A Polytunnel is a time machine, turning autumn into spring and spring into summer. Crops and flowers grow faster and stronger sheltered from winds, warmed by the sun and protected from frost.

30 Degrees recordered in the First Tunnels Polytunnel 16th Feb 11

We recorded a whopping 30 degrees in the First Tunnels Polytunnel yesterday..Tropical temperatures in the polytunnel in February – Amazing!

Polytunnels are fantastic for growing your favourite produce even when the “outdoor” season has long finished or not yet begun. But there is more to promoting plant growth than temperature alone. Perfect form and flavour are influenced by other factors too. Compare plants in a garden blasted by wind and incessant rain, with plants grown in a Poly tunnel. Not forgetting that rain doesn’t stop play in a Polytunnel…

Tender Young Crops under Fleece in a Polytunnel

The tunnel-grown produce should be perfect in every way….bigger and more tender because it has been developed in an ideal gentle environment with none of the “rocking” which encourages crops to create wood cells for increased rigidity, sapping energy and making them tough and tasteless.

We still haven’t forgotten how fickle our winter weather can be , so we have made wigwams out of bamboo canes and covered our tender young crops with Fleece. Snug as a bug in a rug.