GET AHEAD – GET A TUNNEL
I have developed one of my dog’s irritating habits. She always stares at me when I am eating a biscuit. I keep staring at my unfinished raised beds in the same manner anticipating that they will eventually dig themselves. If the dog stares hard enough and long enough, she often gets a result, but no soil has materialised in the new bed.
I am using the same technique to set up our old polythene tunnel, but alas that too doesn’t seem to be working. I guess this would take a major amount of staring and at the moment I am a bit too busy to stand still for that length of time. Maybe it’s just that my eyes don’t look sad enough or more likely I have to come to terms with the fact that it’s a piece of ground that I am staring at, not a soft hearted owner.
POLYTHENE TUNNELS
A tunnel is a great idea for the growing number of people around Inishowen who are deciding to go down the ‘Self Sufficient’ route, or even partly self sufficient. All you need is a piece of sheltered flat ground, a few hundred euro to spare and the urge to grow and eat quality organic produce that hasn’t travelled half way around the world to get to you.
SELF SUFFICIENT
A good number of gardeners around the peninsula own a greenhouse, and these are fine for growing a few tomatoes and getting the seedlings germinating, but if you intend to be self sufficient in fruit and vegetables, it is worth investing in a tunnel. Leaving your crops to the mercy of the weather is always a risk, and the warm covered plot a tunnel gives you, extends your growing season enormously and also increases the number of different varieties of crops that you can grow.
SETTING UP A TUNNEL
We bought our tunnel from a company in the north called Morris tunnels. It proved to be very sturdy and at the time would have cost us about €500 to set up. Morris do quite a narrow gauge tube but it stood the test of time as a lot of the strength seems to come from how well the plastic is put on. The plastic sheet is hard wearing polythene with UV inhibitors and allows 90% of light is transmitted through the polythene, and the light is diffused which prevents plants from shading one another.
Facing east to west seemed our best option in order to capture the greatest amount of sunshine during the winter months. This direction also helps if the prevailing wind blows. If you have a sheltered and restricted site though you might just have to put it up where you can. Be wary of the way the doors are fitted though, if the wind catches the door when you open it, you could be chasing it around the garden. We opened ours to the east, which seemed to work and avoided shocking the plants with cold air every time we went in to tend to plants.
FOUNDATIONS
Supporting pieces of wide gauge tubing were set into the ground three feet apart. I had to use concrete, as the ground was very soft. Into these went the galvanised steel hoops and hotspot tape was put onto the outside edge of the tube to protect the plastic sheeting when it went on.
PLASTIC
The plastic can either be put on in two ways. I chose to dig the plastic into the ground by means of a trench. This is a good method if the soil is stone free. If not the sharp edges can cut through the sheeting and spread quickly in a storm. The second method is to attach the plastic sheeting to the bottom edge of the tunnel by means of a long wooden slat. Both methods are good. It pays to get a few people in to help put the sheet onto the frame and do it on a warm sunny day, leave it to sunbathe for an hour or two to make sure that the plastic has softened and expanded. If it’s done on a cold dull day the plastic will get all floppy and flap about in the wind later. .
INSIDE
Inside a polytunnel it is possible to recreate a Mediterranean climate and therefore grow exotic fruits and vegetables here in Inishowen. The plastic traps large quantities of air so the inside of the tunnel stays warm and is less susceptible to changes in the temperature at night. Sometimes for extra warmth, bubble insulation can be used (recycled bubble wrap). This ensures a frost-free winter and an even longer growing season. The bubble wrap can be removed in the spring and then reused the following winter. I decided to have black webbing plastic in the tunnel initially as I was growing bedding plants. This was put down before the plastic went on so there were no gaps for weeds to get in.
VENTILATE
Ventilating a polytunnel can be a bit of an issue as fungal diseases can spread quickly if the air is too still. If you ever go into industrial tunnels you will notice big fans above your head. This is to keep the airflow going and reduce humidity. A small tunnel in the garden won’t need this but it does pay in the long run to get two doors, one at either end. Theses can be opened and closed as the temperature fluctuates during the day and night.
CAUTION
The other thing to take into consideration when investing in the tunnel is that it can be vulnerable to playing children, excited cats, and badly driven lawnmowers and strimmers. Once you have torn the polythene of a polytunnel, it can be difficult to control its spread. I am a bit advocator of Duct tape but no amount of this on the plastic lasts long if a hole appeared, there is far too much expansion and contraction.
I have developed one of my dog’s irritating habits. She always stares at me when I am eating a biscuit. I keep staring at my unfinished raised beds in the same manner anticipating that they will eventually dig themselves. If the dog stares hard enough and long enough, she often gets a result, but no soil has materialised in the new bed.
