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In or Out advice please?

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  • #1

    In or Out advice please?

    I would have thought that there was a given way to grow things and that they would either be better in a tunnel or outside. I've come across a number of sites that have people completely contradicting the info I'd previously read so I wondered if you might offer opinions on whether the following would be better outside or undercover in a tunnel?

    Onions

    Spring Onions

    Kale

    Spinach

    Lettuce

    Sweetcorn


    I already have tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, chillis in the tunnel and potatoes, carrots, radish in raised beds and pots outside.

    The rest are sitting waiting to be planted in their final spaces and as I have spaces available both in and out I'm not sure what to do?

    I always thought lettuce liked cooler temps for example but I've read of people growing them in tunnels so I'm now not sure.

    I'd be glad of your opinions. Thanks in advance.
    Last edited by gardening_gal; 28-05-2019, 10:48 AM.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    I would look at the native climate for the plants and the available space. So cool weather crops outside (there is a greater chance of bolting from stress in the heat of the polytunnel) and warm weather crops inside. There are always exceptions that will do well in either, but if you want to grow brassicas for example in the polytunnel, unsure they are very well mulched and prepare for them potentially going jurrasic. Likewise sweetcorn will love the polytunnel, but if you get an early variety bred for the climate here you can grow it quite successfully outdoors, and being wind pollinated they seem to have better pollination with less intervention. I'm on the NE Scottish coast and grow "northern extra sweet" outdoors in containers with success so I imagine it would be possible up by you
    There are no gardening mistakes, only learning curves

    No matter how big the job or overwhelming the task, a good dose of sheer obstinacy and bloody-mindedness should see you through

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    • #3
      I would grow all those outside personally. I tried onions in the tunnel and they were smaller than the same ones sown at the same time outside - maybe they suffered from lack of water?
      You can use a tunnel to extend your growing season, so lettuce through winter where it wouldn't survive outside... but at this time of year, i'd only use it for things that definitely can't thrive outdoors (here anyway!) - tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, chillies, cucs, melons etc.
      However, i have a small tunnel so need every available inch of space for those things - maybe with a huge tunnel I would be tempted to try a wider range of stuff undercover?
      He-Pep!

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      • #4
        I'd grow all of those outside. I'm not saying that's right though...
        Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
        By singing-'Oh how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
        While better men than we go out and start their working lives
        At grubbing weeds from gravel paths with broken dinner-knives. ~ Rudyard Kipling

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        • #5
          A lot depends on the weather where you live, time of year etc

          Why no try a few in both sets of conditions as an experiment and let us know how it goes ?

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          • #6
            Thanks all, appreciate your input.

            Nick I do have spares of things so I might just do that actually. I think the bulk of it all will go outside but I could put some of the smaller stuff inside too. It's the same raised beds with the same MPC in them in and out, so apart from the tunnel itself the rest of the conditions would be pretty similar.

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            • #7
              Sounds like a plan - I always have some spares when I sow seeds so I tend to assume other people will too.

              Happy gardening :-)

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              • #8
                I do this. But with you being even more up north, you might want more in the tunnel.

                Onions out

                Spring Onions both

                Kale out

                Spinach out

                Lettuce out

                Sweetcorn tunnel

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                • #9
                  Sweetcorn is wind pollinated - would it pollinate in a tunnel? I don't grow it so I have no idea. Spinach will bolt if it gets too hot, so I would definitely grow it outside.
                  A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Penellype View Post
                    Sweetcorn is wind pollinated - would it pollinate in a tunnel? I don't grow it so I have no idea. Spinach will bolt if it gets too hot, so I would definitely grow it outside.
                    My sweet corn pollinated very well last year, I was quite surprised. Just gave it a gentle shake every day.

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                    • #11
                      I'd grow all of those outside, not in a tunnel, nor a greenhouse in the summer. However, I will be growing lettuce in my greenhouse come winter, and my kale will still be producing through the winter, simply by the sheer amount of kale I'm growing Spinach is great in cooler temperatures and is less likely to bolt, so again, through the winter and early spring, then rip'em out and replace with your tomatoes etc in the spring. Sow spinach again in July, August and let them replace the tomatoes when they're done
                      https://nodigadventures.blogspot.com/

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Penellype View Post
                        Sweetcorn is wind pollinated - would it pollinate in a tunnel? I don't grow it so I have no idea. Spinach will bolt if it gets too hot, so I would definitely grow it outside.
                        Sweetcorn in pollinated when pollen from the male flowers (at the top) drop onto the female silks (lower down) - strong breezes can actually make it miss. A little shake of the plants whenever your passing helps the pollen move between them. I do this with my sweetcorn outside - especially on calm days.

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