Polytunnel advice please

[Brooklynodog]

No I want a central path, but with raised beds within

[cevenol jardin]

I think it depends what you value growing. If you want leafy salad greens all through winter or to grow more tender capsicums and solanum in summer then definately would recommend a tunnel.

I have a 50ft one and it is heaven on earth to me. It helps me keep an all year supply of food to the kitchen.

I use old planks and the cut offs from my neighbours home mill (round outside bits of logs) I also use matting for the paths. You can see it being constructed on the polytunnel page on my site.

I have some friends who have a small veg patch with set sized beds and they are going to get a tunnel for one bed that is movable (ie not that big) so they can move it from bed to bed. Is that worth thinking about for you.

[heyjude]

Doesn't it depend on the width?

We are getting a 14' wide tunnel with (probably) vertical sides up to 3 or 4 feet. I am planning (I think, well so far at least) one central, permanent bed which will take all the tall things with a path either side and then beds down the sides for shorter plants which could also take staging for seedlings etc when I get fed up crawling about on the floor! That would be maybe 2x2.5' paths and 3x3' beds, making 14', which I thought would give a good mix of space and access.

How does that sound??

We've used timber cut-offs (outside bits of trunks) for beds in the garden and I guess we'll do the same inside the tunnel.

[richard p]

my 2 of 14 foot tunnels have approx 4ft central beds one is allways used for tomatoes, the other gets cuecumbers and anything else that needs height .(the tomatoes swap tunnels each year) the paths either side of the central bed are about 2b foot each which leaves room for a 3 foot bed down each side for short stuff. i think wider paths would be a waste of growing space. ive let strawberries spread themselves nearly everywhere and just dig them out when they are in the way of planting something else,

[Brooklynodog]

Ive only a small tunnel (15x10) but I have a 2ft slab path down the middle. Its usefull for putting pots, staging etc, so its not wasted as such.