You are in control of this environment, so if you are in an extremely hot region, you just need to cool things down. Shade cloths will help, and you will ventilate your greenhouse during the hottest parts of the day.
During the warmest months, you can grow anything, but you have to think about using your space to its maximum efficiency. It’s better to think about the plants that can take the heat, which will be the ones that are being planted during the spring. So what are you going to aim for?
Your options are:
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Eggplants
- Beans
- Greens
- Salad greens
- Strawberries
- Dill
- Parsley
- Green onions
Summer Growing Tips
- Fertilize: Your plants are going to be growing faster than you think, which means they will use a lot of nutrients. Monitor your garden and give nutrients back to the plants that need them.
- Keep up with weeds: Just because you have a greenhouse doesn’t mean you will be without weeds, and they will grow even faster in your greenhouse than they do outside. They can pose a problem for your plants, so always make sure you don’t have things growing where they shouldn’t.
- Work your soil: With all the watering and ventilation, your soil may get dry and compacted. If you notice this, then it is time to till that soil and make it soft again to allow for proper watering and fertilizing.
- Get rid of dying leaves: Removing dead leaves will let the nutrients go to the healthy parts of the plant. While it may be dead, that leaf is still taking something away from the parts of the plant that actually need it. This will also keep disease and pest problems to a minimum, and if there is already a disease present, removing the dead parts will keep it from spreading.
- Apply mulch: You have to be careful with this tip. Mulch can help you conserve water and prevent weed growth, but if you put too much down, you can suffocate the soil or create a home for mold and pests.
- Keep cool: You must keep air flowing to your plants and give them some relief from the scorching temperatures. You don’t want your precious plants burning up in your greenhouse.
GROWING FOR COLD CONDITIONS
While you can have your heating systems and grow lights out in your greenhouse, you might not want to take on that spike in energy usage. But even doing the minimum in your greenhouse can give some vegetables an ideal place to grow.
There are two groups of these cold-growing vegetables: the first are those that can’t handle any winter conditions, and the other group are those that will be fine in cold weather. When you take both into a greenhouse setting, you will speed up their growth and protect them from any weather.
Moreover, this is only part of what you can grow during the winter, so remember to research your plants so you can have a year-round garden.
You can grow:
- peas
- winter salad and leafy greens
- celery
- radishes
- dill
- parsley
- carrots
- beets
- turnips
- potatoes
- broccoli
Winter Growing Tips
- Get a winter watering schedule: When it is cold outside, you will ease back on watering a bit. Winter vegetables grow slowly, so they require less water.
- Insulate: You learned this earlier, but insulation will go a long way, especially when you’re trying to hold on to as much of that heat as possible.
Winter growing can be a challenge because there are locations where an unheated greenhouse will not be usable. If you want a year-round schedule in a certain region, get an alternate heating source and grow lights to make up the difference. This will all boil down to costs. If you don’t feel like it’s worth the effort, then you can just have a longer, warm growing season and spend the winter doing greenhouse maintenance.
BEING READY AT ALL TIMES
The end of this article will go over all the things you need to do before moving on to your next growing season. Depending on how you plan to grow, it will determine when you do this. If you are growing year round, then this will need to be done after the last fall harvest and planting your winter seeds. Then you will do this again at the end of your winter harvest and plant your spring seeds. If you are only extending your growing season, you just need to do this once a year after you have harvested your last crop.
You need to do the following:
- Declutter the building:
Before you grow again, this is the best time to think about what worked during the last growing season and what didn’t. You’re going to take everything out any way to clean, so you can divide things up as to what is coming back in and what isn’t.
And, yes, everything is coming out of the greenhouse. This is when you want to inspect everything. You want to discard, fix, and replace any broken shelves, benches, and growing containers.
Before you get to the next step, you want to ensure that your frame, glazing, insulation, and any other part of your greenhouse are operational. If anything seems like it needs to be replaced, now is the time to do it.
- Clean your greenhouse:
Now that you have everything out of the greenhouse, this is the time to get everything cleaned. You want to ensure that there are no impurities left behind from the last growing season. So when you are cleaning, start by brushing off any exposed frames, shelves, and staging. Then you want to sweep your floor and/or any walkways.
After you have everything brushed off and swept, take a wet, soapy sponge and wipe the frame, staging, benches, shelves, and everything else. Then you want to clean your glazing inside and outside with warm, soapy water. You don’t want to use any powerful chemicals during this stage.
The last thing you will clean is your pots and seed trays. Brush all the leftover soil out and wash them with disinfectant. Once they are rinsed thoroughly, air dry them.
- Prepare your soil:
At this stage, you want to get your soil ready for the next growing season. This is going to depend on what your soil methods were, but ultimately, you want to mix your composts in, till, and check that it is still draining properly.
If you are using native soil, this is when you are going to have to sterilize and replenish the nutrients. This can be a very time-consuming job. If you are using raised beds and pots, you just want to ensure that pH levels are as they should be for your plants.
- Check and clean your watering system:
Even if you had a watering system for the last growing season, how well was it working? If you’re using a watering can, you want to make sure that you aren’t giving your plants freezing-cold water.
The primary goal is to think about your water access before you need it. Get your outdoor hose ready or add on to your rain barrel system. And that’s where cleaning will come in.
If you already have rain barrels, you should make sure that they are free from any debris. Even if you have a good mesh and screen system on the barrel, this is the time to make sure they are cleaned off.
- Reassess your vent system:
This won’t be so much applicable in the winter, but again, you need to think about what worked and what didn’t.
Were you getting enough airflow? This can be a common issue when starting out, so you will need to get proper ventilation. If you aren’t able to add any more vents, then you should think about adding fans.
As you check your vents to make sure they are working properly, this is a good time to wipe them down with soapy water as well.
- Think about adding electricity:
If you haven’t added power already, you might consider it now. This is how you will install those grow lights, heat alternatives, and additional cooling for the structure.
If you have already run power to your greenhouse, now is the time to make sure everything is in working order. Verify that no wires are exposed or frayed. In case you are using a solar system, this will be the stage to make sure your panels are cleaned and that your batteries are holding a sufficient charge.
- The need to cool down your greenhouse:
This will be more of an assessment and consideration of the last warm season. Did you have issues with plants burning up? Could some spots have used more cooling?
When you do this, you can think about any additional cooling measures. Fans are great, but they still won’t stop the sun from beaming directly on your plants. You might invest in more shade cloth. There are also the blinds that you can retrofit on your greenhouse.
- The need to heat your greenhouse:
Maybe you are going to give winter growing a chance, or you want to ramp up from what you did during the last cold season, so what will you need?
If you are running electricity, you could get greenhouse heaters. You might also think about your lighting and how much heat it will give off. Again, these are all just considerations before you move everything back into the greenhouse.
Once you have completed this list, you can start moving things back. Now you can try new setups to avoid last year’s mistakes. Maybe you didn’t use all of your greenhouse space; this is the time to remedy that to get ready for the new growing season.
While these steps are great for routine upkeep, they are also a great way to get your greenhouse ready for its first growing season. So now that you have everything taken care of, you can finally start the very act of planting. Let’s see how you can get your seeds started, propagate plants, and use pollination to your advantage.
