Beginners Tunnel

I have not had any luck sowing normal size carrots at this time of year, but I do sow and grow the french Chantenay carrots quite successfully, they are a small stump rooted variety and are great in stews and casseroles over winter thrown in whole. Turnips I have never tried this late. I have yet to sow my winter carrots so I might try a few Turnips also.

Eden, what you have to do is build your experience for your tunnel and climate. Mother Nature is wonderful but she is not aware of what is written on the backs of seed packets or in books.

So try a few seeds, see what happens and learn from it.

Steve...

 

I've planted carrots, parsnips, lettuce and winter salad. I'll let you know how they go.

 

Eden 1. You have been busy. Well done. Top soil is just what it says. This can be from fertile land or from where Joe Bloggs is digging out in preparation for building his garage. So who knows what is going to sprout up.

Steralized soil/loam, sounds good, but in my book it's dead. Let me explain. Steralised soil simply means it's been baked, cooked in simple words. So in most cases, seed, rooys etc have been cremated. Also, so often overlooked, also have gone the valuable bugs and what ever that keep the soil alive. Yes, the steralizing would have destroyed harmful pathogens and over-wintering bacteria etc. IMHO, I'd rather chance top soil and deal with whatever weeds may appear, rather than waste money etc on steralized soil.

Rather than simply covering your existing soil, I'd prefer to dig it in, I also apply this method to mulching.

 

Thanks Mike, I had dug the compost in before I planted. I just thought it wasn't that big of an area to weed any way.

 

I've been letting you guys off lightly for a while without my daily questions. .

So back to the questions.

The vents on my ebay tunnel flat about a fair bit even in light winds. Is this normal? Anything to worry about?

How do manage your tunnel ventilation? I'm not sure when I should have the vents opened or closed.

 

Its normal for the vents to blow about a bit, I rarely use them now save for in extreme ho weather like last summer where I had one open on either side at either end (opposite corners) to encourage a throughput of air to help cool it.

I do similar on my big tunnel with the doors on either end.

Steve...

 

We had a near miss with storm Lorenzo during the week and its go me thinking about securing the tunnel for future storms. The vents flap about even in gentle winds and I'm worried that in a big storm they will blow open and turn the tunnel into a giant sail. My tunnel is on a high bank and quite exposed to Westerly's and that is the direction most of our weather comes from. Any tips on what you guys do for big weather events?

 

My three 6 x 10m tunnels are fixed down at the perimeter using 4 L brackets cast int concrete pads each side bolted to tunnel framework, plus 3 timber raking struts either side of central path bolted at tops to tunnel framework and bolted to timber stakes at base driven into ground with sledgehammer.

That keeps the frame in place. The cover is fixed with nailed battens around the double door frame at the front, and same again to a same size wire mesh covered opening at the rear end. Either side of the end openings the cover is sandwiched between 2 (raised bed) boards screwed together.

The sides are buried, but with both ends secured they probaly wouldn't (couldn't?) lift with both ends secured. If etecting staging in the tunnel, nail the slats in place as a storm can shake the tunnel, dislodge the slats and all your plants will fall on the ground beneath.

The velcro strips on the flaps start to fall off after the first winter. I initially fixed lengths of tent guy rope to tie them up, but haven't really bothered with them since using the mesh panels at each end with roll up/drop down polythene covers to close everything up. I've left both ends open in a storm and it just blows through. If left open for a 2nd year the white mesh in the vents starts to disintegrate.

A large ventilation opening at each end makes a big difference. After replacing a cover early this year I didn't cut out around the rear mesh panel because I wanted to relocate that tunnel at the end of season (done). In the heatwave this summer I would be knocked back by heat coming out of the mesh doors of this tunnel, and it was even worse inside, but those with open panels in the rear end were much cooler.