Gardening is a hobby that goes back several generations in my family.  I have plenty of memories of watching my grandad tend his vegetable garden and helping my mum with lots of garden tasks from weeding to growing tomatoes.  I guess this has rubbed off on me a bit and I have always tried to grow fruit and veg.  Some years are better than others, but even when we don’t get a good crop, I still love to try!

Growing With Kids

It’s well known that kids love to copy whatever we do, whether we want them to or not!  So if they see you gardening it’s likely that they are going to try and join in too.  Getting the children involved with growing fruit and vegetables has many benefits too.

They will learn science first hand, from soil science to biology and ecology.  Knowing how to improve soil to grow better vegetables or how to manage pests can be quite important.  It’s surprising how much you can learn from growing food!

Of course another benefit of growing your own with the children is that they are more likely to try the food they grow!  Everyone takes pride in the plants they grow and children are no different.  I rarely get to eat our soft fruits now as the children are straight in there picking all the berries!

The good thing is that children of all ages can grow fruit and vegetables.  Even young children can help plant seeds or pull out weeds.  Older children can have their own patch of soil to grow in and can do everything themselves.

The Difference A Polytunnel Can Make

Growing your own is not always easy.  We have had problems with a variety of pests and cool springs that delay the start of growing.

The pest problems are hard to deal with, we have a little pond created from an old plastic trug that is now full of frogs.  Our main reason for encouraging frogs is simply to eat the slugs, we have A LOT of slugs.  Colourful, spinning windmills dot our garden and allotment to put off birds and we tend to grow peas indoors until seedlings to avoid being eaten by mice.

Having a structure to cover the ground and keep some of these pests at bay is incredibly useful.  So I was pleased to take up the offer of a portable mini polytunnel from First Tunnels.

The mini polytunnel was easily constructed.  Everything was included in the delivery, except a drill, spanner and hammer which you will need for the construction.  The wooden base rails are laid out, screwed together and metal fastenings are added to the rails to create the holes to hold up the metal hoops that hold up the plastic cover.

Once constructed you can move it around with 2 people and it includes a prop at either end for the days when you want to let air into the tunnel, or to water the plants.

We are hoping that having a polytunnel over our garden vegetable patch will keep some of the worst pests off our plants.  But it will also be brilliant at warming up the soil and keeping heat in for an earlier start for our vegetables and warm enough to produce higher quality plants.

The kids love the polytunnel and have been helping water the plants the last few days when it has been extra warm.  They are also the perfect size to go into the tunnel and pick the ripe vegetables!

Future Plans

Although we can’t say how good the tunnel will be in the future, it certainly looks very sturdy and I’m sure that next year we’re going to have earlier plants with great quality vegetables!

We will definitely be using the polytunnel as a mini nursery in the earlier months of the year, growing plants for both our garden and allotment.  Fingers crossed it will keep the air warm enough and the pests away, letting our vegetables grow.

Have you tried using a polytunnel?

* This is a collaborative post.