You can grow your own food. We can help.

Greenhouse gardening all year round!

Dec 11, 2010

This is the first year we are growing year round. We just ordered some greenhouse tomatoes, I don't know if they do better or what. Any tips on greenhouse growing, I'll take gladly. We are growing Zuchine, sweet peppers, tomatoes, and cabbage right now. We are trying to add compost to the soil after each season to get the soil right. And then the straw for the weeds helps too. Anyone growing anything else in their greenhouse?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, aphilbeck8

We live on 15 acres of cleared land. We have about an 1 acre vegetable garden and a 50 foot greenhouse. I love canning vegetables! I make everything with fresh tomatoes like pizza sauce, tomato...

Comments

Allotmentmanyork

Sat, 12/18/2010 - 03:55

Hi I think ventilation in the greenhouse is very important. I have a small greenhouse in the garden for sowing seeds in and a slightly larger one on my allotment. I keep the vents of both open most of the time to prevent / minimise mould growths. Regards Glenn

Joel LeGrand

Mon, 12/20/2010 - 16:20

I have a greenhouse frame(used) 18'wide X 18" long(6m X6m). I have not put it up because the heater & heating bill are costly even here in the South. We get down to 10F(-12c), but stay around 20F(-7c) most of the winter. What do you use to keep the GH warm? Rock/gravel floors , walls brimmed with dirt, plastic drums of water to hold heat or a woodstove? All of the above?

Jessica Still

Tue, 12/21/2010 - 14:00

Thinking of heating your greenhouse ... Have you ever come across the work of the Frenchman, Jean Pain - with his wife Ida - in composting brushwood to derive thermal heat & other forms of energy in addition to the finished ag compost? Brushwood has an optimum ratio of carbon to nitrogen for a longer heating cycle - up to 18 months of heating & activity for a big pile. You might be able to figure out how much nitrogen materials to add to coffee chaff to achieve the same optimum carbon/nitrogen ratio. I checked out these links just for you! The first one leads to the Pains' small book, with clear photos of what the setups look like. The others are various authors commenting on Pain's work, with some photos & diagrams. The Eliet link is one maker of grinders for the optimum grind - more matchstick-shaped than thick-chips - for better water takeup & surface area for microbial growth & shows what their grind looks like. In all it is a great story of practical, successful experimentation ... http://michaelhollihn.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/jean-pain.pdfhttp://ww... http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/methane_pain.html http://www.canadianbackwoodsman.com/2010/10/jen-pain-method.html http://www.elietusa.com/private/content.asp?Pag=4&pnav=;3;32; International dealers for a special wood-grinder. http://www.miniwaste.eu/mailing/miniwaste_aout_2010-EN.html European miniwaste projects described

Allotmentmanyork

Thu, 12/23/2010 - 05:03

Hi Jessica I found it at last. Another great set of links. I,ve only had chance for a brief look but i love the term 'Dumpster Diving'. Re-cycling is one of my great passions. We did have a re-cycling section on the old site. Maybe that should be resurrected. Regards Glenn

Allotmentmanyork

Thu, 01/27/2011 - 13:25

Hi Jessica I found a couple of Jean Pain videos that might be of intersest to you. Note the little 2cv6 van with the tank on the roof. Glenn

aphilbeck8

Fri, 12/24/2010 - 17:48

Oh wow, what great links to add for heating the greenhouse, we just shut ours down, we have had such a cold december this year that it isn't even feasible to heat the greenhouse with heat. Thanks so much!