If you are thinking about staging for your new polytunnel, or are considering how to increase production in your polytunnel by improving the existing staging that you have in place, the only limit to what you can use is your imagination. There are plenty of ways to create staging on which to start seedlings, pot plants and place containers. To help you make the most of the space in your growing areas, here are five cool DIY staging ideas for your polytunnel:
One of the simplest ways to get a shelved area of staging is simply to use an old, wooden stepladder. These can often be picked up very cheaply, or even found for free. Use one stepladder on its own to create a small vertical garden unit for placing pots, or create a much larger area of staging by using two stepladders to support a series of shelves on which you can place your plants.
If you do simply want a bench area, or some shelving, wood is often one of the cheapest and best materials to use. Wooden pallets are often free or cheap to acquire and can be perfect to use to construct these basic woodworking projects for your polytunnel. For simplicity and ease, you may simply even be able to use a wooden pallet as is to provide a few small shelves for pots.
Another simple and affordable way to make DIY staging for a polytunnel is to use reclaimed bricks and planks to make a bench or shelving. The key to sustainability is to make use of whatever materials you are able to source locally, rather than buying in new materials to make your staging.
If you want your staging to be beautiful as well as useful, you could craft something stunning using clay and glass bottles to built up the base, before topping it with wood or whatever you would like to use to make the surface to your bench staging.
Another simple DIY staging idea for polytunnels where space may be limited is to create hanging shelves that can be stowed up out of the way when not in use. Such staging can be made by crafting shelves from mesh, stapled to a lightweight wooden frame, for example, which are then suspended by chains from the crop bars in your polytunnel.
