Polytunnel Potential for Bicton College

Motivated by rising food and fuel costs and concerns over Genetic Modified crops, Bicton College has taken the ‘food fight’ into its own hands.

From melons, aubergines and grapes, to lemongrass and the highly profitable Thai Basil, Bicton College horticulturalists and volunteers are determined to produce high quality, chemical free fruit and veg.

Andrea Rye, a Horticulture Instructor at Bicton College is proud to promote natural growing. “We don’t use any chemicals in our growing and encourage natural growth so our food tastes just as it should and we are working towards being 100% organic.”

A surprising addition to the growing supply of edibles is the abundance of water melons on site.

Inspired by glass house growing at Kew Gardens, Andrea and her team set about growing water melons at Bicton College.

She said: "We’ve had resounding success with the water melons, last year we planted them in the glass houses but with limited root space they didn’t grow. This year I put the seed in the polytunnel and look! They’ve taken over!”

Another great food to grow in the polytunnel is lemongrass. "They told me I couldn’t do it so I set out to prove people wrong.” Andrea says. Lemongrass is a herb not traditionally grown in the UK and is commonly used in Asian cooking. It’s well-known for its strong citrus taste and rough, grass-like texture.

Due to the rapid decline in bee and other pollinator species, the college needed a strong attraction for the bugs to keep the crops producing. In one case the volunteers actually had to pollinate the aubergines by hand using a paintbrush as the aubergine flowers were not attracting enough pollinators. This resulted in the horticulture team spending a month to sow a Wild Flower Garden. Originally the plot was used for growing squashes and pumpkins but is now a sea of blue, red and yellow flowers and the area is full of bees, hover flies and butterflies.

The volunteers at Bicton College are clearly dedicated and passionate about this project.

“I’ve been helping here for four and a half years now and I thoroughly enjoy it. The change in produce over the last few years has been phenomenal and it’s great to see an institution like this try and be more sustainable,” says volunteer Andy.