I may not have got most of the infrastructure work I'd hoped to done in the garden this year, owing to crappy weather and too much work, but at least I haven't fallen behind on my planting. On Sunday I finally managed to get the winter planting done for the polytunnel (high tunnel), which will be crucial for the cold weather and for next year's hungry gap (that's the name given to the period from March to May, when very few crops are ready to harvest).
One of the problems faced by tunnel growers is the dilemma of summer versus winter planting. Polytunnels are fabulous growing tools, and act pretty much like a greenhouse throughout the summer for a fraction of the price. The trouble is that if you want to, you can still be cutting cucumbers through October, and it could be Hallowe'en before you decide to cut your losses and make chutney out of any tomatoes that didn't quite make it to ripeness; and by then, of course, it's too late to plant most things. Harvesting from a high tunnel all year round requires a few compromises.
When you hit the last planting date for the tunnel in your area – and here in Dorset that's about now – then it's time to make a few hard choices. On Sunday I took out three melons that were going to achieve nothing more, poor things, and planted corn salad (aka lamb's lettuce, machê) in their slot. I gave the cucumbers a long, meaningful look before taking all the leaves off to a height of 2', allowing me to plant rocket – a hugely important ingredient of our winter salads - underneath them.
The remaining tomatoes likewise had their pyjama bottoms stolen before being undersown with vast quantities of spring onions, and so it went on. Other winter planting that got shoehorned in included two types of lettuce, radish, perpetual spinach (pre-grown in modules), peppery mizuna, vast quantities of carrots, a couple of cauliflower, and a few mooli. Everything there will play an important part in our diet through winter and spring (except possibly the mooli, which I should really make more of an effort with). Although the tunnel's looking very gappy now, getting the autumn planting done is one of the times of the year where I give a happy...
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Cursing our zone 3 up here. Our tunnel usually freezes solid by mid-October - though 2 years ago, the cold weather held off and we had lettuce in early November (miraculous!)
Had a quick read over at yours - you should read Eliot Coleman's "Four Season Harvest" for some help with that cold weather thing, as you can still be eating out of the tunnel even when it turns really cold (Coleman farms in Maine). There are also some tricks in my own Polytunnel Handbook - but it isn't out until the spring. I'll be burbling about it then. Good luck for the winter, and enjoy those fabulous squashes!
Interested to see you have sown carrots, the 'experts' seem to be divided over whether this works - do they germinate now and just lurk for the winter, or do they wait to germinate as the temperatures and light levels rise?
At the arse-end of the world, I'm planting chillies, basil, capsicum, toms, with marigolds to deter the whitefly...(any suggestions?) more lettuce, strawberries, (trying to keep the birds from eating them all always proves challenging).
Now I have to hope that I can keep them alive amid the searing summer heat and accompanying water restrictions. The chillies always do well in these conditions. And yes, I cuss at them now and again HW in order to encourage them to be extra hot and feisty.
Not having a poly tunnel(yet) I planted out my hungery gap stuff a month a go (cauli's, purple sproutin, caverlo nero etc), all of which have been destroyed by catapillars.
Does your soon to be published book tell you how to make a tunnel on the cheap?!
Kent: They're right to be divided, since you need about ten days where the temps don't fall down too far - but from experience I know that I can get away with this time of year. It's all about balance - I'm sowing earlier than I'd like to, but as late as I can get away with!
Docwitch: Whitefly? Fleece susceptible plants before the little bastards arrive. If it's too late, you've got a choice between insecticidal soap - knock the plants to disturb the flies, then spray them as they fly up - and the biocontrol Delphastus pusillus applied under fleece.
Cheezy: We've got a chapter on DIY tunnels, but they're not much cheaper than commercial ones unless you've got access to cheap materials. There are second-hand frames on ebay from time to time - just be prepared to recover them and make new door frames, and you're away!
I'm sometimes tempted by a polytunnel, until I see what the winter storms and heavy snow have done to the newest one to be erected in the surrounding area. Every year a couple go up and every year they get flattened.
Instead, we fall back on those Scottish staples of tatties, neeps and kale, plus clamped carrots, beets, turnips and parsnips. It's enlivened with endless varieties of pickles, chutneys, relishes and jams, plus frozen peas and broad beans once a week. It's very good, although a lot of people suspect it's not.
Hmm - a properly erected tunnel should be able to withstand pretty much anything - after all if they'll stay up in the Orkneys they'll stay up anywhere - but it's a significant (and uninsurable) risk. If you did decide you wanted one it'd be a good idea to plant up a shelter belt, and let that get well established before buying a tunnel.
Another option is the indestructible Keder house, but who's got that kind of money?
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