Polytunnels are amazing if they are yours, somewhat unattractive if they are your neighbour’s (a hedge in between might help), and most gardens have space for a wee one.

But if you get a regular old polytunnel from Amazon and set it up like the vanilla instructions say, then I am here to tell you could do much better, and I am telling you now before it’s too late.

This video by plantfriends.online conveniently shows the three critical things that we would add ourselves if we were constructing a small home polytunnel, I know the list says 4, that’s fine:

1. Base frame adds stability, a little height, and helps with levelling
2. Door frames at both ends make the frame solid, preventing wobble in high winds
3. If the frame comes with the option of cheap cover, which they usually do on Amazon, don’t buy it. Buy a good quality, UV resistant cover separately, slightly bigger than you think you’ll need
4. Wrap the tunnel frame on a warm sunny day, when the polythene sheet will stretch. When it cools, it will tighten.

When you reinforce a tunnel this way, you can even build a solid one from wibbly wobbly materials like this DIY project involving water pipe: