Cultivating Fresh Veggies all Winter Long 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 not unlike cultivating vegetables in the garden in summer. You simply need to take a few extra steps in order to artificially provide what they would get in a natural situation.

There are two different techniques of utilizing a portable greenhouse. One is known as the cold greenhouse technique and that is when only the sun throughout the day gives the greenhouse its heat. The temperature at nighttime normally goes down to about 45 degrees at the coldest and heat does kick on when it gets very cold outside. No growing takes place in this kind of greenhouse, however you can maintain many plants that will come back in the summertime such as rosemary.

Cultivating vegetables during the winter requires warmth so the warm technique is the one to use here. Garden greenhouses need to maintain a temperature of at least 55 degrees F in order for the plants to grow and entail a heating unit. Heating devices can be gas, electric or propane.

Nearly any vegetable you can cultivate outside can be cultivated in a greenhouse. Practically every vegetable has a variety that has been hybridized to grow inside. You can find them in most catalogs that sell seeds. The types of seed you want are the ones that don't require a great deal of heat to thrive. You should look for types that grow small or can be trimmed to be compact since there's not as much space in one of these structures as there is in a garden.

An important natural activity that needs to be done artificially is pollination. Insects, particularly bees, do not dwell inside. An example of pollinating a vegetable effortlessly is done by pollinating tomatoes. Tomato vines should be tied to stakes made of bamboo and when the flower is ready the stakes need to be tapped both in the morning and at night. You'll know the flower is ready when the petals begin to curve backwards. Pay close attention to this because there are only three days that the flowers will be producing pollen to pollinate the vegetable.

You'll have to supplement sunlight throughout the wintertime too so plan on supplying grow lights in a winter greenhouse. Plants normally need 8 hours of sunlight per day. You will also need to provide water and fertilizer regularly.

Cultivating vegetables in a greenhouse in the wintertime may be a somewhat more difficult and time consuming, however the results can be amazing. 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 summer in the dead of winter.

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.

Posted under greenhouses

This post was written by Sarah Duke on December 11, 2009

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