I thought I’d report back on how I’ve been getting on with the growing tunnel that I decided to buy. In my last post, I was debating whether or not to bother, but actually I think I am glad that I did.
I don’t have a greenhouse for winter growing anymore, and I wanted to have some protection for the plants beyond horticultural fleece. My veg patch gets quite a lot of strong wind as Cornwall’s winter months kick in, and I know from experience that the plants do better when they’re undercover.
I had thought about making my own mini-polytunnel using hoops and polythene, but the big disadvantage of this was that it made accessing the plants a real pain, and for me that is something of an obstacle – during the winter, I don’t feel hugely energised to do stuff in the garden, and I fear I’d do nothing at all, not even harvesting, if there was the barrier of a kind of polytunnel that didn’t allow easy access to the plants and beds.
So, with the new tunnel in place, here are my thoughts…
Pros:
- Easy access through the zip doors
- Quite cheap (less than £30 for this tunnel)
- Keeps the plants protected from wind
- Keeps the plants a bit warmer, especially on days when the sun comes out – it’s not hugely different on an overcast or rainy day.
- The plants seem to be doing pretty well although it is still early to say if they are doing better than those growing outside of the tunnel.
Cons:
- I don’t rate its chances of not blowing away when the wind gets up. I’ve done my best to weigh it down, but the so-called pegs that the tunnel came with are definitely not going to do the job of holding the frame down! Had I made my own, the hoops would have been held down far better by being supported by bamboo stakes driven deep into the ground.
- It’s not a bespoke size, so it’s a bit frustrating to find one that works for one’s own garden – I was lucky that this one fitted across a length of this bed, and I may get a 2nd tunnel to sit behind this one, covering the plants at the back as well, but it wouldn’t work well for my other beds.
- If I were to get enough to cover all the beds, it would end up being quite pricy, whereas making my own tunnels using bamboo, old hosepipe and polythene sheets would be very inexpensive.