Why You Should Buy a Polytunnel?

Leaving your harvests to the whims and fancies of the climate is always a threat, and if you install a warm enclosed roof then it prolongs your growing season extremely and also escalates the number of different varieties of harvests that you can cultivate.

What is a Polytunnel?

Fundamentally speaking a polytunnel is built with a metal framed semi-circular shaft that is enclosed in hard wearing polythene with UV inhibitors so as to take full advantage of it during its lifetime. Over 90% of the light is diffused through the polythene, and the light is dispersed which averts the plants from shielding one another. A huge amount of air is surrounded by it and so it stays warm for a longer period of time than a greenhouse and also it does not suffer from rough variations in the temperature during the summer months. Inside this you can reproduce a Mediterranean climate and so produce exotic fruits and vegetables in your own garden. If bubble lining is used in this (i.e. recycled with bubble wrap), then it is possible to safeguard the plants from a frost free winter and ensure an even longer growing season. The bubble wrap can be detached during the spring season and then re-used in the next winter season.

Benefits of Polytunnels

One of the major benefits of the polytunnel is the price. For the price of very small good quality greenhouse, you can buy a polytunnel of greater the size and also develop many more crops. They are not as enduring as greenhouses and so can quite easily be relocated around the garden as and when required. It is for example much easier to move it than it is to take away and substitute the soil within a greenhouse. This practice is important if you do not want bugs to shape up when you cultivate the same crop for a few years in the same place. 

Disadvantages of Polytunnels

There are of course some disadvantages too over greenhouses. Firstly a greenhouse is much more striking than a huge tube of polythene. Secondly, it really needs to be situated in a protected place out of the reach of the wind. If you do not protect it from the wind then you may risk losing it and all of your crops would be spoiled due to a strong storm. Thirdly, it is much more demanding (or expensive) to aerate than a greenhouse, and so the level of moisture inside can encourage the production of fungal illnesses amongst your crops. Finally, it is susceptible to frolicking children, animated cats, and stray lawnmowers. Once you have torn the polythene from it, then no amount of fastening and adhesive will clasp the spoiled area together for long.