self sufficient? yeah right!

[porshiepoo]

I've been growing veg in a polytunnel for the first time this year in addition to an outside veg patch.
OH and I were talking yesterday and wondering whether all the effort involved is worth it so I was wondering what any other orgers do for veg growin all year round?

I currently have heaps of Toms romping away (gonna make load of Tom sauce for over winter) but they're nowhere near ready yet. Sweetcorn not ready yet, cucumbers not ready yet, French beans that have become triffids but not ready yet, celeriac not ready yet, kohl rabi not ready yet, Aubergines nowhere near ready yet - and that's just in the polytunnel.
I have had a ridiculous amount of courgettes in there though due to planting too many plants (4) plus 2 apple trees that are full of apples, had loads of Cherries etc etc.
Outside I have potatoes - soon to be ready, Courgettes (don't know why I bothered as I have too many inside), Cauli nowhere near ready, Carrots not ready as I hate tiddlers, cabbage not ready, parsnips nowhere near ready, leeks nowhere near ready, brussels nowhere near ready plus a few other things.

Thing is we're gonna get this glut in a couple of months and then nothing for the rest of the year (except for parsnips, leeks and maybe carrots) so I want to grow some veg over winter in the polytunnel and was wondering what stuff you've tried that has managed to produce stuff over that time.
Is it worth sowing some more french beans? or normal runners? What about carrots in a tunnel? I know my outside ones lasted all through the snow last year but are they likely to germinate and have enough growing time over autumn / winter?

What have you all tried? I have this huge space that is gonna be wasted if I don't grow something when this lot has all ended - I can only give so much of it up to cutting flowers without feeling guilty!

[Beat Bug]

Last year we had potatoes and courgettes grown outside, and both did well. About 6 carrots grew big enough to harvest, and everything else failed. Tomatoes in the greenhouse also did well. This year potatoes outside are nearly ready, and we've already harvested a few rogue ones that had self planted. Courgettes, cauli and broccoli are just starting to show signs of bearing fruit, and celery is coming on nicely. Only just planted French beans and sweet potatoes outside, so we'll wait and see. In the greenhouse I've loads of radishes and salad leaves, and I also had a glut of beetroot (planted too many at the same time!). The beetroot planted outside came to nothing. This year has taught me to pace my planting in future. Most of this year's veg were bought as seedlings, but next year I'll start earlier with seeds sown fortnightly to avoid a glut all at once.

[Leanne]

The trick is to plant in stages - plant a strip, leave it 2 weeks, plant another strip, leave it 2 weeks, plant another strip and so on. That way you can harverst in 2 weekly intervals. It's a lot more work though...

Problem is the weather here is too cool for most stuff, even in polytunnels. Root veg your best bet although tomatoes seem to do surprisingly well indoors.

[Skirza]

It's our first year with our polytunnel and veg patch too. So far we've suffered from mass cabbage root fly (all 120 plants got it), grey mould and blossom end rot in the polytunnel and a damned rabbit came and wrecked the celeriac, leeks and carrots. The onions are half hearted and the potatoes refuse to grow higher than 12 inches.

Having said that, we're having a wonderful time and have HUGE plans for next year. We've certainly learnt the hard way but have just started harvesting dwarf beans and peas in the tunnel and have had 5 cucumbers.

Next year we're using heaps of enviomesh (blooming cabbage root fly) and lots of fleece. It's certainly harder growing veg this far north.

[Hogfather]

What about overwintering peas (Douce Provenance or similar) or broad beans (Aquadulce claudia or similar) in the tunnel? They struggle if they have to be transplanted outside in the spring, but if you have space you should be able to get indoor crops in May/June (rather than July/August, hehehe). Now is a good time for starting overwintering onions from seed - these do really well for us and are rock hard! Also spring cabbages to harvest in June-ish - Pixie and Sennen have done well for us, reasonably compact and hold fairly well, and manage to miss most of the onslaught of root fly and caterpillars.

