Enjoy Fresh Veggies in Winter with Greenhouse Vegetable Gardening

Vegetables can be raised pretty well any time of year if you use greenhouse vegetable gardening plans. Growing them in a greenhouse is similar to growing vegetables in the garden in summer. You just have to take several added measures in order to artificially provide what they would get in a natural situation.

You can use a portable greenhouse two distinct ways. One way is using the cold greenhouse system where the sun heats the greenhouse when it’s shining. Night temperatures can go as low as 45 degrees F and after that a heating element will maintain that 45 degrees regardless of what the temperature is outdoors. Plants are simply maintained to be planted outside again in the summer using this system, but they don’t grow. Rosemary is a good example of a plant that will winter over in a cold greenhouse.

Cultivating vegetables throughout the winter calls for warmth so the warm method is the one to use here. Garden greenhouses must maintain a temperature of at least 55 degrees F in order for the plants to grow and require a heating unit. Heating units can be gas, electric or propane.

There is hardly a vegetable that can be grown in a garden that can’t be grown in a greenhouse. Look in seed catalogs to find seeds specifically developed for greenhouse use. If you can’t find those get plants that maintain a compact size or that can be cut back to be smaller than the outside plants. There is little room in a greenhouse and you don’t want it to be taken up with merely a few varieties of vegetables.

Pollination is one of those things that you’ll have to do for your plants. Pollinating insects do not exist in greenhouse culture as a general rule so you will need to do it for them. Pollinating a vegetable isn’t difficult. Tomatoes, for starters, should be tied to bamboo stakes and the stakes can be jiggled in the morning and once in the evening in order to pollinate. You will have to watch the flowers carefully to find out when you need to do this. When the flower opens and the petals all bend backwards it’s time. You will only have three days to pollinate the tomatoes so take a look every day.

Because there is not a good deal of sunlight throughout the winter you must add sunlight by utilizing grow lights. Most vegetables need at least eight hours of light a day. Of course, the plants will also have to be watered and fertilized on a regular basis.

Growing vegetables in a greenhouse in the wintertime might be a little more difficult and time consuming, however the results can be astounding. Just think of going out to the greenhouse mid January and picking a tomato right off the vine. You will have a small taste of summertime in the dead of wintertime.

For serious gardeners, greenhouse gardening is the perfect way to extend your growing season. And there are so many different kinds of greenhouses, there’s certain to be one that fits your needs and the space you have available. The Garden Greenhouses site has all the information you need to get started on this great pastime.