Polytunnel manuer tips

emergundog

Hi all

Wondering if you can help a novice?

I acquired a polytunnel (a v long one!), and the ground is all dried up, etc.

I assume I need some manure before planting. Any tips as to what I should get, and from where? (I'm in north co dublin). Ideally organic stuff.

And do I also need a layer of compost on top of the dry soil before the manure?

All help greatly appreciated.

excuse my ignorance

thanks.

magicbastarder

if it's dry inside, start watering it. lack of water will not have been good for the soil. most life in it will have died or gone dormant.

lazybones32

If the ground hasn't been used in a while, you don't need to add manures but it does need irrigation. Bring in the hose and give it a good soaking.

pete62

Ploytunnels work great but you really need irrigation pipes running through them as they dry out fast due to the heat generated by the plastic. Great idea though for growing in Ireland as we don't get enough of it.

Berberis

I grow a lot of veg in my polytunnels 18ft by 50ft. Like yours, the soil was quite hard when I first erected them but spent quite a lot of time double digging breaking up the soil and removing stones. (You will be removing them for years If its like mine)
Once you get the initial heavy digging done you will find that its only the top 9 inches or so that needs regular digging between harvesting and planting new crops.

I generally have my tunnel full of crops from early March right through to October. Often getting 3 or 4 crops of the usuals, (carrots, spring onions beetroot etc).
I sow one load of early potatoes in mid February and then plant some cabbage late summer in the spot the potatoes where. I get one crop of sweet corn Tomatoes butternut squash, courgettes, leeks and do some peas early in the season. Also put in a few a large hanging baskets with strawberry plants which do really well

I try and rotate planting each year and am starting to learn when and where best place to plant different veg . Like planting the tomatoes closer to the doors for added ventilation and watching out for mildew on the courgettes and squash. Watering and weeding is not too bad once you do it regularly to keep on top of things.
I have double doors at both ends and I leave them open during the day from around now and then throughout the nights from around next month. because there open I hang some netting down over the openings to stop birds and butterflies getting in but the holes in netting are big enough for the bumble bees which are essential.

Best of luck with your planting. Its addictive once you start

Hocus Focus

What size should the holes in the netting be?

Berberis

Hocus Focus wrote: »

What size should the holes in the netting be?

The holes in my neeting are approx 10mm diamater. Could be less, will have to measure them tomorrow.
Theres a link here I found about netting.

Hocus Focus

Excellent link. I've bookmarked it.
Small flowerpots on top of canes are auseful way of supporting nets.

dxhound2005

Hocus Focus wrote: »

Excellent link. I've bookmarked it.
Small flowerpots on top of canes are auseful way of supporting nets.

For outside use I stopped using that sort of netting. Because birds were getting trapped by it, which is not an uncommon problem.

http://www.gardenersworld.com/forum/thread/?threadId=736335

This last few years I have been using netting which is part of the material used by farmers for wrapping big bales. It is very soft and stretchable and does not trap the birds. Farmers throw it away after using the bales, and I can get any amount of it for free from a farmer I know. It is not easy to find a link or images, but this video shows what the netting looks like.

Hocus Focus

I had some netting thrown loosely over raspberry canes and I found that birds were getting trapped in it, but when I subsequently set up netting over a strawberry bed, I did it in such a way that the nets were tautly stretched and that there were no gaps or holes where my local friendly blackbird could enter. This proved successful in keeping both the berries and the  birds in good condition.