Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Growing in Greenhouses & Polytunnels => Topic started by: The Red Baron on April 24, 2015, 15:42
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Afternoon all....hope everyone is having a great Friday. I've just ordered my first polytunnel, A 10ft x 20ft from premier polytunnels. Just after some advice, should I grow in the soil within the polytunnel or should I line it with weed membrane and use pots?
Cheers
Tony
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It gets so hot in a polytunnel and couldn't dream of growing in pots as watering is hard work as it is.
I would suggest path down the middle and grow either side. Mines 14ft wide and I have two outside beds and one in the middle with 40 cm paths
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I grew in pots in Season One of my cropping greenhouse. Big pots, but still had to water 3x per day in height of summer.
I now grow in the borders instead, water every other day in mid summer. Easy to fit leaky pipe for watering if you want to, as you are just watering the whole bed and it spreads within the soil. For containers you'd need an irrigation system such as drippers, which would be much more complex (and does not play-well with water butt water [containing small bits of muck that clog drippers / filters]
Containers add about a foot to "soil level", which is a foot less of cropping height (for things like Tomatoes). For the same reason I would not created raised beds in a greenhouse - I "lowered" mine to increase cropping height.
Downside is the need to change the soil if you will mono-crop specific vegetables. If you can rotate that would be different. I actually see this as an advantage, I put my (rough finished) compost heap 50:50 with manure into my greenhouse beds in Autumn, but the following Autumn it is beautiful crumbly material great for potting. Not sure how well this will work out if I live to be 90+ !!
Alternative is to used grafted veg plants which have high tolerance to soil-borne diseases and mean you would get away without soil change (either totally? or least "for long periods")
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No pics of mine, it's long gone, but this is the plan I used ( I've copied it from an old thread ;))
(http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/attachments/undercover-operations/34652d1364394441-pt-layout-getting-started-what-plant-cimg0823.jpg)
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Well that's settled it for me....I'll be growing in the Borders....I'll get some pics up when I get done....thanks
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looks good :D