The above picture was taken just the other weekend and since then we have had days of drizzle and 6pm type darkness at 9am and the clocks haven’t even gone back yet!
We heard a good thing this weekend from a gardening mate. They were saying don’t expect miracles from a polytunnel as the temperature inside during winter is only a couple of degrees warmer than the outside but those couple of degrees do make a difference when it comes to frost etc. We are making sure during the colder spells we only open the ventilation flaps at the side for small amounts of time and that no heat can escape thanks to some bubble wrap around the door frame (above).
The more delicate plants in there are going to covered too so we can create a greenhouse within a greenhouse type effect. We have already lifted some of the plants in pots off the floor on pieces of wood and even stuck some on some old tea trays. Anything to stop them touching the cold ground.
Last week we noticed that a seed tray in there with a lid on the top is now home to some germinated star-of-Bethlehem seeds that we were kindly sent by Debby H earlier this year. We have now moved them to the kitchen windowsill, and we will keep you posted on how they do. They are usually propagated by bulbs but we’ll give the seeds a try.
Also started off from seed, we have a couple of Korean Mint (Agastache rugosa) plants and the leaves taste and smell of aniseed. They supposedly have some great purple flowers which the bees and butterflies are attracted to as well. We don’t want to lose these to the cold weather (even in the polytunnel) so it looks like the bubble wrap/net curtains will be draped over these too when the cold comes. Please weather, be kind to us!
Big shout to Jesse Yuen and friends 
Thanks to Kit G5KIT in Bristol who sent us these great pictures of his chilli plant and he wrote: “Remember those little chilli seedlings from earlier in the year? We’ve given most of them away, but kept the biggest one – and we took our first crop yesterday. The chillies aren’t very big, maybe 20mm long for the largest ones, but boy do they pack a punch. They’re not called ‘Demon Reds’ for nothing; they’re about 194,000 on the scoville scale of heat!” Wow that is crazy Kit!
It’s also on Totally Radio on Sundays at 6pm 
Another big shout out to our good friends across the pond Dr Strangedub and DJ Baby Swiss of the excellent radio show The Echo Chamber on KFAI. We’ve said this countless times, but if you want to hear reggae, dub, downbeat and beyond, tune in from 8 – 12 UK time on a Wednesday morning 
