Fixing rails to polytunnel, onto which the plastic cover is attached
It's crucial at this point that the wind doesn't blow!
A few minutes later the polythene 'skin' is spread over and ready for attaching to the rails and tensioning.
Preparing cucumber pits. Lots of compost and manure worked into a 3' diameter pit, mounded up ready for planting cucumber seedlings.
About nine weeks later, a view from early August 2005: aubergine, courgette, butternut squash, cucumber, climbing beans and purple basil.
June 2006: Arranging irrigation system for tomato plants. Flexible 'spaghetti pipe' pegged in to each plant's moat. The water comes on automatically at night when there is maximum water pressure and minimum evaporation.
Same crop late summer. These plants yielded over 400 lbs of fruit. The yellow flowers are french marigolds used to deter pests.
Autumn turnaround - overwintering crops replacing summer ones. On view here: chinese cabbage, mizuna (just been cut) sessantina mustard green, mooli radish, spring cabbage.
October. Tomatoes and cucumbers gone and being replaced by over-wintering varieties of lettuce. Claytonia , coriander and spinach about to be sown along back row.
Digging in compost to make a fertile seedbed for brassica seedlings in the Spring. The bed will be regularly watered to encourage weed seeds to germinate so they can be hoed off to reduce competition.