Final Few Months of the Year.

Normally, as Autumn starts to creep in on our plot, we start to clear everything out and batten down the hatches for winter. This time of year is also the time we will cover all the beds in cardboard (no dig) and cover that with compost and manure. Also it's hard to get the kids down to the plot when it's wet and cold, even when we have a heater in the shed!

As you can see in the photo, we use a base of cardboard with a good layer of manure on top of it.

But this year it's different, this year we are going to try and carry growing in our tunnel all year round. I am not yet sure how I will bribe the children but if you have any good ideas let me know. As well as growing food in the colder months, I will also be finishing off the beds as I only got half way through what I wanted to do before it got too hot to work in there.

Winter Projects

As for the DIY work, I have been collecting pallet wood all summer and now have enough to carry on the beds around the top corner across the rear door opening. This then leaves me with the right-hand side of the tunnel to create staging for seedlings. In the diagram below you can see what my vision is. I also need to build a rear door frame as at the moment, we only have a screen up and this will just let loads of cold air in.

the bottom right layout is what we ended up going with, but we changed the staging from the rear to the right.

Getting my Polytunnel ready for winter growing

First of all, I will be cleaning out the polytunnel, clearing the beds of old crops as these can block the light from getting to the new crops. I will also feed and turn over the soil before planting any winter crops. Next of all, I will sweep the floor, not only to stop the clutter for my own safety but old rotting vegetation can harbour diseases and you risk losing your new crops.

Next I will check the tunnel for any damage, I have noticed a few little holes in the cover. I can only think this has happened from birds trying to get the flies during the summer, as one thing we didn't know about is the large amount of flies that would be in the tunnel. I fixed this problem by getting some fly tape off amazon. These are a great trap to catch flies their made of paper coated with a sweetly fragrant, but extremely sticky and sometimes poisonous substance that traps flies and other flying insects when they land upon it.

If you find any holes make sure you repair them with tape, this will stop any cold air creeping in and harming your new crop and also these holes cause stress points which when the wind picks up they could fail and become larger. Once I have checked and repaired the cover, I will also give it a good clean, this is again to help get as much light in the tunnel as possible and also clear of any mould that may have formed during the summer. Last of all, I am thinking of using bubble wrap to help insulate the tunnel in the colder months of winter, whether I will find a way to hang the bubble wrap or I will just cover the beds with it, I have not yet decided.

What to Grow in the Winter

First of all, I am going to try and keep growing some form of lettuce all year round. Once I have finished off the new beds, there will be a dedicated bed for salad. As this is our first winter with a tunnel I am not planning on letting it get out of control and plant loads of crops. I am thinking of selecting a few things we will eat and concentrating on growing them well. So, I plan to grow winter lettuce, Radish, Carrots, Garlic, Kale ( we have Kale growing already, so I will leave these in place) . Last of all is Broad Beans, I think these can be planted late autumn early winter and be picked in spring.

A good book to read for information on polytunnel growing.

I will keep you all posted on my progress , but if you guys plan on growing anything different then please let me know. Also if you have any tips on winter growing, again please message me. This is all new to me so any help or advice would be amazing.