Enjoy Fresh Veggies in Winter with Greenhouse Vegetable Gardening
You can cultivate vegetables in the dead of winter utilizing greenhouse vegetable gardening methods. To raise vegetables in a greenhouse is nearly identical to raising them outdoors throughout the summertime. There are just several added things you need to do to imitate what nature would do naturally.
You can use a portable greenhouse two different ways. One way is making use of the cold greenhouse system where the sun heats the greenhouse when it is shining. Night temperatures can go as low as 45 degrees F and beyond that a heating element will maintain that 45 degrees no matter what the temperature is outside. Plants are only maintained to be planted outside again in the summertime utilizing this system, however they do not grow. Rosemary is a good example of a plant that will winter over in a cold greenhouse.
To grow vegetables in a garden greenhouse in the wintertime you need warmth and this means that you would use the warm greenhouse method. This method does tend to cost a bit of money since the least temperature that can be maintained is 55 degrees F and accordingly a heating system needs to be available. Most heating systems for greenhouses are either gas, propane or electric.
Most veggies can be cultivated in a greenhouse. There are several forms of each vegetable that are available in plants developed specially for greenhouse growing. Look in seed catalogs to find those types. You want to try to find varieties that will thrive in cooler temperatures than usual. You also want to find kinds that are more compact because room is at a minimum in a greenhouse.
One of the things you will need to offer your greenhouse vegetables apart from heat is pollination. You won’t find any bees or other insects in your greenhouse that you would in the outdoors. A great example is raising tomatoes. Tie tomatoes to bamboo stakes and once the flowers appear tap the stakes once in the morning and once at nighttime. Do this when you see that the flower petals are curving backwards. You must watch daily because you only have a three day window of time that the flower petals will do this.
Since there is not a good deal of sunlight throughout the wintertime you must add sunlight by using grow lights. Most vegetables need at least eight hours of light a day. Obviously, the plants will also need to be watered and fertilized on a regular basis.
Cultivating vegetables in a greenhouse in the winter might be a somewhat more challenging and time consuming, however the results can be astounding. Just think of going out to the greenhouse mid January and harvesting a tomato right off the vine. You will have a little taste of summertime in the dead of wintertime.
Greenhouses are easy to build and maintain, and are available in an assortment of sizes and materials to suit every home and budget. You can even get an indoor greenhouse if you don’t have a backyard. Learn more at Garden Greenhouses.