Our new polytunnel was installed last week - all 36 square metres of it. It is 4m wide and 9.1m long, and my friend Ian described it as a ‘cathedral for vegetables’. And it really is. I am excited about the possibilities and, if I’m honest, a bit daunted by the whole thing, too.
You see, I feel like I vaguely know what I’m doing when it comes to growing fruit and vegetables in our garden. Things don’t always work out as planned, but most of the time that’s to do with the weather or with not spending enough time on it. A few years ago, we go the haar - sea fog on the east coast - for about 6 weeks, and everything grew super slowly. But there was nothing we could do about that within our space and available materials, so we resigned ourselves to a slower season. And there was food, and it fed us. But the tunnel is a different kind of challenge, because I have no idea quite how it is going to behave itself. I have some hunches, based on talking to loads of people near me who grow things in tunnels, but whether things will go the same way for us is something we’ll find out soon.
Our first priority with the new tunnel is staging - somewhere for the module trays of seedlings to go. I’ve started to move some of them in, on a pallet on the floor wrapped in fleece both above and below to counteract the cold spell we’re currently in. I have sowed about 2000 seeds so far - 36 trays, or thereabouts, of 40-120 seeds each. That’s about half of what I’m going to sow this spring - more to come throughout March and April, and even into May - with some things (such as lettuces) sowed regularly once a month or so throughout the year.
I would very much like to grow a couple of grapevines in the tunnel, one at each end, and I’m trying to find out more about varieties that will do well this far north, and where to source them without paying an exorbitant postage fee. One online retailer charged £20 per plant, and a further £20 for delivery! That’s very much outwith my budget. I’d like to grow the grapes for both eating and winemaking - and because they’re pretty and provide a bit of shade in midsummer. Do any of you grow grapes up north? Let me know!
I’m also excited about my chillies, tomatoes and peppers, and the opportunities the tunnel provides to grow these more effectively. They’re currently in the kitchen, sat by the Aga on heat mats, and germination and growth rate is really good - 90% for the peppers, 62% for the chillies (most of which were older seeds), 100% for the tomatoes. My chillies and peppers rate is usually 35-40%, so this is excellent - though it also means that I’m looking at over 50 chilli plants, and 20 pepper ones. I’m not quite sure whether I’ll grow them in pots or in the ground - pots would make it possible to bring them inside over winter or move them to other locations, and they could, perhaps, sit on the staging that will be vacant after the seedlings have all been planted. I’ll share some of them with my community, of course, but I’d love to grow around 12-15 chilli plants and 8-10 pepper ones. They’re very much an indulgence rather than a staple of our diet, but I love growing them.
As the growing season gets underway, my knitting season tends to slow down. I’m working on the last few hat orders, and on a few handwarmers, but I’m not sure if I’ll take on any other knitting projects until later in the summer. I’m thinking about sewing though, and lots of it!