Use of greenhouse in winter - advise please

[Storming Norman]

Hello,

I am new to this website so please guide me if this info is elsewhere and I just missed it.

This year I really got the growing my own veg bug. I have been growing in my small veg patch for 20 years the usual suspects and with moderate success. However I had new paths built and supplemented my soil with 'recycled compost' from a professional source and the difference in usability and output of my clay soil is remarkable [and very tasty]

My bug has now spread to the use of my 6'x6' greenhouse - I need help with this. I have had this paved greenhouse for 20 years and grow lovely tomatoes and cucumbers each summer but up to now nothing in the winter.

So how does the cold greenhouse work in the winter? I have a number of baby lettuces, raddishes, spinach & oriental greens planted in October, plus a still struggling chilli plant and a substantial Vietnamese Corriander [very tasty!] which are just coping. There is no chance of heating so where is the best bit of my greenhouse for plants right now? It is sunk under the new path levels -around 6" on 3 sides. So is the paved base now protected? Does stuff grown better on the shelves and staging - is it less frosty? How do I bubble wrap and how high up, given that the lettuce are winter varieties. The door fits rather poorly - is that the best ventilation or should I bubble wrap the small gap at the top? Two sides of the greenhouse are protected by adjacent fence and shed so this area is sheltered from winds. I live south of London.

All guidance is welcome - thank you.

Ann

[bobleponge]

Stormin,
I have a bucket of carrots currently in mine, as well as 2 fig trees, a banana tree, a lemon tree, some ginger and some winter salads. I dont bubble wrap mine but I do live further south than you, although it does get very cold where I live too
This is a pure guess but given that heat rises, and also that the sunken down area wont see quite as much sunlight as the rest of it, I would have anythin you wanted to keep up on the staging.
Nick the Grief may well be along to give his expert advice if he sees this thread, he is far far more knowledgable than me on this subject.

[Two_Sheds]

How do I bubble wrap and how high up, given that the lettuce are winter varieties.

Hi, welcome
Can you put your location into your profile? It helps when giving advice

---------

Winter lettuce can be outdoors. It doesn't need to be in a greenhouse, although it will certainly appreciate a bit of protection from the elements.

I don't heat my greenhouse either ... we don't get much in the way of cold weather here, but I still don't start anything until about Feb .. it's too dark, daylight hours are too short.

Come Feb, the sweet peas, onions and leeks get started, then broad beans.

At the moment I have the following in my cold greenhouse:
broad beans
sweet peas
onions
sweet william
echinops seedlings
geranium cuttings
fuchsia cuttings

a banana, which may be dead
lavender cuttings (def. dead: I just can't do them)

[smallblueplanet]

Well the old boy next door goes in his to smoke his pipe....


....I think his missus doesn't like him smoking!

[Snadger]

Well the old boy next door goes in his to smoke his pipe....


....I think his missus doesn't like him smoking!

Probably as good as using a fumigation cone!

[nick the grief]

Probably as good as using a fumigation cone!

I was going to say shelter from the rain and drink tea ... I don't smoke anymore

Hi Norman,

A lot depends on whether you heat it or not. Bit late now but Tubs of Carrots( Amsterdam forcing and the likes) are good as boble says. I've usually got a tub or two of tatties in mine as well (Most impressive on Christmas Day if you can turn up with new potatoes. And I always start some off after Christmas to get them earlier than in the ground. I usually grow Swift ( they haulms are shorter), Charlotte - nice flavour and Elizabeth again good flavour.

You could plant some pots of peas for an early crop - any of the early varieties.

French beans do well in pots as well - I grow The Prince -1 in a 3litre pot.

Salads are ok as well if you like them or you can be really trendy and grow these baby leaves like the posh restaurants.


As to bubblewrap, don't buy the cheap stuff used for packaging - it's not UV protected and just falls apart. Get the proper horticultural grade stuff and if possible the big bubbles as it blocks less light - important if you are growing in winter. as an absolute minimum I would do the north side and the roof as hot air rises. But better yet is to do the house it will save you about 33% on any heating costs. I leave mine up all year as it offers a bit of shade later on in the summer ( if you can remember what summer is)

If you have staging up you can line the bit below the staging with sheets of Builders Polystyrene as this will keep the heat loss down then if you pin blac plastic under your staging (assuming it's slatted) and around it to form a dark tent, then you can force stuff like asparagus, chicory and rhubarb.

