Growing Fruit And Veg In A Cold Greenhouse

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It is not difficult to produce high quality fruit and veg in a cold greenhouse, in fact you can even produce crops that would normally be restricted to much warmer climates, such as cucumbers,melons,tomatoes,chillis and peppers. The shelter provided by the cold greenhouses provide a long enough (and warm enough) season to successfully grow and ripen these vegetables and fruits. Because of the freshness and the lack of chemicals used, your own produced fruit and veg always tastes that mucg better than those bought in the stores. You are also doing your bit for the environment by not consumung all those air miles in the purchase chain. Especially if you practice organic greenhouse gardening techniques.

The additional costs involved in heating and ventilating a heated greenhouse will often overshadow the advantages to be gained with a fully heated greenhouse, even though the gains in crops can be very good. A well situated cold greenhouse can provide a lot of sheler and aditional heat in early spring, allowing you to sow seed earlier and get your crops growing earlier. It will also prolong the growing season by providing extra shelter from those cold winds in the autumn. You can also overwinter frost tender plants by providing some simple additional double insulation with bubble wrap. You will get much more enjoyment from your greenhouse gardening

What to Grow in a cool Greenhouse

Your main crops to grow will be the previously mentioned traditional cold greenhouse summer crops. However you can also use the cool greenhouse to produce high quality inexpensive fruit. Most fruit occupies little space in the greenhouse if grown against the wall or the roof. Some, however, like grape vines may exclude light during summer. This should not be a problem, since during summer you are often shading the greenhouse to keep it cooler.

Because it is that much warmer inside the greenhouse than outside, it is possible to grow early vegetables in it, lettuce and radish come to mind. The cold greenhouse is also good for raising plants from seed, for planting out later. You need to bear in mind the earliest date at which the soil will be warm enough to plant out, before deciding to sow seed in the greenhouse. There is no point in sowing too early. You will only end up with leggy, soft plants which will be open to attack from pests and diseases.

The cold greenhouse is also great for growing many of the herbs from the mediteranean countries.If these are grown in large pots, they can be placed near the kitchen door, for easy harvesting during the summer, and then kept growing overwinter in the cold greenhouse. giving you fresh herbs through the winter.

Many outdoor vegetables can be given an early start by raising small plants from seed in the greenhouse, and then planting out when large enough, and the weather is suitable. Leeks and Sweetcorn should both be grown in 3″ pots until their girth is the size of a pencil, then plant them out. You will save the task of thinning out in your vegetable beds, and will also vave no gaps due to poor germination.

Many flowering and foliage plants can be raised from seed in the cool greenhouse. This is an inexpensive way to provide both indoor plants (such as coleus) as well as bedding plants for your garden. The cost of raising bedding plants as compared to buying them is about 100 to 1. That in itself makes the cool greenhouse a viable proposition.

Owning and using a cold greenhouse is so satisfying that once you have tried one, you will never want to be without it.