Matthew Biggs offers five tips on what to do in the greenhouse to ensure you’re ready for winter.

Sow while it’s warm

While it is still warm and sunny, sow trays, pots or old growing bags in your greenhouse with ‘cut and come again’ crops which you can harvest throughout autumn and into winter. If you are looking for inspirational species ideas, try land cress, oriental salad leaves like pak choi, mizuna and mibuna. Or stick to classic lettuce varieties, like ‘valdor’, chicory and radishes.

Out-of-season flowers

By providing extra warmth, plants which are normally dormant during early autumn and winter months can be ‘woken early’ and will look their best several months ahead of those grown naturally outdoors.

Some, such as hyacinths, are often available as ‘prepared’ bulbs, which means they have been treated to simulate an artificial winter and will therefore spring into growth as soon as planted. Buy quality bulbs in autumn and plant closely in pots using peat-free potting compost and keep them in cool, deep shade under the greenhouse bench until the leaves are 5cm long.

Clear up

Along with spring, autumn provides a natural opportunity to do some essential greenhouse cleaning. Aim to clean up both the inside and outside of your greenhouse on a warm, dry autumn day. Clean the windows of your greenhouse, paying attention to the individual frames.

Remove moss from overlapping panes with an old kitchen knife or plant label. Use a cleaning product which is suited to your particular greenhouse’s glazing system.

Check guttering

Check your gutters are clear of leaves and clean down pipes. Scoop leaves out with your hands, wearing gloves, and flush debris away with a hosepipe or watering can.

While protecting and removing any delicate plants, clean the floor of your greenhouse and disinfect all benches, shelving and equipment.

Get ready for winter

Weigh up whether you want to insulate your greenhouse with bubble wrap during the winter. An important consideration is to maintain a balance between the amount of light, heat conservation and ventilation.

Full insulation reduces the amount of light coming into the greenhouse and increases humidity, which can cause disease problems. To minimise this, be sure to remember to cut holes for the ventilators.

If you live in an area where winters are usually mild, it is worth taking the gamble of not insulating at all but have a heater and protective layers on standby should the weather change. If plants need more than protection from frost, wrap them individually with fleece in the greenhouse.