Premier Polytunnels Blog

Tomatoes are a type of nightshade plant and, contrary to popular belief, they are - in fact - a fruit. They are a versatile food forming the basis of many popular cuisines, including Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern and French. From blitzing them into soups and pasta sauces to adding slices to salads, the possibilities with tomatoes are endless.

Fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes have a much stronger flavour than the average salad variety, making them a tastier choice. As they’re one of the easiest crops to grow, harvesting your own tomatoes can be very rewarding.

Whether you want to stock up on homemade soup for winter, or simply enjoy freshly picked produce, our guide has everything you need to know about how to grow tomatoes.

Whether you have grown your own or are buying, October is the month for all things pumpkin.

Carving a pumpkin for Halloween and creating doorstep displays has become more and more popular, but many people just bin the remains. Did you know you can use every bit of the pumpkin with no waste at all?

To discover some great ideas for making use of every bit of your pumpkin, read on.

If you went to the cinema or logged onto Disney+ (or maybe you've bought the DVD) to watch the new Marvel film, Black Widow, you’ll have seen the first action scene where characters Natasha, Yelena, Melina and Alexei escape from Ohio in an aircraft. Later in the film you’ll also have watched the scenes at Melina’s pig farm in St. Petersburg.

The film is brilliant... but what we’re really excited about is seeing our polytunnels in a Marvel film! We could pretend to be humble and claim it’s just our job, but it’s not every day that we get to see our polytunnels in an actual movie!

Potatoes are a versatile addition to any meal and a mainstay of many dishes, from bangers and mash to the classic Sunday roast. Whether you love them boiled, baked, roasted or as chips, they are a welcome addition. Because they can be prepared in different ways and enjoyed at different times of the day, they can be a useful – and satisfying – crop to grow yourself.

No matter if you’re just starting out with your first vegetable patch and want to begin with growing potatoes or are introducing new crops to your established allotment and want to know how to grow potatoes successfully, we have all the help you need here in our growing guide.

For tips and ideas about growing potatoes, read on.   

Horticultural healing has been tested and proven, showing that, as well as the physical benefits, there are many mental health benefits that come from gardening and spending time in nature.

Many charities now use horticultural therapy to encourage health, well-being and rehabilitation. At one charity, Veterans’ Growth, ex-service personnel can connect with nature and learn new skills as part of the charity’s horticultural therapy approach to improving veterans’ mental health.

The charity works with veterans from the tri-services who are suffering with mental health issues, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). At the Veterans’ Growth site, set in East Sussex farmland, veterans can benefit from being outdoors in a natural environment, interacting with each other and the local community, and learning horticultural skills, such as growing their own food and learning about nutrition.

Following a year of turbulence within the wedding industry, Premier Polytunnels has examined the rise of the back garden wedding in 2021 and highlighted a list of considerations for all couples looking to host their own.

Yesterday, in our ‘thank you’ statement, we mentioned that we have been receiving an unprecedented number of orders and that we are currently experiencing supply-chain issues for some of the raw materials required to manufacture our products.

Unfortunately, due to the global shortages of these essential raw materials, we have had to make the decision to temporarily close our order book for as short a period of time as possible.

The shortages began in March 2020, with the arrival of the coronavirus, and we spent many months last year sourcing and stocking up materials – even to the extent of doubling the size of our storage yard. However, a continued surge of orders on an unprecedented level is quickly seeing our extra stock dwindle. We are awaiting deliveries of materials from the numerous suppliers we work with and we hope that the supply-chain issues do not hold up operations for too long.

Thank you for supporting our family business!

We often speak to customers who think we are a much bigger organisation than we are, which is very flattering. The truth is, we are a small family business based in our small hometown on the Lancashire / Yorkshire border.

Over the last 12 months we have been receiving a very high volume of orders, which puts big smiles on our faces - It also means we are continually adapting our working strategies. Some of the recent changes here at Premier Polytunnels are:

Premier Polytunnels has examined the affect global warming is having on UK gardens, and quizzed British gardeners on their favourite plants to grow at home.

How climate change is affecting plants in the great British Garden

Owing to the year’s events and the restrictions that have come along with them, the UK’s interest in gardening and ‘growing your own’ has spiked in interest over the course of the last year, with people turning to the outdoors as a means of helping their mental health, becoming more self-sufficient, and getting exercise.

Whether you’re a life-long gardener, or a relative newbie to the pastime, climate change and the affect it has are already changing the way in which we sow and nurture our plants. In the UK alone, an increasing annual temperature, winter flooding, and summer droughts combined are altering the types of plants that can thrive in UK soil.

To discover more we asked the nation to tell us about the plants they love to grow at home, and we also asked an expert gardener how global warming may impact the varieties of plants we grow going forward.

What do you use your polytunnel for? While most people grow their own fruit, veg, and crops in theirs, there are plenty of other ways to make use of the space.

It could be that you’re trying to come up with potential commercial opportunities for it. It might be that you’d like to take a break from using it for growing and want to use it for a personal occasion instead.

Whatever you have in mind, to give you some inspiration we’ve focused on two excellent uses for this structure. So, whether you want to use your polytunnel as a wedding venue or transform it into an events space, read on.