The Garden Shedde

It’s time to start thinking about a fall garden greenhouse to do two things; extending the current growing season and growing during the winter months. As most gardeners know, many fall gardens will be planted at some point in August and you have a couple of choices to extend the growing season; a greenhouse or a cold frame. Either one will work but you will need to plan differently for each.

A cold frame sits on top of a flowerbed or in your garden while you normally place plants that are in containers or raised beds in a greenhouse. If you don’t want to heat the greenhouse then they are perfect to use as season extenders. If you choose to heat it then you will be able to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers of your choice year round. You will also need access to water as well as making sure you circulate air and vent the grow house. When considering the placement of the green house make sure you have good drainage and a flat foundation for the best results.

Greenhouses are great to have around year round even when you may not use them for the entire year. Having one available for planting those early seedlings is a great way to get a head start on your neighbors. I was visiting a friend just the other day who wanted to show me her tomato plants and they were about a foot and a half tall. She was very excited about having them in the ground so quickly and when she asked how mine were doing I almost didn’t have the heart to tell her! You see mine are chest high!

I told her I have a greenhouse that I use to start my plants early every year and also to extend the life of the plants for as long as possible. It is rare that we go a month or two without fresh tomatoes, lettuce and assorted herbs and I don’t use my greenhouse to grow throughout the winter months; but I may try it this next year. Who knows, I just might become a yearlong gardener!

The truth is greenhouses are a thing of the past but they may also be one of the best things to have in the future as well.  Let’s face it; greenhouses have been around for a long time.  It’s thought that they were invented by the Romans in order to bring fresh vegetables to the emperors on a year round basis. They were very small and were heated with hot rocks throughout the winter. I’m sure no one really wanted that job!

Today, with the advent of plastic technologies, you can easily have a greenhouse in your own backyard. There are also builders and developers around the world who are experimenting with delivering heat in the winter throughout a home with the heat generated by a greenhouse.  Wouldn’t that be nice; grow our own food while heating your entire home!  Since green houses are made in so many convenient shapes and sizes almost anyone can benefit from owning one. You can simply extend your growing season with an inexpensive plastic greenhouse or purchase a very well insulated grow house to grow food during the harshest of winters. You can find whatever it is you’re looking for when it come to a garden greenhouse.

If you are one of those people that have decided to grow your own food, you may experiment with several ways to accomplish this.  One is with raised beds and the other is by using a greenhouse.  If a garden greenhouse is your choice then you will need to determine if you just want to extend the growing season or do you want to grow vegetables and herbs on a year round basis.  What ever you decide will have a direct impact on which type of green house you will want to buy or build.

If you are simply extending the growing season you can get by with an inexpensive hobby greenhouse, especially if you are in a moderate climate.  If you want to grow year round, then you will need a very good insulated greenhouse with a good greenhouse heater to keep your growing house at a steady temperature throughout the cold months.  If you are in a colder climate this just becomes even more important and the cheaper greenhouses don’t have the insulation value to hold the temperature in for these extremely cold climates.  Once you make a decision about what you want to accomplish with your greenhouse then you can build or buy the perfect greenhouse for you and your family.

I was recently asked what greenhouse would meet the following criteria; good for someone just starting out; small enough to fit in a backyard and still not take it totally over; a great known brand with good reviews; and affordable.  It didn’t take me long at all to respond with the Rion 6 x 8 Silverline Greenhouse!  It meets every one of the criteria with flying colors and is a great greenhouse to learn the art of greenhouse gardening.  The only problem you may have is it won’t be big enough after you get going.

Of course there are starter greenhouses that are larger and those that are even more inexpensive and are smaller, if you need a mini grow house.  If you are looking for a larger starter greenhouse there are plenty of those to choose from.  Just make sure you get a greenhouse that is suitable to your area.  One of the two biggest mistakes that are made when purchasing or building a green house is not getting one big enough or not buying one with good insulation values.  If you do a little research before you buy, you should be okay!

You wouldn’t think, growing up on a farm, that we would have greenhouse, much less two greenhouses.  After all, most of what my family grew was cotton, wheat and sunflowers; yes, I said sunflowers!  But none of these were grown in the greenhouses.  The mini greenhouse was what my grandmother called a “starter” greenhouse and was were she planted seeds and would start the plants whether she would plant them in her garden around back or move them into the larger greenhouse.

That sometimes was a hard call and other times easy.  But most of the time she would split the seedlings between the garden and the greenhouse and made sure if anything got to the garden plants she had backups in the greenhouse.  I often wondered why she didn’t call the larger greenhouse the “back-up” greenhouse.  Maybe it’s because what she really loved to do was grow orchids in that greenhouse and grow orchids she did.  But I learned the value of having a small greenhouse to start plants from seed and I am so glad I paid attention!

Not having room to grow the things you want to can be a problem.  That is one reason you may want to take a look at the mini greenhouses.  They can be placed on many different surfaces including patios, landings and decks, though you will need to make sure the area is level and can handle the weight of the mini greenhouse.  This makes it easy to grow your favorite vegetables, herbs and flowers if you live in the city in an apartment, town home or condo.

If you have more room and want to have a little bit bigger greenhouse you can.  There are several small greenhouses that are also portable and work in smaller areas than the typical greenhouse.  These can be fastened down by using tie down kits but they do need to be placed on a level surface.  If you get the right sized metal racks for potted plants and a rod for hanging plants you will be amazed at how many plants you will be able to place in this small greenhouse.

It is said that the Romans invented greenhouses in order to serve the freshest vegetables possible to Caesar.  Whether that is true or not, who knows?  What we do know for sure is that a greenhouse is the best way to get fresh food to your families table on a year round basis and right now, you’re family is far more important than Caesar’s is.

The best news is you won’t have to dig a pit and keep the rocks stocked throughout the winter to keep your greenhouse warm.  This can be done with the help of a greenhouse heater.  You also have advantage of some great greenhouse accessories to help you with your year round greenhouse gardening.

You also have the advantage of some great do-it-yourself greenhouse kits that allow you to easily build your own greenhouse in the backyard.  If you purchase these kits at the right time you can get some very handy accessories to go along with them that will give you a head start when it comes to gardening with a greenhouse.

This is the time of year that I love bringing in fresh flowers from my home greenhouse to freshen up the house with vibrant color as well as lovely aromas!  There’s just something special about coming in from the cold damp and dreary world outside into a home that is budding with fresh flower arrangements from the kitchen to the bedrooms.  Couple that with the smell of a roaring fire, mingling with the faint scent of blossoms, and you have the perfect atmosphere for the holidays.

I highly recommend greenhouses for those who would love to have fresh flowers over the holidays and into the winter months.  It does take work so be prepared to garden throughout the year.  For those of us who love it; it’s not a problem to be out in the greenhouse all the time.  You can also grow some of your favorite foods as well and that’s a bonus.  You will need to make arrangements to have some kind of heat and do a little research before purchasing a greenhouse kit.

An idea you may want to try in your ever improving and growing garden paradise is the inclusion of little garden rooms.  It’s a simple but brilliant way to create small enclosures and alcoves of your favorite outdoor structures, features and treasures.  You may think that you need a really large garden or yard to do this and that is true to some extinct.  However, you can do less rooms and more focused areas for a smaller yard.

Doing this allows you to gather together grouping of items to make every room perfect for you.  Using one or more small to medium greenhouse kits is also fun so you can incorporate your beautiful flowers in those areas and keep them blooming year round.  It’s wonderful to walk through the snow in the garden and see those colored blooms in the mist of winter.  Just fun and stunning.