I am using the same technique to set up our old polythene tunnel, but alas that too doesn’t seem to be working. I guess this would take a major amount of staring and at the moment I am a bit too busy to stand still for that length of time. Maybe it’s just that my eyes don’t look sad enough or more likely I have to come to terms with the fact that it’s a piece of ground that I am staring at, not a soft hearted owner.
POLYTHENE TUNNELS
A tunnel is a great idea for the growing number of people around Inishowen who are deciding to go down the ‘Self Sufficient’ route, or even partly self sufficient. All you need is a piece of sheltered flat ground, a few hundred euro to spare and the urge to grow and eat quality organic produce that hasn’t travelled half way around the world to get to you.
SELF SUFFICIENT
A good number of gardeners around the peninsula own a greenhouse, and these are fine for growing a few tomatoes and getting the seedlings germinating, but if you intend to be self sufficient in fruit and vegetables, it is worth investing in a tunnel. Leaving your crops to the mercy of the weather is always a risk, and the warm covered plot a tunnel gives you, extends your growing season enormously and also increases the number of different varieties of crops that you can grow.
SETTING UP A TUNNEL
We bought our tunnel from a company in the north called Morris tunnels. It proved to be very sturdy and at the time would have cost us about €500 to set up. Morris do quite a narrow gauge tube but it stood the test of time as a lot of the strength seems to come from how well the plastic is put on. The plastic sheet is hard wearing polythene with UV inhibitors and allows 90% of light is transmitted through the polythene, and the light is diffused which prevents plants from shading one another.
Facing east to west seemed our best option in order to capture the greatest amount of sunshine during the winter months. This direction also helps if the prevailing wind blows. If you have a sheltered and restricted site though you might just have to put it up where you can. Be wary of the way the doors are fitted though, if the wind catches the door when you open it, you could be chasing it around the garden. We opened ours to the east, which seemed to work and avoided shocking the plants with cold air every time we went in to tend to plants.
FOUNDATIONS
Supporting pieces of wide gauge tubing were set into the ground three feet apart. I had to use concrete, as the ground was very soft. Into these went the galvanised steel hoops and hotspot tape was put onto the outside edge of the tube to protect the plastic sheeting when it went on.
PLASTIC
The plastic can either be put on in two ways. I chose to dig the plastic into the ground by means of a trench. This is a good method if the soil is stone free. If not the sharp edges can cut through the sheeting and spread quickly in a storm. The second method is to attach the plastic sheeting to the bottom edge of the tunnel by means of a long wooden slat. Both methods are good. It pays to get a few people in to help put the sheet onto the frame and do it on a warm sunny day, leave it to sunbathe for an hour or two to make sure that the plastic has softened and expanded. If it’s done on a cold dull day the plastic will get all floppy and flap about in the wind later. .
INSIDE
Inside a polytunnel it is possible to recreate a Mediterranean climate and therefore grow exotic fruits and vegetables here in Inishowen. The plastic traps large quantities of air so the inside of the tunnel stays warm and is less susceptible to changes in the temperature at night. Sometimes for extra warmth, bubble insulation can be used (recycled bubble wrap). This ensures a frost-free winter and an even longer growing season. The bubble wrap can be removed in the spring and then reused the following winter. I decided to have black webbing plastic in the tunnel initially as I was growing bedding plants. This was put down before the plastic went on so there were no gaps for weeds to get in.
VENTILATE
Ventilating a polytunnel can be a bit of an issue as fungal diseases can spread quickly if the air is too still. If you ever go into industrial tunnels you will notice big fans above your head. This is to keep the airflow going and reduce humidity. A small tunnel in the garden won’t need this but it does pay in the long run to get two doors, one at either end. Theses can be opened and closed as the temperature fluctuates during the day and night.
CAUTION
The other thing to take into consideration when investing in the tunnel is that it can be vulnerable to playing children, excited cats, and badly driven lawnmowers and strimmers. Once you have torn the polythene of a polytunnel, it can be difficult to control its spread. I am a bit advocator of Duct tape but no amount of this on the plastic lasts long if a hole appeared, there is far too much expansion and contraction.
MAKE YOUR OWN
You can make your own tunnels without going to a supplier, although it can be scary enough putting one up when you have all of the pieces to hand as you would in a kit. Some engineering companies will bend the steel tubing for you and you can use scaffolding poles for the bases. You will still have to buy the plastic sheeting though as it would be difficult to replicate the size by gluing plastic bags together. Savings can be made and it might cost you up to half the amount it would to buy the kits. Just realise that it will take a lot longer, so put some value on your own time to see if it’s worth going down that route. I have seen some very successful small tunnels made out of sturdy plastic water pipe. Again, when these are fastened securely to the ground and the plastic is put on they can withstand even the strongest winds, although you do normally have to bend double though to get into them.
