Greenhouse Gardening:
The best thing about utilising a greenhouse is the fact that you can successfully grow a wider range of plants than if you didn’t have one. Weather conditions normally hamper growing plants straight in the ground, without a greenhouse or coldframe as they do not benefit from getting the boost of the warm environment of a greenhouse.
For many hardy vegetable the greenhouse is the best place to start them off as this will yield an earlier harvest and a longer growing season if planted in a controlled pattern over time.
Temperature Control:
To keep the temperature down over summer, and therefore stopping excessive heat damaging your plants, follow these steps:
- Cover the glass with liquid shading to provide shade inside the greenhouse
- Open the vents, doors and windows to allow air to circulate, ventilating the greenhouse.
- Water you plants regularly.
What to Grow:
Tomatoes: The good old tomato is the most popular thing to grow in your greenhouse and you can’t really fail to get a good healthy crop as long as you water regularly, may be give the plants a quality feed now and again and allow insects to pollinate the flowers. You can get toms in a huge range of shapes and colours and different varieties yield different amounts. A greenhouse is best suited for a cordon type of tomato that will grow upright when trained up a cane instead of needing to spread out over the ground. As the tomato plant grows remember to pinch out all the side shoots to make the plant grow higher quicker.
Cucumbers: Sow individual seeds in 7.5cm pots in mid March then transplant them in to a 30cm pot in May. Cucumber plants climb so you’ll need to make something to allow them to do this, bamboo canes set at an angle will be fine. Wire attached to the greenhouse will also work well. Remember to nip away the growing shoots after five or six leaves have appeared and then train the plant to the support. Cucumbers, like tomatoes, need to be watered well and fed every couple of weeks with high potash and organic feed.
Peppers: Sweet peppers and chilli peppers are a common favourite to be grown in a greenhouse as they need a minimum of 12 degrees in temperature to grow properly. They can be grown outside, but you are more likely to get a good crop when they are placed in a greenhouse environment. Sow the pepper seeds in April directly into 7.5cm pots and then when it is time transplant them in to 20cm pots. Again water regularly and when they ripen sweet peppers change from green to red, yellow, dark purple and orange and their flavour becomes sweeter.
Aubergines: Although an acquired taste the egg plant, as they are commonly known, are similar to peppers as they are a related plant and also related to tomatoes. Aubergines need a lot of warmth and sowing them in to 7.5cm pots in March to help them to germinate. Make sure to soak the seeds in warm water for day first. Transplant in to 20cm pots when they reach 10cm in height pinching out the growing tips to develop a bushier plant. Use canes to support the plants and when the fruit is ripe the fruit is either dark purple or white or scarlet for ornamental varieties.
There are, of course, many other things you can grow in a greenhouse and over time you can become more adventurous and the larger the greenhouse the great the range or larger the crop of fruit and vegetables. Always remember to keep checking your plants and make sure they are watered and fed regularly.
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