Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER TWO
The tunnel's first year
The best time to put up a new tunnel is on a calm, sunny day in early spring,
because the cover will be warm and flexible, letting you get a really tight fit
(more on this overleaf). But the moment you finally put the cover on is a little
strange, because all of a sudden the tunnel just appears, impossibly clean and
somehow looking a lot larger than the uncovered frame did. The temperature
inside rockets immediately, and before the doors are even on you begin to realise
just what the word 'microclimate' really means.
If you have done your homework, the tunnel will be primed and ready to go, and
you have the whole growing season ahead of you. You prepared the soil beds
before your helpers arrived to put on the cover, you have a source of water no
more than a few steps away, and there are trays of seedlings on a sunny window-
sill somewhere, waiting to be moved into the tunnel. Within a few short weeks
the place will be bursting with plants, and you'll be eating your first harvests
before you know it.
The initial impact of moving to tunnel gardening is hard to overstate, and it
catches you by surprise in unexpected ways. Take spring seedlings, for example.
These can be brought out of the house much sooner than if you were planting
outside. It's harder to thin them out as they grow because so few of them are
weak, and you have to learn to be ruthless about it - and perhaps to sow fewer
next time. This subtle learning curve continues throughout the year, and even
things you may have read about - such as harvesting tomatoes in October - take
a bit of getting used to.
There may be a few unpleasant surprises, such as the attention of local animals,
and you'll have to work out how to deal with these too. But in many respects your
first polytunnel season can be regarded as a 'golden' year. You will be using an
absolutely clean tunnel, and if you are fortunate you will be working in brand-
new beds, with no serious fertility issues or mineral shortages. You can expect few
problems from pests and diseases, and all this is just as well - because you have
a lot to learn.
