Gardening in a greenhouse is one of the best ways to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you get to grow each year. The reason for this is that you get to take advantage of warm weather long before the last frost and long after the first frost.
On this page I’ll go over what you can grow in a greenhouse, how to heat a greenhouse, and how to get the most out of your harvests. If you’d like to skip this and go straight to my reviews on greenhouses, please click here.
Firstly, you need to decide whether or not you are going to be gardening in a greenhouse to get a few extra months, or whether or not you are trying to grow food in it all year round.
Greenhouses that will be used in areas with very cold winters, will need to be more robust than ones that are just extending your growing time. These will also need heaters to keep the temperatures above freezing during long cold nights.
This being said, you can get a lot of extra vegetables just by growing in a small unheated greenhouse. Also, the cost of a greenhouse that is not built for year round use is much lower. The key issue there is just to recognize that you will need to grow plants that can tolerate cooler temperatures.
For instance, I’ve seen people growing lettuce in an unheated greenhouse even when it is snowing outside. This is because lettuce is cold hearty and can deal with cooler temperatures better than plants like watermelons.
Gardening In A Greenhouse With Heat
If you decide to go the heated greenhouse route, you can pretty much grow whatever you want all year round. You’ll just need to keep in mind that although your plants are warm, they will not be getting as much sun during the winter months, and may not grow as fast.
This can be avoided by growing plants that do not need full sun or by supplementing the sun light with some grow lights. Grow lights are very inexpensive to buy and to run and can be put on an inexpensive timer.
Herb gardens can also do very well in shaded areas or during winter months when there is a lack of sun.
Below are some reviews on greenhouses. Just keep in mind that gardening in a greenhouse can also mean making a greenhouse. If you make you’re greenhouse, you’ll get to build it to your specifications and you’ll most likely save money.
Greenhouse Reviews
Extended Growth Greenhouses
The ShelterLogic® GrowIT® Greenhouse-in-a-Box™, 10 ft. x 10 ft. x 8 ft
When you are looking for a large, ready-made kit, this greenhouse can’t be beat. It has over a hundred square feet to garden in and it’s ceiling is high enough to grow dwarf and miniature trees in.
For instance, you could grow meyer lemon trees and other citrus trees that do not need any chill hours.
In addition to being UV, mold, and fugus resistant, it also has a very durable steel frame.
It’s also much less expensive than similar sized ones that you would find on Amazon or any of the other big box online stores.
The Gardman R688 Walk-In Greenhouse
For those of you looking for something smaller, the Gardman makes a nice little walk in greenhouse.
This greenhouse is large enough that you can start many plants early in the year so that you’ll have a big jump on the growing season.
Small herb gardens could also be grown inside of this greenhouse during the end of the growing season, but you wouldn’t be able to grow a lot of larger plants like tomatoes and cucumbers to full growth inside of a greenhouse of this size.
Why not start gardening in a greenhouse today?
