Green House Gardening

Greenhouse gardening is one of the three different ways of cultivating plants. The first is to have your garden indoors in your house. The second is to utilise your outdoor space for planting crops and flowers and the third in to cultivate under glass in a greenhouse.

Greenhouse gardening is very similar to gardening outside in the garden. The main difference is that a greenhouse gives you options of regulating the temperature and humidity to create the perfect growing conditions.

Plants thrive at temperatures that are slightly lower than what is in our houses. They also prefer a much higher humidity than you will find in the average house. A greenhouse lets you adjust these constraints to give the perfect growing conditions.

When siting a greenhouse and to make sure that the correct amount of sunlight and heat for your greenhouse is taken advantage of is to build it in a spot that gets the maximum amount of sunlight throughout the year. This is especially important during the spring and autumn when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky and hence less light will penetrate over the course of a day. The optimal direction to locate a greenhouse is in a south-east to south-west direction.

Ventilation is important as well and by far the easiest way to regulate this is to open the doors and windows during the day and close them in the evenings. Watch out for frost though and if it looks like it will be a cold day, don’t leave the doors open for too long. On very hot days, hosing down the entire greenhouse floor whilst leaving the ceiling windows open will cool the greenhouse down quickly and efficiently.

To ensure that the air coming in can freely circulate in the greenhouse, ensure that the plants are spread evenly around the area.

The best greenhouse gardening soil mixtures include fir bark, peat moss, sand and vermiculite to assist with drainage. Most plants will be perfectly happy in basic commercial potting compost.

Get compost of good quality though! In the past I’ve been caught out with cheap compost that was very acidic. Needless to say, that was a poor year in the greenhouse.

Large tray beds can be more space efficient that pots and containers so try using them instead although some plants do prefer their own space.

As with any other type of gardening you must give your greenhouse gardening plants plenty of water and ensure they don’t dry out. A proper controlled climate regulates the moisture level with the greenhouse.

Planting in a greenhouse lets you use your imagination. You should have plenty of space to try out new things and with the controlled conditions; it makes sense to try out more exotic plants that you would necessary grow outside.

Plant your vegetables like carrots, beetroot, turnips and other root vegetables in a deep box tray. Make it able to fit under the growing benches. Lettuce and other low leafy vegetables can be planted in tubs with other vegetables that have taller stems. Tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines do well in large tubs.

Let your imagination rule your greenhouse, why not try an exotic grape vine or another fruit that would normally prefer warmer climes. Try out different things and see where your greenhouse gardening takes you!