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My Garden » Forums » General Gardening » Fruit and Vegetables » What can I grow in a greenhouse?
Last post 28-03-2008 6:44 PM by digger. 14 replies.
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Hello, I am buying a 6x8 glass greenhouse and am wondering what I can grow in it full time, ie not what seedling can I raise then plant out but what can I keep in there all the time. It's going to take up valuable space so I want to utilise it to its full capacity! The floor will be slabs and earth so some things can be grown in the ground. All help very welcome and needed!
Are you thinking about flowers or veg? and will the greenhouse be heated, if so what temperature do you plan on keeping it at?
Fruit and veg is what I'm after and no the greenhouse won't be heated. Thanks in advance!!
The old way with an unheated greenhouse is lettuce and other leafy stuff overwinter, followed by toms, peppers, aubergines, french beans, cucs from April, and you might even try some french beans for October before the lettuce etc need the space - sow them in big pots in August and shift them inside when the toms etc finish in October. On the north facing gable end you could train a grape vine so it does not shadow the veg. If you want to raise a lot of seedlings in Feb-May you might have to forgo some of the winter salads and grow the toms in pots for a while before they go to their final stations. As a last resort it is a very good place to keep your bicycle. Boggy
Carrots can also be grown in the greenhouse for winter, you can also try potatoes which can be planted in buckets.
Grape vines, apricot or peach tree.
And don't forget salad leaves and Oriental veg leaves - I've been cropping these in my greenhouse throughout winter. You could also consider a fig. Sounds like you're going to need a bigger greenhouse to fit everything in!!
[b]Posted by:[/b] Figwort Sounds like you're going to need a bigger greenhouse to fit everything in!!
A 6x8 is a fair size isn't it? The jump in price between 6x8 to 8x8 is astronomical (from £400 to £725 for a Halls Supreme)! Will I be kicking myself for not getting it? The 8x8 is the absolute max I could squeeze in but it's so expensive!
Sorry, but 6x8 is about as small as it is worth calling a greenhouse - anything smaller has too small an air volume, and therefore excessively fluctuating temperatures, to perform well, and you are better off with coldframes. You can do good work with a 6x8, but you can do a lot better if the 6x8 is a lean-to (a wall evens out fluctuations) and if you can run to 10x8 or more you can do even better. For the veg grower a polytunnel is perfectly satisfactory although probably not ideal for orchids etc. Boggy
Oh reddy, I can see you kicking yourself now! I agree with Boggy that a 6x8 just won't give you much satisfaction - you'll have problems squeezing in when it's full in summer. An 8x8 is much better - or try for a 10x8 if you have room. I bought my last one from these people two years ago - http://www.greenhousepeople.co.uk They've got an offer on for an 8x10 @ £399. Go bite their fingers off
Ours is a 8x6, and it's chocabloc now with overwintering plants and new seeds and seedlings on the go, not to mention four buckets of new potatoes, two window boxes planted up with dwarf beans. I've literally used up all the available space inside already and am trying to work out where the extra space will come from when everything needs potting on.
Mine's 10'x12', never has enough room (ecept in the depths of winter), and cost me nothing, other than that required for the concrete and brick base upon which it sits, and £35 for the brick pavers for the floor (Ebay). The greenhouse can via a friend of a friend of a friend, but I could have picked up 3 the same size from freecycle in the last year.
Ok, I can afford a larger greenhouse if I abandon the toughened glass I was opting for, isn;t horti glass a pain to clean as the algae grows between the pains? I have 2 small children but I guess I could fence the greenhouse off to be safe.
In total I now have 3 greenhouses and two polytunnels, but I really would like more than I have, if you can get an 8x 10 it will be good sized for all kinds of things.
