Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

Welcome to Relaxed Farming

The polytunnel plan Our polytunnel consists of 14 sets of uprights which are 1.8m high at the sides, and 2.5m high in the middle. At 23m long by 6m wide, the polytunnel is large enough for three 'rows' of beds - most of which are just 18cm high. The exceptions are the asparagus and salad beds to one end which are 72cm high. The walkways between the beds are 65cm wide, and there is a gap between the outside beds and the frame of 10cm. There is a 2m area at the bottom end of the polytunnel (to the left on the plan), and a 1m area at the top (right hand side). The beds were made especially to hold the soil and compost in, preventing it spreading across the walkways. The size of each bed was created in order that we could reach across to weed and plant without walking on them. The high salad bed was created in order that we have a warm area - fresh compost is popped in this bed in the spring to rot, which becomes warm during the rotting process, providing extra heat to help seeds germinate. This compost is covered with a layer of commercially bought sterile compost - we do not want nasty microbes in our salad! The asparagus needs a very deep bed, and once established the plants should last for 20 to 25 years. Click to download the polytunnel plan as a pdf file The polytunnel plan