Polytunnel lessons learned

Have you forgotten one Alan?

A 7 metre polytunnel is not big enough.

The other lesson I've learned is that repetition and reputation are two different things. I'd already posted almost identical comments about lessons learned in another thread on here

Willl you be posting any pictures of your build shokkyy?

The paths along the outer long edges of the tunnel need to be quite wide as otherwise the curvature of the sides means that you can only crouch in them. The minimum usable width in my tunnel is about 1 metre. I started out with them just about half a metre wide and they were unusable.

Oh, see what you mean. Then your tunnel must be a lot bigger than mine. Mine's only 6m x 3m, so I was thinking of having a central path with a bed on each side of about 1.2m x 5m, give or take. I'm not a big person so I reckon I can squirm down a 0.6m central path ok, width of a paving slab.

I'm leaving the 1m gap at one end because I've got a good 6 foot staging bench which I'm going to put there (door only at one end). It's two levels high, so should give me room for both working and holding plants in trays/pots. I'm thinking of putting the climbing stuff like toms and cukes along the back of the beds, trained up strings to the roof poles, which will give me room for smaller stuff in front. I've ordered a copy of How to Grow Food in your Polytunnel, and I'm sure that will give me some ideas too.

Willl you be posting any pictures of your build shokkyy?

Cheapie tunnel's already up, with a few tom and chilli plants in pots bunged in there to get them out of the weather. I've now got to do the raised beds, and right now I'm trying to find a good source for some scaffold boards in the area. I'll have to buy in some decent topsoil because the soil underneath is heavily compacted grass with quite a lot of stones in it, because an old boiler house used to stand on the spot. Given how bad it is, not quite sure how deep to make the beds. When I get it done, I'll post some piccies.

Anyone know a good source of cheapie scaffold boards in the Swindon area?