[shokkyy]

I'm trying to work out a plan for my new polytunnel next year, with the help of the Grow Food in your Polytunnel book. I'll have 4 raised beds, each 8' X 4'. I'm thinking of using one bed for cordon tomatoes, sweet peppers and aubergines, with some early potatoes which should be out in time for the tender stuff to go in. The second bed would be cucumbers, one courgette, lettuce, Swiss chard, with some early mangetout and dwarf French beans. The third bed would be beetroot, carrot, celeriac, parsnip, leek. And the fourth bed would be calabrese, cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, kale, swede, kohl rabi. Obviously in the last bed there would only be space for a couple each of the bigger plants, but for this year I'd like to try as many things as possible to see what works and what doesn't in the tunnel. I'm deliberately not including sweetcorn because we never really eat that.

Does this sound like a sensible plan? Anything there that really isn't going to work, or anything I should be including but haven't? I'm a completely newbie to tunnel growing, so any suggestions or hints would be appreciated. I was a bit puzzled that in the book they're putting chard in with cucumber/lettuce but I thought it was a brassica.

[mumofstig]

chard is actually the same family as beetroot..it's confusiing innit

[shokkyy]

chard is actually the same family as beetroot..it's confusiing innit

Yes, it is. And in the book they don't put chard in the same rotation group as beetroot

[gobs]

I'm trying to work out a plan for my new polytunnel next year, with the help of the Grow Food in your Polytunnel book. I'll have 4 raised beds, each 8' X 4'. I'm thinking of using one bed for cordon tomatoes, sweet peppers and aubergines, with some early potatoes which should be out in time for the tender stuff to go in. The second bed would be cucumbers, one courgette, lettuce, Swiss chard, with some early mangetout and dwarf French beans. The third bed would be beetroot, carrot, celeriac, parsnip, leek. And the fourth bed would be calabrese, cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, kale, swede, kohl rabi. Obviously in the last bed there would only be space for a couple each of the bigger plants, but for this year I'd like to try as many things as possible to see what works and what doesn't in the tunnel. I'm deliberately not including sweetcorn because we never really eat that.

Does this sound like a sensible plan? Anything there that really isn't going to work, or anything I should be including but haven't? I'm a completely newbie to tunnel growing, so any suggestions or hints would be appreciated. I was a bit puzzled that in the book they're putting chard in with cucumber/lettuce but I thought it was a brassica.

No. At least half of these plants do not need or outright will suffer from gh/polytunnel syndrome, most of the year.

And I'm talking up North, you are in Swindon, man. Use it more economically for crops, that need it. There are people on here with huge polytunnels, further south than me, like Grannie and Auntie, they shall be around in the new year later. But I would doubt they would use it for such likes.

Tender, heat loving crops: toms, peppers, aubergine, melons, oca maybe, sweet pots., okra, if you like it, cukes, exotic herbs, early spuds, winter salads, tender pulses(alternate these with your heavy feeders).

And I would add some smelly flowers, like marigolds, nasturtiums, etc. to confuse the beasts.

I do put them in italics: some time/cold/ of the year, bold: never, really.

Your first bed also would be exhausted of nutrients.