LATE AUTUMN TASKS FOR TUNNELHOUSES

In the tunnelhouse, it’s time to clean up after summer and autumn crops. Empty the space of all vegetation, adding the healthy material to your compost heap and the suspect to the incinerator. Rake out roots as well and deposit those outside. Cultivate the soil and consider whether it needs to be replaced or at least enriched with fresh compost. Do a simple pH test to check the acidity levels of your soil and if necessary, make adjustments to that, most likely with an application of lime.

Give the soil a good, deep watering to wash away accumulated salts and while you have hose in hand, wash and wipe the transparent surfaces

of your tunnelhouse, using white vinegar as a cleaning agent if there’s any moss, mould or grime present. Many people plant potatoes in the tunnelhouse now to grow over winter for a out-ofseason treat and you might like to experiment with this. Brassicas that do well outside over winter can do even better when grown under the cover of plastic, so long as you are watchful for insect and fungal harm.

directly into where you’d like them to grow. Take single segments that include two nodes and lay them horizontally in the soil, about 5cm deep. Tree dahlias grow very tall, so choose somewhere sheltered, or where they can be tethered. Tree dahlias flower late in the season and their large ephemeral flowers are delightful against a winter sky. Being a fast-growing plant, they need soil that is both rich and well irrigated. Set among other tall plants growing in a wellnourished part of the garden, these huge, flowering plants will excite visitors to your garden with their pastel blooms.