You can cultivate vegetables in the middle of winter making use of greenhouse vegetable gardening techniques. To raise vegetables in a greenhouse is virtually the same as growing them outside during the summer. There are just several added things you must do to imitate what nature would do naturally.
To grow vegetables in a greenhouse you can use two techniques. The first uses the sun’s energy during the day to heat up the structure and is called the cold method. When the temperature decreases, a heating element will switch on to keep the temperature to a minimum of 45 degrees F. In this technique plants don’t grow; instead they’re merely maintained until they can be placed back outside in the summer.
Growing vegetables during the wintertime necessitates warmth so the warm technique 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 entail a heating unit. Heating devices can be gas, electric or propane.
There’s barely a vegetable that can be grown in a garden that cannot be grown in a greenhouse. Look in seed catalogs to find seeds explicitly developed for greenhouse use. If you can’t find those get plants that maintain a compact size or that can be trimmed back to be smaller than the outside plants. There is little room in a greenhouse and you don’t want it to be used up with just a couple of types of vegetables.
Manual Pollination
Pollination is one of those things that you’ll need to do for your plants. Pollinating insects do not exist in greenhouse culture in most cases so you will need to do it for them. Pollinating a vegetable is not hard. Tomatoes, for starters, ought to be tied to bamboo stakes and the stakes can be jiggled in the morning and once in the evening in order to pollinate. You’ll need to watch the flowers carefully to find out when you have to do this. When the flower opens and the petals all bend backwards it’s time. You’ll only have three days to pollinate the tomatoes so take a look on a daily basis.
Lighting, watering and fertilizers
Because there’s not a good deal of sunlight throughout the wintertime you need to add sunlight by using grow lights. The majority of vegetables need no less than eight hours of light a day. Obviously, the plants will also need to be watered and fertilized regularly.
Winter Greenhouse Gardening
Greenhouse gardening throughout the wintertime is a bit more difficult and takes more time than in the summertime, however it’s also rewarding. You can go to the greenhouse during a wintery day in January and harvest a vine ripened tomato. You can enjoy that summer filled flavor any time of the year.
ClimaPod Greenhouses are easy to build and maintain, and are available in an assortment of sizes and equipment to suit every home and budget.
