The Polytunnel Handbook Planning/Siting/Erecting/Using/Maintaining

by McKee, Andy; Gatter, Mark

• ISBN13: 9781900322454
• ISBN10: 1900322455
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-12-03
• Publisher: Green Books

Summary

The last decade has seen an unprecedented rise in demand for organic fruit and vegetables, and each year more of us are discovering that home-grown food is fresher, tastier and more nutritious than food shipped in from elsewhere. A polytunnel can be used as an affordable, low-carbon aid to growing your own food all year round, from crispy salads and stir-fries in the dead of winter to juicy melons and mouthwatering grapes in high summer. The Polytunnel Handbook looks at all aspects of polytunnel use from planning your purchase to harvesting the rewards, and includes a step-by-step guide detailing how polytunnels are put up and maintained. There are chapters on developing healthy soil and preventing pests, and a jargon-free guide to the range of often mystifying accessories that many tunnel retailers offer. For the DIY enthusiast there is a full set of instructions for building a polytunnel from scratch, and the authors explain how to keep your polytunnel productive in every season.

Author Biography

The Authors: Andy McKee first grew vegetables with his father at the age of five. He became interested in the concepts behind non-traditional gardening forms in the early nineties, and had his eyes opened to the potential of polytunnels during a visit to one featuring a hot tub warmed by a clay oven. Using his polytunnel, his family are entirely self-sufficient in vegetables. Mark Gatter began growing vegetables while homesteading in north California in the early eighties, and has been a keen gardener ever since. He relies on a polytunnel to keep fresh food on the table right through the winter. He and his wife share their smallholding in Wales with 11 sheep, several chickens and two dogs.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 7
Planning your Purchase	p. 9
The Big Day	p. 25
Self-build Tunnels	p. 33
The Tunnel Environment	p. 47
Planting Through the Year	p. 65
Preventing Pests	p. 77
Thinking Outside the Tunnel	p. 105
Afterword	p. 111
Further Information and Suppliers	p. 112
Further Reading	p. 116
Glossary	p. 117
Index	p. 121
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