Last Updated on April 5, 2024 by Real Men Sow
Having a greenhouse is great for anyone who loves growing and planting vegetables and fruits all year round. Whether you’re just starting out or have been gardening for a while, greenhouse gardening is perfect for winter sowing and summer harvesting. If you want to find out how to grow your vegetables more efficiently, here is our greenhouse for beginners guide.
Greenhouse Planting Starts Early
Early sowings are best to be placed at any warm place inside your home to germinate, this is because heating up your greenhouse or polytunnel is expensive. Make sure to put them under a propagator lid or into a plastic bag to keep their humidity high.
What Can You Grow in a Greenhouse in the Winter?
Germinated seedlings of onions, leeks, and cabbage family plants can be grown in a greenhouse. You’ll need to drape them with garden fleece or plastic covers to protect them from the cold. However, tender seedlings like tomatoes should stay indoors until the weather is warm.
Beginner Greenhouse Growing: Staged Steps
Your lettuces, carrots, beetroots, and radishes can be sown in your greenhouse to get a small harvest from then a little earlier. Start transplanting container-grown seedlings outdoors to free up space in your greenhouse. Be prepared with cold snaps, so check the weather forecast every day. Cover your plants with fleece if there are cold snaps after they’ve been transplanted.
Greenhouse for Beginners: What Can you Grow in a Greenhouse?
You may start planting tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and aubergines in your greenhouse, containers, or in growing bags once the weather is mild enough. Your greenhouse may be used as a halfway house before planting your plants into your garden beds.
Greenhouse Crops require more care than those grown outside. You’ll need to give special care in watering, feeding, and pest control. Ventilation, shading, and damping down need to be paid attention too.
Squashes and beans are warmth-loving fast-growing crops that can be started in the greenhouse. You may experiment with growing them indoors rather than outside in your garden. French beans may enjoy protection from direct heat and strong winds.
Your onion and garlic harvest may be stacked in trays in your greenhouse to cure. You can also do this for pumpkins and winter squashes.
When to Start Planting in a Greenhouse as a Beginner?
Careful planning is required in the time of autumn and winter crops just like late spring or early summer. Once you’ve planted in the greenhouse as a beginner, watch out for this. – The harvested summer crops, borders, growing bags, and pots can be reused to grow spinach, chard, or winter varieties of lettuce.
Beginner Tip for Greenhouse Maintainance
If you are a beginner, remember it’s best to start with your greenhouse maintenance after the excitement of the main growing season. Your greenhouse should be windproof, to protect your crops from cold weather over the winter. You may use fleece or plastic bottles with the bottom cut out to protect your crops from low temperatures. Plus, it is important to cool down the greenhouse in the summer too.
Your herbs can be brought in over the winter or get an early crop of strawberries by bringing them in the greenhouse in late winter. If there’s big enough space, peaches, figs, grapes, or nectarines can be grown inside your greenhouse. Your greenhouse can become a place to store your compost and other potting mix ingredients to keep them from freezing. Make sure to drape them over with hessian or fleece.
Share your experiences in making most of your greenhouse or polytunnel in the comments!