[pads1]

Loving the thread, this is my first year with Ptunnel as well, and its doing well, not much is ready yet either, we had loads of strawbs and now eating cucumber also have toms and sweetcorn (which will be interesting) as well.

Yes you can grow carrots in ptunnel, I got a good book its called How to grow food in your polytunnel, its great it tells you about all the gaps and each month what to plant, ok it might not be for caithness weather but we can have a go eh..

Our outside veg is looking great and thankfully we dont have rabbits here, just a dog who likes my peas
[evil]
I also did radish, but this year was just a practise, looks like the sweetcorn are doing well

I also have some kind of squash in the polytunnel its got loads of veg/fruit on it and HUGE got it from Lidl so not sure what it is really, its the round kind.

I am not really sure what to do now with regards the soil as we have a raised bed on one side - helped to keep the muck in..

Photos would be good. - I will be popping back to see if there are any more tips

[essex boy]

I started cucumbers early indoors and have been picking them for a few weeks in the tunnel. Plant early spuds in a tunnel in march and you can get them in may! Carrots, beetroot all good and harvested over a month earlier than the same sown outside. If anyone gets sweetcorn or ripe toms then they've done better than me, I've tried for four years to get this here and this year is the last I'm going to try! I've over wintered carrots, peas and cabbage in a tunnel alright but my tunnel gets very little sun in the winter so sits very damp and goes green.

[pads1]

Essex Boy - I used to grow toms in my greenhouse successfully for years but the polytunnel is definately behind - I think I am going to get some ripe ones, but definately slow.. The sweetcorn has tassels and seems to be fattening up.

I started the toms in Feb - my Step Mum got some plants from me and they are doing much better but she has a greenhouse.!

[guzzieagles]

Hi,

I started growing veg in a polytunnel for the first time last year, so only have one winters experiance. I found perpenual spinage did well, as did lettuse. I also tried Chrismas spuds which were doing OK until the snows came, peas were the same. Outside I overwintered onions and garlic.

This year I have tried broad beans, both in the poly and outside. Finished picking the ones in the poly just as those outside became ready. This autumn I will be trying Swiss Chard and Pak Choi.

[witchschild]

This is our second year with the polytunnel and having had a late start last year this year has been brilliant. Pak choi,spinach, chard, broccoli, various lettuce varieties,peas, carrots,sugar snap peas, beetroot and turnip all picked and eaten or frozen!! On the 4th sowing of carrots and radishes now. Tomatoes slower than I would have liked but the cherry ones are being used as are the cucumbers and courgettes. Peppers, chillis and aubergines all setting fruit now. Also waiting to see if the butternut and patty pan squash will be as good as last year. Parsnips have been great (did some just to see) so will definitly grow them again next year. Even trying asparagus this year!!!!!!!
It's been really busy trying to keep on top of everything but well worth it to have lovely fresh vegies picked daily and saved a fortune at the supermarket!:)

[billy5000]

I planted loads of things this year but many didnt bloom quick enough! so i was left with loads of lettice plants which went down ok!
i planted over 40 tomatos! but i was in hospital, and on recovery so they took a turn for the worst and they didnt produce anything worth eating!!

potatos were ok! i had some from tescos that i chucked in the ground and some red something or other , which went ok
a couple of cabbage/couls/raddishes(pretty big too)and afew other bits here and there!

but it was abit of a wierd growth really as it was very slow but maybe this year will be better as it will have time to enrich the areas i plonked compost/manure and ive got the green house and outdoor raised beds(very cool area too made from recycled wood and nails with a walk in style entrance and beds either side and infront)

handy having chicken manure around 24/7:(i just wish they would lay something soon as its annoying buying eggs when you have over 20 birds(ducks/chickens)i even built them a deluxe penthouse with a standard chicken coop attached to the side of a small shed with a hole in the side for them to walk straight into!!
they have the front area where they can lay with laying boxes attached to the sides and they can sleep either on the floor of the shed or on built in perches with a ramp into either side!!!

its proper bling bling!! and if they dont start laying they will find themselves being proper yum yum!!