Polytunnels - Are they worth it?

[Thelma Sanders]

If I was about three foot high I could have had several second homes by now - loads of play-houses being got rid of recently.

get 2 then and fix one on top of the other LOL

[veggiemad]

Thanks for your replies so far everyone. Few more questions as follows:

Where would you recommend purchasing from?
Also what is the best size to buy? - just want to grow veg to feed a family of 4 all year round.
Want it big enough to grow a few tomato plants so that I can make my own tomato sauce for storing.
Do potatoes, onions, garlic grow well in there?

Thanks everyone

[redser]

What watering system are you using? Can you please post a link if you have one?

Thanks

Andy

It's a gravity fed DIY job. Basically it's 1000 lt IBC tank, hooked to a water timer and this is attached to soaker hoses that run in a loop around the beds. (Thanks Alison)

[Samurailord]

It's a gravity fed DIY job. Basically it's 1000 lt IBC tank, hooked to a water timer and this is attached to soaker hoses that run in a loop around the beds. (Thanks Alison)

I know the individual words there, but put together like that i am none the wiser

Please assume you are speaking to a child, and you won't go far wrong with me - could you please explain what an IBC tank and soaker hose is?

Thanks

Andy

[Paulottie]

Pros...as above... definitely broadens your season/crop range and I agree that you are far better to get a decent one and a watering and good ventilation system in place. Can be excellent when well sited. Invaluable to bring on plants in spring and crop in the hungry gap.

Cons....Ugly, noisy(in wind), sweaty things....fine at the lottie or tucked away in big garden but not sure id want to look at it from my home. You might say they are too cold in winter, too hot in summer, and rotting damp in Autumn....if you don't find the plastic shredded/in next county after a storm.

[alldigging]

An IBC is a 1000L water container in a steel cage.

[redser]

I know the individual words there, but put together like that i am none the wiser

Please assume you are speaking to a child, and you won't go far wrong with me - could you please explain what an IBC tank and soaker hose is?

Thanks

Andy

Sorry, it's not so long ago that I thought an IBC was some sort of weapon of mass destruction This is an IBC tank ...
IBCs and baffled tanks

You can pick them on secondhand sites, about 50 euro here.
You connect the tap to some hose and then the hose to a timer. This is the timer I got ...
ALDI - Thursday Special Buys 24th May 2012
They might still have them in stock.
The timer is then connected to a soaker hose which you snake around the beds to slowly weep water. I set my timer to run for half an hour at 6am and again at 6pm. It lets around 100 ltrs out a day which give me just under 10 days of watering. This is the one I got ...
LIDL Great Britain - lidl.co.uk

Hope it helps

[VirginVegGrower]

Having only just had one the difference in heat between the poly and greenhouse is unbelievable. The only thing I can liken a polytunnel to is the pool atmosphere at Centerparcs. My greenhouse is all glass too. I thought that was good, but the poly is better. Watering discipline has to be a consideration though as the bigger they are, the more you are watering. We are fitting a new tap, near to both poly and greenhouse, which we will run a soak house and timer from. Can't do that on an allotment. Just a thought.

[redser]

Having only just had one the difference in heat between the poly and greenhouse is unbelievable. The only thing I can liken a polytunnel to is the pool atmosphere at Centerparcs. My greenhouse is all glass too. I thought that was good, but the poly is better. Watering discipline has to be a consideration though as the bigger they are, the more you are watering. We are fitting a new tap, near to both poly and greenhouse, which we will run a soak house and timer from. Can't do that on an allotment. Just a thought.

Just to mention, that's the point of the IBC. Of course it's handy to have a tap at the plot to fill the tank. We have a tap to each block of 4 plots so it's fine and the water is ground water from a spring so no restrictions. But you can harvest rainwater off the sides of your tunnel also.

[VirginVegGrower]

Just to mention, that's the point of the IBC. Of course it's handy to have a tap at the plot to fill the tank. We have a tap to each block of 4 plots so it's fine and the water is ground water from a spring so no restrictions. But you can harvest rainwater off the sides of your tunnel also.

I know but I don't want an ugly water tank at home. That's for an allotment.

[Alison]

I know but I don't want an ugly water tank at home. That's for an allotment.

I've put bamboo screening round mine.

[redser]

I know but I don't want an ugly water tank at home. That's for an allotment.

Sorry, read that wrong

[kathyd]

Thanks for your replies so far everyone. Few more questions as follows:

Where would you recommend purchasing from?
Also what is the best size to buy? - just want to grow veg to feed a family of 4 all year round.
Want it big enough to grow a few tomato plants so that I can make my own tomato sauce for storing.
Do potatoes, onions, garlic grow well in there?

Thanks everyone

I'd recommend you buy the best you can afford, and the biggest one you can fit on your plot. I'm lucky enough to have lots of room in my garden now we've moved, and my tunnel is 14ft wide and 30ft long - and that's for 2 of us! It has double doors at each end, plus a ventilation skirt one one side for when it's hot and a plastic cover to roll down over it in the winter. Top half of the doors are also meshed rather than polythened. It does get unbearably hot and stuffy in there in hot weather, and you need all the ventilation you can get. I've only had it since late last summer so grew a few crops over the winter - broad beans (for spring), perpetual spinach and giant oriental mustard, chard, kale and some perpetual strawberries which have provided fruit for a few weeks now. Also a few small cabbages and cauliflowers. I believe lots of ppl grow a few potatoes in there for xmas dinner? Not tried that one yet! Nor garlic or onions because I'd already planted those outside before the tunnel went up. Currently got sweetcorn in there - the tallest is about 5ft now, and the mangetout have reached the roof and have started climbing along the crop bars.. It's great for moving pots into once you've germinated things in the spring too, and easy to fleece if nights are still cold. We have 2 large water butts, one at each end, and I mostly water with a can from them, but we do have some soaker hoses ready to plug into them if summer ever arrives. I suspect I'll be relying on it more and more if weather patterns continue like they have been this year so far....

[VirginVegGrower]

Sorry, read that wrong

I probably didn't explain myself very well. Great idea on an allotment though, or a corner where you can lose it.

[Uber-Uncool]

I have what i can afford and what i can manage at the moment, which is one of the 3m x 2m ones, similar to the one in the link posted. It is perfectly adequate for my needs and i am incredicbly happy with it. If you site it well, bury the 10inch or so excess cover material under soil and do as i did, fixing at least 4 corkscrew ground peg-things to it, it aint going to move far. Dare say it wouldn't be everyones preference, but for the money, ease of assembly and the potential growing possibilities it aint half bad.