms, it will be redundant for a long time.
Definitely get crop bars - so useful for routing hoses, suspending hanging baskets (mine are used for 64 habaskets of early strawberries), and even suspending wooden boards from, on which you can place seed trays after sowing so that your growing floorspace is left free.
Hope that's given you something to work on when making your decision.

**digthatchick** · 23-04-2009, 01:03 AM