Friday 24 February 2017

Tight Wad Polytunnel Gardening When It's Raining Outside.


The old vegetable plot is too wet to work at the moment.  So I decided to grow some vegetables in the poly tunnel instead.    I remember a bloke years a go telling me how his incredible harvest of spudatoes on his allotment  had been grown from potato peelings.  I think I called him: Tommy Hyberbole.    Anyway I decided the other day to have a go at my own kind of tightwad gardening;

Navan potatoes.  I made chunks though instead of potato peelings.

The potato chunks are in the little trays.  I made a new raised bed for the grand total of nothing and planted garlic (supermarket bought) and the root of two red onions.  I found a few broken plastic plant pots and plastic bags in my compost heap.  Perhaps we should go back to clay plant  pots?
We went to Lidl on Wednesday and bought some cheap vegetable seeds.  Now all we have to do is sow the carrots, onions and peas.  There is a lot to be said for a poly tunnel when it's too wet outside.  What are you up to on your vegetable plot?

18 comments:

  1. We have not got a poly yet, but are looking forward to the time when we do. It has been a very dry winter so far, so we are concentrating on outside work. Love your poly though!

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    1. Hi Vera. You will love your new poly tunnel. Especially for starting off seedlings and plants. You could even sell veg plants along with the vegetables you produce. It's like having an outside/inside room in the garden. I think ours cost 500 Euros and we dug the trench and assembled the poly tunnel ourselves. Thanks!

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  2. will be interesting to see how your potatoes do, keep us updated, the poly tunnel is the only place I have been working

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  3. Hi Dawn. It's been very wet here and the poly tunnel is the only place to be in the garden at the moment. I have grown shop bought potatoes before and I often split seed potatoes in half to make them go further. Thanks!

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  4. Good luck with the potatoes, hope it works

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    1. Thanks BG. I will buy some seed potatoes has well. It's just something to try when the weather is awful.

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  5. We arent growing anything, we will have to make do when we get to the new house... when we get the new house that is!

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    1. Hi Sol, I am sure it won't be long before you get your new house. You will probably find some home grown veg for sale on your Cornwall trips. The cider farms are well worth visiting too.

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  6. Vegetable gardening on the cheap Dave. I wish you success. I am sure weighed up against what you have spent the results will be good. Good way to do it. Any failures wont break your heart.

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    1. Hi Rachel. Gardening doesn't need to cost an arm and leg. I am sure the farms near you make their seed potatoes go farther by splitting them in half. I always have failures, but doesn't every body who grows or farms. Thanks!

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  7. hi Dave, good luck with veggies. One of my grandads had allotments at Heysham. At his peak he had 5 of them going at the same time. Kept him fit.

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  8. Hi Gwil, Your grandad sounds an amazing man. I once kept two allotments on the go. The weeds kept me busy. I knew a man who had an allotment that was immaculate. There wasn't a weed in sight and it was planted out in rows like soldiers on parade. He must have had military training. Thanks!

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    1. He spent time in his deckchair sucking on his pipe and watching cricket on the green below. The spuds and carrots seemed to take care of themselves!

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  9. There's nothing wrong sitting in a deck chair, smoking a pipe and watching the cricket Gwil. Roll on summer time. Wild, wet and windy here.

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  10. Just bought a little poly tunnel, more of a long cloche really so I can grow some caulis, cabbages and broccoli without them being eaten. Fingers crossed it works.

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    1. Hi Kerry, Your cloche will be great for growing brassicas. I am itching to get outside to hoe and weed my veg plot but it's far too wet at the moment. At least we can sow and plant some vegetables in the polytunnel. Thanks for your comment.

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    2. My veg patch is weedish free at the moment but wet now after all the rain. I'm itching to get it rotovated as we have a nice layer of horse much to mix in :)

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  11. My veg patch was weed free and now it won't sto praining and the weeds are back. I have often thrown cow muck on the plot from a wheelbarrow on a path when it's too wet. The worms do a great job of mixing it in the soil. I use to have a Mantis petrol cultivator. It was really small and left a wonderful tilled soil.

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