An Introduction To Greenhouse Gardening
There are three aspects to gardening. The first is where your garden is inside your home. The second is to utilize outside space to plant your garden. The third is to do your gardening under glass and this is called greenhouse gardening.
Greenhouse gardening is not that different from your average outside gardening. The main consideration that you need to think about is controlling the temperature of your greenhouse. Remembering that plants thrive at temperatures that are slightly lower than what is in our houses and that they require a much higher humidity than we are used to, will let you see that your greenhouse plants get the proper environment.
The best way to ensure the right amount of sunlight and heat for your greenhouse is to build it in a spot that can take advantage of the maximum amount of sunlight right throughout the year. This is especially important during the spring and fall seasons as the sun is at its lowest point in the southern sky. You should try and have your greenhouse located where the sun’s rays will reach through a southeastern to southwestern direction.
By spacing your plants regularly around the greenhouse area, it will give better ventilation flow. One good idea for ventilation is open the greenhouse doors in the morning and then close them in the late afternoon. You can even do this in the winter as long as you watch that the weather doesn’t get too cold.
You can also hose down the floor in your greenhouse and open the vents in the ceiling. This will quickly cool down the greenhouse.
Commercial potting soil works well for greenhouse plants. It is preferable to grow the plants in large trays rather than in pots or containers. The best soil mixes include fir bark, sand, peat moss, vermiculite and perlite for some drainage.
Make sure that plants will get enough water. You need to take special care and not over water plants. The moisture level is regulated in a climate controlled greenhouse.
Planting in a greenhouse means using your imagination. You should have plenty of space so that you can pot new plants and move around seeing to the health of your other plants.
You will need to plant vegetables like carrots, beets, turnips and other root vegetables in a deep box tray which will fit under benches. Lettuce and other low growing leafy vegetables can be planted in tubs with vegetables that have a taller growth. Vegetables like peas, cucumbers and tomatoes do well in tub type containers.
All you really need for successful greenhouse gardening is your imagination. Let it loose, and see what happens!
