This is the first of a series of articles which I will be writing this year about growing crops in my polytunnels. I have two tunnels on my plot, as seen above, they are both the same and are 28ft long by 14ft wide. I use them to grow the normal summer crops of tomatoes,cucumbers,peppers, aubergines,etc.but I also use them to grow outside crops early in the season and later in the season to give a longer cropping time. There is also a grape vine in each tunnel, planted outside and led in through the end panel.

The layout of each tunnel is as you can see above, a side bed on each side with a central bed in the middle. This layout and the two tunnels gives me a four year rotation of the outer beds, so the tomatoes and cucumbers do not build up diseases. The central bed is used for a variety of crops each year.

I start off most of my seeds in trays and then transplant into modules and later into pots before planting out. I also sow seeds of various vegetables into the borders in the tunnel early to stretch the season. At present I have 3 varieties of carrot,beetroot, spring onions, turnips and spinach growing in the first tunnel. These crops will be out of the ground before the main crops of tomatoes,cucumbers, peppers,etc will be planted out.
I am still manuring and preparing the second tunnel for this year’s crops.

The new volunteer days were launched 24th & 25th March – with more to follow from 28th & 29th April.

More than 20 plot holders of all ages came to show their support for the new initiative to improve the site at Levenshulme and District Allotments. In a few short hours the large area used to store the skip was cleared of brambles, the rubbish sorted and the ground levelled – ready for building our new Recycling Area.

Hopes are high for what can be achieved with regular days set aside for everyone to meet and share their skills.

Hard at it and everyone pitching in.

Brief pause for thought while we see how well we’ve done!