Overwintering plants in a polytunnel is always tricky. Their demand for water falls right off so you must cut down on watering, but they still need some. There's always the chance of finding one or two that have dried out too far, especially in a crowded tunnel where they are all crammed in together. Some will not recover from this state of affairs, for example, Callistemon. Once their leaves have gone brown and crispy from drought in their plastic pots they've had it (although Callistemon in the garden that have been cut to the ground by winter cold may shoot again from below ground). Overwatering is equally damaging, rotting roots and setting up the conditions for botrytis to take hold on leaves and stems. Tender salvias are among the worst: they'll break out in botrytis at the least opportunity.
I spent a peaceful day at work clearing fallen and dead leaves out of the heated tunnel, and indulging my ancient monkey grooming instincts picking dead and damaged leaves off the plants. It's not a bad place to be on a winter's day, getting some fresh air but out of the wind (which was lively), up close and personal with the plants. Aromatic shrubs are a particular pleasure, giving off great wafts of scent as you touch them: lemon from Aloysia triphylla, a ginger-cum-rosemary flavour off Rosmarinus officinalis 'Green Ginger' and a strange mixture of lavender and sage from Salvia lavandulifolia. I mused on how I could plant all of them, plus the lovely but ever-so-tender Teucrium fruticans 'Azureum', to replace a large patch of curry plant that I am tired of. It is getting straggly and I don't even like the smell, which always makes me think I must need to clean the chickens out. More prosaically I thought that I must pay the same attention to my own conservatory as soon as possible.
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