Garden Project 2010 - PolyTunnel, Drainage, Painting, everything.

Okay we are back for another year and after going from this, to this:

Have spent the early part of 2010, just keeping the garden tidy, adding a little compost to the vegetable patch.  So in March I decided to get the PolyTunnel I always wanted, okay it's a basic one off eBay and think it's technically a GreenHouse/PolyTunnel, but to me it's my 1st PolyTunnel.  So he's the quick journey to get me off for 2010:

7th March - Constructed and weighted down.

13th March - After work, I got a little work done starting to secure the PolyTunnel into the ground, as you can see I'm working with the Block Paving & wooden frames to secure (Screws with a washer), as they are notorious kites...Inside thought you can't see each of the 6 posts have a cable tied wooden stake which I've postcreted into the ground.

14th March - As you can see how I progressed the work @ the rear of the PolyTunnel.  Raising the Block paving, cleaning the Block up, laying down the PolyTunnel cover, screwing it into the frame of the vegetable patch & replacing the Block paving giving it a neat finish.  The challenge of the door, as this approach left a cover flap over the Block paving, I took 2 strips of wood and wrapped the cover within and screwed them together, so the weight of the wood fits neatly against the vegetable patch frame (to keep those pests out). I've since added a stake to this corner of the PolyTunnel to secure it even further.

So now, the shelves are on order, so once these arrive will start to develop the inside with the climbing frames, etc.  The plan for what we'll grow this year means I'm going for the following:

Sweet & Hot Peppers on the shelves), Onions, Sweetcorn, Tomatoes, Carrots, Spuds, Cucumber (though may plan these outside), Broccoli (1st Time) & Peas.

I know I'm a little late with planting and sowing some of these, but will just see how we get on.

16th March - The shelves arrived and kids wanted to help build them, so not wanting to turn down cheap labour, we set off that evening to build the shelves:

17th March - With daylight, took some photo's of the shelves in the PolyTunnel, going to use them for potting & seeding of course, and then as they develop and go into the ground will use the shelves for Peppers & Salad type plants.

3rd April - So for the 20th March you'll in pictures below and spent time securing the shelves into the PolyTunnel, just to ensure they stay where they should, and also to give more stability to the PolyTunnel itself.  The 27th March, I did the 1st of the planting of seeds, have added Peas & Potatoes to the ground and the rest have gone in pots and seed trays on the shelves.

Am finding that the PolyTunnel is getting warmer & warmer and Hope noticed this morning that the first seeds have budded and the winner was the Rocket salad tray.

Oh and an important thing I need to look at is an irrigation system for the PolyTunnel just to give me extra support.  Thinking of attaching a pump to the Outside tap I have and either using the Hose pipe of dedicated tubing to feed into the PolyTunnel and have a sprinkler from the roof to ensure the plants get regular water...

18th April - So the shoots are coming through, and the Peas in the ground too.  The pictures below, show both the shelves in the Poly Tunnel and how the seeds are coming through, all are through now.  Though not on the right picture below I now have 18 shoots for Chillies that my neighbour has given me.  So just working on letting the seedlings grow and then planting into the ground.  Will also do some work on getting a fix for watering the plants whilst I'm away.

8th May - The irrigation system is in ready for the vacation.  Using Micro tubing and a timer pump valve I've set up the Poly Tunnel so it gets around 5 minutes of water every 4 hours, the water is delivered in a fine mist so it's easier for the plants.  Now the tubing and watering system is in place, I'm thinking of getting more tubing and developing to other parts of the garden pressure permitting.  Must say I'm impressed, one key thing I did though when installing I placed the tube under the lawn (it's in between the tap & PolyTunnel) so it can't be seen or tripped over, picture on how I did this (I know it's not that exciting.  Will add a picture of the pump valve I'm using too.

15th May - The bamboo frames are in and I've moved the Tomato plant from last year into the ground, so the sweet peas that are budding out of the ground and the solitary Tomato plant can have something to hang on too.  The salad plants have been moved from their pots and I've placed a few potato's here and there.

11th June - So the growing has begun, and oh how it has grown, everything is doing well, the Irrigation system worked perfectly, and we can see from the photo's how they have grown.  I've already had some Rocket leaves on sandwiches and a few sneaky carrots too.

25th June - Let's just see how much more it can grow?  One thing I have noticed though is with the irrigation kit, I don't spend as much time as I would like in the PolyTunnel tending and caring to the plants, may investigate about that on the supporting Web pages.

11th September - One of the positives from this year is sorting the drainage @ the back door of our house.  If it rains for a long time (which it does in Wigan A LOT) we have puddles @ the back door and the only way to shift the water is to sweep it into the grids @ the side of the house.  So after looking what was available on the drainage market, I went down to the local Wickes and bought a drainage kit.

The digging was the easy bit, the setting up the drains was hard, but as you can see from the 2nd picture here, I moved the grid that was previously on the corner of the house, so it was now underground feeding the drainage tray.  I had to use a flexible hose to get the tray to meet the drains underground but in the end it worked well.

As you can see below in the 3rd picture as I worked I returned the block paving, the 4th picture below shows the completed work.  This 4th picture was taken in January 2011 so through the Autumn and Winter where we saw a lot of rain we've never had a collecting of water @ the back door since, so the hard work has paid off.

14th September - This year has been a learning one for me, I found I took less interest in the plants and PolyTunnel one I added the automatic watering system.  Something to be aware of in 2011.  Also the lack of sun in July & August and continuous rain meant like other neighbours around me, not much grew this year, I think of the 10 or so Tomato plants I've grown a single green tomato, so need to look at the feeding for 2011.

Other planned Projects for 2010

We did say back in 2009 that we'd look at other Garden Projects for the following years, so here's the list pasted in from the other Web page, and as you'll see I've already done 1 of the 4, and will add the details here as we progress the others:

Paint the fence, if I want it to last after all that hard work, it looks like I'll need a good few pots to get it all covered, unfortunately I've counted the panels and there are 42, I'll need a good brush & MP3 player.

Remove the large bush near the Conservatory, using this space for another vegetable patch, after seeing how the Cucumbers spread this year, I may just give them their own space for next year. (DONE)

Change the Guttering on the Conservatory, we've got a White Conservatory & Black Guttering (don't ask), so after all the work in the Garden, it now sticks out like a sore thumb.  So going to change that to white, and also change the outlet from the guttering to the other side of the Conservatory & add floor drainage, so the water goes to the Main Drain for the house.

Lawn Drainage, for the last few years with the Lawn being elevated, when we have a lot of rain (& in Wigan we kinda get that a few times). we have run off rain water seeping through the retaining wall and onto the patio.  So will look to add a drainage channel & grids to the patio so the run off water can go straight into the drains under the house (DONE).