Most important consideration will be where to put the other greenhouse though cos once you start I bet a 6x6 won't be big enough ... you ask the others

[Storming Norman]

New Greenhouse???

Hi NTG & all the others who replied,

Thanks for your thoughts - some good one there & appreciated. Great idea about insulating the staging, never thought of carrots either - what sort? It's too late for that or potatoes I suppose now but a good start for next year as I grow so much in patio pots they could be started off sooner - well I won't get them all as you can imagine.

There is NO WAY to get a bigger greenhouse in [oh how I wish] - I could have squeezed something slightly large in when I put this up but now there is just too much else going on and I would loose chunks of my smallish outdoor growing patch, or a shed, or a very large apple tree [I have already hacked at that].

Actually Nick you'd be amazed what can be got out of a 6X6 in the summer if you try really hard and squeeze in very gingerly when it's full; but I was keen for advice on getting more from the winter season since its been unused until now. I even pulled out stones from the old rockery this year and have kale growing there to make the most of the space [well it will grow anywhere....]

Space is a real premium so it's just as well my food is for me and some family/occasional neighbours - the man at home doesn't like tomatoes, cucumber, beans of any sort, peas.....oh I could go on.

Further ideas are welcomed.

Ann

[Snadger]

At present I have in my three greenhouses.

Jalapeno chillies fruiting and four foot high.
Chrysanthemums flowering in pots
Carnations flowering in pots
Jermor shallots planted individually in 8" pots
Redbor kale planted in tomato buckets
Grapevines, just starting to drop there leaves but with small fruit on
Cape gooseberry (Physalis Edulis) 8 foot tall and fruiting
Spring cabbage in tomato buckets
Curly kale in tomato buckets
9 star perennial broccoli in tomato buckets
African marigiolds just about at the end of flower and four foot high
Shallots drying
Three types of onion drying
Tomatoes on shelf ripening
Next years 'kept' potatoe seed
Dahlias drying off

All are cold greenhouses with occasional heat from a wood burning stove in one of them!
My greenhouses are fuller now than they were during the summer!

[cupcake]

Oh my! I shall have to start thinking about growing other things!

[nick the grief]

At present I have in my three greenhouses.

Jalapeno chillies fruiting and four foot high.
Chrysanthemums flowering in pots
Carnations flowering in pots
Jermor shallots planted individually in 8" pots
Redbor kale planted in tomato buckets
Grapevines, just starting to drop there leaves but with small fruit on
Cape gooseberry (Physalis Edulis) 8 foot tall and fruiting
Spring cabbage in tomato buckets
Curly kale in tomato buckets
9 star perennial broccoli in tomato buckets
African marigiolds just about at the end of flower and four foot high
Shallots drying
Three types of onion drying
Tomatoes on shelf ripening
Next years 'kept' potatoe seed
Dahlias drying off

All are cold greenhouses with occasional heat from a wood burning stove in one of them!
My greenhouses are fuller now than they were during the summer!

Show off

Carrots, you need fast maturing types -Amsterdam Forcing 3 is the one I use and yes it is too late for chrimbo this year but you could still plant some now and have them in jan/feb time next year.

And if you think you can get a lot in a 6x6 think what you can get in an 8x6 and a 12x8 (not to mention the 24x12 polytunnel that's to come)

[Storming Norman]

Hi you mad greenhouse types

I'm curious about the tomato buckets now........

I've always used growbags and the watering gadgets that makes them work. Another thing to try out - thanks!

Peas & broad beans are in containers outside the greenhouse and doing fine - might just dig up a few of them and pot up inside to see what happens - I always plant too generously but the lot popped up this year.

Ann

[Farmer_Gyles]

i have peas / broad beans started, lots of cauliflower (all year round) in small pots and a few other bits like spinach (had a few small leaves)
i've got several window boxes and big pots - will use them for some carrots in the greenhouse
and going to sow a few lettuce, see if they grow ....

[nick the grief]

Hi you mad greenhouse types

I'm curious about the tomato buckets now........

I've always used growbags and the watering gadgets that makes them work. Another thing to try out - thanks!

Peas & broad beans are in containers outside the greenhouse and doing fine - might just dig up a few of them and pot up inside to see what happens - I always plant too generously but the lot popped up this year.

Ann

If you do a search on here you'll find a thread by Geordie and it describes how he grows upside down tomatoes - it does works as well as I know someone who tried it!