Growing plants in a greenhouse to extend your growing season (2024)

FAQs

Growing plants in a greenhouse to extend your growing season? ›

Whether you choose an unheated or heated greenhouse, you can expect to extend your growing season up to 8 weeks. This opens up many opportunities for late fall and early winter harvests and year-round growing with protection tents and greenhouses.

Block spring and fall frosts

Garden fabric (row covers) can be placed right on top of the crops you want to protect. Another option is to use flexible hoops to support the fabric. For most gardeners, frost is a limiting factor in both spring and fall.

In most areas, an unheated greenhouse will extend the growing season up to 4 weeks; a heated one can lengthen it up to 8 weeks. Be aware that heating a greenhouse comes with a considerable added cost.

First, making sure that your greenhouse has good heating and ventilation will ensure that plants stay healthy. Structural vents are a great way to regulate temperatures. Overhead unit heaters or poly convection tubes can help provide extra warmth in extreme cold.

One great strategy is to use the greenhouse primarily for hot weather vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and basil. While shade cloth and heat-storage systems like a Ground to Air Heat Transfer (GAHT®) system can help control greenhouse temperatures, it is still a warm spot in the garden.

An unheated greenhouse can be used to grow greens during winter, start warm season annuals, propagate landscape perennials, and shelter frost-tender plants through the winter chill. Besides greens like spinach and lettuce, you can grow cold tolerant veggies such as cabbage and broccoli in your unheated greenhouse.

Growing plants in a greenhouse is a wonderful way to extend the growing season if you live in a cold climate. It's also perfect for those heat-loving summer crops that appreciate protected dry leaves.

As plants harden off, they will grow less quickly than indoors but that slower growth will create a firmer and less floppy plant that can handle the stresses of outside. If a plant is not hardened off, wind, sun, or cold can lead to significant wilting, browning leaf edges, or even death.

shading: Use shading materials, such as shade cloth or paint, to block direct sunlight and reduce heat buildup. Watering: Water plants in the morning or evening, when the air is cooler, to help lower the temperature inside the greenhouse. Fans: Use fans to circulate air and help dissipate heat.

Can you leave plants in a greenhouse all year? ›

Generally speaking, a greenhouse enables you to extend your growing season. However, if you're prepared to invest more on the upfront costs of your structure, some greenhouse models, like Ceres' designs, will allow you to grow anything, year-round, regardless of your local climate.

Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, Zucchini and Lettuce

Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are greenhouse darlings and will thrive in the warmth. Cucumbers, squash and zucchini will also work well and growing them up a trellis or wall is a great way to save a bit of space.

Ideally, anywhere between , 80-85°F (26-29°C) is the golden standard throughout the spring and summer months. Anything higher than 90°F (32°C) is cause for alarm. We suggest monitoring your greenhouse temperatures with a good thermometer.

However, too much of anything is harmful to your plants, even sunlight. The stylish window shades of greenhouses regulate the amount of sunlight as well as the interior temperature to create an ideal environment for your plants to grow in.

One of the secrets to successfully growing plants in a greenhouse is to prepare your beds properly. Here's how I do it to ensure a good crop and reduce future work. When the ground is thawed, till or dig the soil to a depth of 8" to 12".

If you're running out of room with an abundance of plants, all fighting for space – you're not alone. Overcrowding isn't just a matter of space; it also affects your plants' health and happiness. A greenhouse extension gives you the freedom to spread out a bit more.