What to sow, plant and harvest from your polytunnel in October
October is the month for clearing and tidying. Your cucumbers and courgettes are likely to be finished and many other plants are getting exhausted and diseased, but hopefully you have a batch of new salad crops ready to plant out now. I always enjoy this time of year when the tunnel or greenhouse becomes completely transformed and rejuvenated again.
Sowing in the Polytunnel
Direct sowing into beds
There is now plenty of space again for sowing directly into the beds. Any salad crop can be sown directly into the ground now or sown into modules for planting out later. The decision is yours.
Planting into beds
I always look forward to planting out the garlic cloves into the beds in October. If you plant them in early October they will be ready and harvested in May just in time before your tomatoes need to be planted. You can also plant overwintering onion sets.
Sowing into modules/pots (18-20°C)
The best time for your overwintering salads was really in September, but if you have missed that date you can still sow them now. They may not be ready before the end of the year but will produce well in late winter until early spring.
- Claytonia (or Winter Purslane) – 5 seeds per cell
- Chervil, Coriander, Dill – 5 seeds per cell each
- Oriental brassica salads (all types) – 5 seeds per cell
- Scallions (Ishikura Bunching) – 10 seeds per cell
- Spinach (annual) – 4 seeds per cell
Harvesting from the Polytunnel
In October the summer crops are fizzling out and their quality declines. You may still harvest some:
Aubergines, basil, calabrese, coriander, Chinese cabbage, courgette, cucumber, dill, Florence fennel, French beans, lettuce, melons, oriental brassica salads, pak choi, parsley, peppers, salads, scallions, spinach and tomatoes.
General Polytunnel maintenance
- Hardly water at all – once a week at the most.
- Ventilate as much as possible.
- Clear all remaining summer crops. Don’t leave any of their crop residues in your tunnel or greenhouse otherwise their relevant pests and diseases will be carried over to the new crops.
- Start chitting your first early potatoes indoors.
- Continue harvesting your winter salads.
- Prepare the soil for the early spring crops by incorporating compost or composted manure into the soil.
- Tidy and clean the tunnel or greenhouse: wash the plastic or glass, clean and tidy away the pots and trays.
- Clean your tools and rub boiled linseed oil onto the handles and a mixture of old oil and diesel to get rid of rust on metal blades.
- Order your seeds, seed potatoes, onion sets and garlic bulbs.
Further Information & Polytunnel Articles
- How to maintain and repair your polytunnel
- Polytunnels & Organic Growing in a Polytunnel
- Polytunnels for Productivity
- Growing in a Polytunnel in January
- Growing in a Polytunnel in February
- Growing in a Polytunnel in March
- Growing in a Polytunnel in April
- Growing in a Polytunnel in May
- Growing in a Polytunnel in June
- Growing in a Polytunnel in July
- Growing in a Polytunnel in August
- Growing in a Polytunnel in September
- Growing in a Polytunnel in October
- Growing in a Polytunnel in November
- Growing in a Polytunnel in December
