Polytunnel Pottering

It is said that March comes in like a lion, and out like a lamb. Well it certainly came roaring and rampaging in this week, as ferocious gales and torrents of rain have been lashing Newhouse Farm. I've become more aware of the ups and downs of the weather since I moved to Cornwall, probably because I'm spending so much more time outside than I ever did in London. Fortunately James and I managed to seek some solace from the wind and rain the past few days as we've been working in the polytunnel in order to prepare for the imminent arrival of spring.

The Strawbridge's motto of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle is certainly applicable to this polytunnel, as they bought it second hand from a garden centre instead of buying a new one. It is situated in front of the main composting area that James and I sorted out a month ago. The polytunnel's proximity to the compost is rather appropriate, as approaching from a distance you could be excused for thinking that it looks like a giant saggy worm, as its quite wrinkly and has drooped somewhat in the middle. But appearances are most certainly deceptive, because the inside of the polytunnel is a hive of productivity. Shelves are bursting with pots and trays and raised beds line each of the sides. There's even a pond teeming with frogs which provides a natural form of pest control, as the frogs hop around and eat up all the slugs and snails.

Despite the inhospitable weather, the polytunnel needed to be given a thorough spring clean. First up was the job of dusting the mountainous stack of assorted pots and trays. Without wanting to sound like too much of a wimp, there's one creature at the farm I simply cannot stand: spiders. I know they're harmless and eat flies and are generally wonderful, but they look revolting and move too fast. I've never liked them, and I certainly never will. So the moment I first set foot inside the polytunnel my internal spider alarm went off. This was prime spider territory, and the stack of cobwebby pots I was about to clean was clearly going to be home to some big hairy monsters.

Not wanting to act like a total 'just set foot outside the city' wuss in front of James, I took a deep breath and started gingerly brushing the pots. They were full of dust, dried soil, and clumps of cobwebs, which all needed to be cleaned out in order to be ready for planting. I was doing relatively ok with my method of first examining each pot for spiders, and then holding it at arms length whilst I vigorously brushed it, until I came to pot number 11. When I picked this pot up a great big hairy beast was attached to the bottom and despite trying to look 'tough' I let out a great big girly squeal. This was about as much as James could take, so I got demoted to weeding, a job that I was secretly much happier with.

After several hours I'd managed to weed all the raised beds and the rest of the polytunnel, and James had done a great job of cleaning, de-spidering, and organising the polytunnel interior. Now we needed to feed the beds with compost so that the soil would be nice and rich for us to plant seeds into. We brought in several of the bags of Newhouse Farm compost, which we dug into each of the beds. Then James spotted some other older bags of natural compost at the back of the polytunnel. We decided it would be a good idea to use these in some of the beds as well. We grabbed one of the bags, cut it open, tipped it onto a bed, and were sent reeling from the overwhelming smell. It was absolutely foul! A combination of very bad eggs, poo, and something rotten, made worse by the smell being trapped in the still, warm air of the polytunnel with nowhere to go. It may have smelt like hell but the compost looked very good quality, a very dark and rich consistency. No doubt the plants would love it.

Then we set to work planting seeds. Peas, lettuce, cauliflowers, tomatoes, basil, chives, coriander, garlic, onions, radicchio, peppers, courgettes... we carefully planted them all. Some of the seeds, such as lettuce, we sowed in neat little rows directly into the beds, sticking a label made of old broken tiles in at the end to identify them. But other seeds, such as tomatoes and courgettes, we planted individually into little pots placed onto gravel trays for drainage. It seems the idea is not to plant everything in one go, but to plant seeds in succession every few weeks. This avoids having a mountain of one type of vegetable ready to harvest in one go, and instead allows you to harvest a little and often.

Finally the freshly planted seeds were given a good soaking from the watering can. The Strawbridges have created an ingenious device called the Ram Pump, whilst allows water from the stream to be pumped uphill without using any electricity. Instead the natural force of the water, which runs through the ram pump, forces itself through a pipe uphill into a large water tank next to the polytunnel. As you may be able to tell I don't really understand how the ram pump works, but it's something to do with the height the water has to travel being 1 tenth of its energy... or something like that. Physics and maths was never my strong point at school! Anyway, its very ingenious and means all the plants in the polytunnel can be easily watered with free spring water.

Now that the polytunnel is up and running its a really tranquil place to hang out and work. It's certainly a very different environment to the London office I used to work in, surrounded by buzzing computers, telephones ringing, and the dryness of air conditioning. Considering the polytunnel is basically just one big sheet of plastic covering some metal hoops it's surprisingly warm and humid inside. It's so lovely to be quietly working away, hearing the frogs crocking contentedly in the pond, and breathing in the warm, damp air. In a few days time the first seedlings should be showing their heads. Once they've grown big enough they'll be ready to plant into the outdoor beds. But for now they're sheltered inside the polytunnel as the wind and rain buffets the plastic sheeting as if it were a giant sail. Fingers crossed this old polytunnel manages to weather the storm and survive for a while longer.

Really Useful Planting ideas that'll save you loads of money:

• Peas can be planted in guttering because it's a readily available waste material that makes a great tray for pea seedlings. By perforating the length of it for drainage, then filling with compost, the peas are given a great start inside before inevitably being planted out. Sliding them off the guttering is easy and guarantees straight rows.

• Pots and trays can be expensive, so here's a thought for next time you're sitting on the loo. Collect the finished cardboard loo rolls and use them to plant carrots and parsnips in. By filling them with compost, planting the seeds, the roots vegetables are encouraged to grow straight, long, uniform roots. The advantage is they are biodegrable. Reusing instead of recycling.

• Labelling to identify what you've planted is obviously a very good idea. Using waste milk cartons, old wall tiles and bits of slate are all good, and gives you the chance to be creative and give your planting area a unique and practical look. Plus it saves you spending lots of money on fancy and expensive labels from garden centres.

• James' new favourite activity "in the world" (to quote him) is to make hanging baskets out of just about anything he can source. He's been using left over willow from the willow pollarding we did in February, and customising kitchen vegetable baskets he got for cheap from a car boot sale. They look really good and are just as practical as the expensive ones you can buy. We've planted tomatoes and strawberries in them, which we're starting off in the polytunnel until the weather gets a bit milder.