Looking at Polytunnels

Poly tunnels are both useful and necessary in colder climates to extend the growing season.

Hopefully we will be able to get one next year to improve our harvest a little.

Here is a link to one I saw advertised.  No doubt it will not be hardy enough to survive our strong year round winds but it may suit you?

8ft 2.5m Polytunnel Garden Greenhouse Outdoor Pollytunnel Grow your own Kit - Feel Good UK

.................................Only the summer days: Evening Gathering

.................................Only the summer days: Evening Gathering: A post all about our wild rose petal adventure.  We went picking rose petals and made rose petal syrup and nettle soup (Separately of course!)

Length of growing season and temperatures

The challenging factors that our vegetables faced in this location, proved to be largely,   .... to much for them.

I see that the runner beans leaves have turned brown almost overnight due to temperature drops here and they have only just started producing those brilliant orange flowers.  Not a single bean :(

After starting out in Spring, we managed to grow these herbs/vege's:

• some onions (from waste cuttings) and we have a number of awesome seed heads for next spring, 
• some chives, (Edible flowers and chopped leaves for pastas)
• a few strawberries, 
• a quantity of borage (Flowers for drinks and salads)
• potatoes (Still need to harvest) and we grew them in tyre towers
• lavender
• fennel
• peppermint (a variety of other mints from our local nursery all prove to be unpleasant and disappointing).
• briar rose
• suspect chamomile from the local nursery
• corriander (saved seeds for next year)
• celery (From root cutting/waste)
• sage 
• nasturtiums
• Rosemary from cuttings :)

The remainder of our seedlings never made it to maturity due to slugs and snails.  Dont use poisons or squash them so did not deal with this issue.  I did relocate a few to the other side of the garden though ina kind, gentle way.

To get back to the growing conditions, we have high winds here throughout spring and summer and it never gets very warm.  Summer is short.

Without a polytunnel, I don't see much hope for us producing much.

We used a quantity of horse manure and I saw a huge improvement from last year as the soil here is very poor.  We mostly grew in containers.

Some herb containers we kept on the front porch and they did quite well sheltered form the wind and in the sun.  It did mean we needed to water them which I was not very good about.

The wild brambles are still not ready, which is really late as autumn in affecting the tree leaves already.