Small greenhouse what to grow?

[Paul_B]

There's aground bed in our small greenhouse, what to grow in it if we don't want tomatoes? We want it to be productive.

Currently upgrading the soil quality ready. Thinking of building it up too. Not heated but gets decent levels of sunlight. Only one side of the central path. The sun side.

Any suggestions?

 

[wolfsam]

Do you like hot peppers? I grow Cayenne peppers in mine and get a good crop, they need to be sown fairly early though, end of February unless you buy plants.
Otherwise I would recommend Courgettes, Cucumber, Winter Squash, then sow lettuce and mizuna in august and plant out inside for over winter salad leaves. Maybe some garlic planted in autumn.

Depending whats going on outside of it you can use the greenhouse to get your squash off to a racing start and then train them out the door so that they don't take up too much room inside as they start to spread out.

Depending upon where you are you might be able to grow melons.

 

[Toddy]

Well what do you like to eat ?

A unheated greenhouse with a ground bed just offers protection and a bit of warmth. The soil won't be hot, iimmc ? so starting seedlings there won't be any better than a tray on a windowsill, and it'd be a shame not to use the height space offered.

Me ? I'd grow things like peppers and squash and courgettes. They are bigger plants than you might expect and they'll happily sprawl over the whole space, and if you time it right you'll get fruits right through until Autumn, and if your squash do well, you'll have them for Hallowe'en too

M

 

[British Red]

I like to grow things that are expensive to buy and don't do well outside. How about chillies, cucumber, turmeric, ginger & spring onions? Some serious stir fry possibilities

 

[slowworm]

Well what do you like to eat ?

That's the key question, you can grow almost anything you want.

I use our to over winter plants that don't like the cold and wet. I also grow stuff over winter that can be moved outside before the summer crops. So I grow overwintering onion for example and now can pick fresh spring onions or leave them to fatten up.

We will grow tomatoes in ours are they are far better than shops, possibly a cucumber, and mild chillies as we prefer flavour over heat. Last year we grew aubergines as again home grown are far better than shops.

 

[Paul_B]

Squashes I thought would be too big a plant, same with courgettes. I've seen photo of cucumbers grown vertically. I think that would be a possibility. How would you do that?

I thought chillies. Tried them inside once. Only a few chillies grew and then rotted on the plant as we went away for a bit before they ripened enough to pick. Nothing grew after that. Might try one.

We wondering about salad plants and possibly greens for main meals.

 

[Toddy]

Just give them something to clamber up or plant them in a big pot and let them sprawl from there.

Mind and give them air though; if you don't want to use fungicide they need ventilation.

I find that salad plants do well in tubs, they're easy to keep out of the way of snails (we have a slug and snail problem, we're right next to a burn) with a bit of copper tape around them, and easy to pick from there too.

Pick your seed variety carefully though, I find a lot of middling sized fruits are better rather than a few huge ones, I want food throughout the season not a glut. So pick and come again seems best for us.

If nothing else it'll be fun trying it out and seeing what comes on well and thrives

M

 

[Bazzworx]

We grow various different types of tomatoes in ours as well as chillies, peppers, spring onions and various herbs. We tent to over plant by 50-100% so there's plenty of seedlings to give away to friends and family

 

[Kadushu]

Long term you could grow grapes. You could also try citrus trees. Lemons seem the least hardy - this winter has been pretty devastating on them - but my calamondin didn't bat an eyelid (or petal?) and crops reliably.
Have you ever eaten tamarillo or cape gooseberries? They are both easy to grow but a little unusual.

 

[TeeDee]

I've invested a bit of time and effort in my Greenhouse ( were they ever just called Glass houses?? ) this year - I've gone vertical and the created some horizontal planting troughs. This gives the main L shaped bed at ground level, then a further Two troughs at chest and head height - behind all of this is a climbing frame built into the back.

Four large water butts outside on the Northern side should provide some protection and thermal warmth as a heat dump.

On the south side I've created some additional growing spaces and hope to create a timed irrigation system to benefit from the horizontal troughs dripping into the trough below.

I'll get around to posting photos at some point.

Growing a very wide mix of stuff this year and really trying to maximise the Greenhouse to provide more bang for the buck.

 

[Kadushu]

It's like spare rooms, sheds and workshops: whatever space you have, you'll fill it. I used to fill a 30 metre polytunnel with a lot of experimental stuff but gave it up because it took so much time and water.

 

[Robson Valley]

I've got the seed to plant in big pots to grow nothing but herbs and possibly some peppers. Herbs are one of the much more expensive things in any grocery store.

 

[FerlasDave]

I've got the seed to plant in big pots to grow nothing but herbs and possibly some peppers. Herbs are one of the much more expensive things in any grocery store.

I seem to be inundated with herbs at the moment. My wife keeps coming home with Lidl veg boxes and each one this month has had some dilapidated herb in it with a “best before” date on it which I find laughable. It also begs the question about the so called food crisis we’re having, if there’s enough to throw away or sell super cheap is it really a problem…

 

[Robson Valley]

We get a lot of fruit and veg which is shipped up the Pacific coast, from places like Peru, Ecuador and Chile. By the time it gets here, refrigerated or not, the bottom 1/4 of the container is moldy. Makes it very expensive for no honest reason.
The California crops have been screwed over by the pounding they got from the atmospheric rivers (11 of them?) so our price are premium again.
50% of our wine grape crop is dead buds from -20C super cold in the winter.

Consequently, I've taken to buying bags of loose frozen fruit and veg. Must admit, 99%+ is flawless and attractive and good value for equal money! Particularly for Asian dishes needing a cup or two of mixed veg, peas and so on.
My favorite tipples make good use of handfuls of frozen fruit instead of ice cubes.

Many times, I see the crowning touch in a recipe is a handful of fine dice herbs of one kind or another. The grocery store gets fresh parsley. Period. Want Basil? Grow your own.

 

[Disabled Preppers]

Squashes I thought would be too big a plant, same with courgettes. I've seen photo of cucumbers grown vertically. I think that would be a possibility. How would you do that?

I thought chillies. Tried them inside once. Only a few chillies grew and then rotted on the plant as we went away for a bit before they ripened enough to pick. Nothing grew after that. Might try one.

We wondering about salad plants and possibly greens for main meals.

Hi Paul you can grow anything you want but like you say be ware of the size , i have a 6 m x 3 m polytunnel and grow huge amounts of toms lettuce and i start all my outdoor veggies to right now my grape is in there also all the plants waitign to go out , you can get some great books on greenhouse growing i got a great book on winter growing in a polytunnel , i can point you to a great ad on we have in opur tunnel it is a grow frame , i had one years ago in the back garden of our flat then when we cme here well i had to get a new one for the tunnel you can grow so much .i hope it is ok to give a link to the ebay page i got mine from if not mods please remove it .oops i found their direct site easier lol , i grow lots of sld in them you name it i grow it .

PatioGro - Growing Frame

Grow your own vegetables, salad crops, herbs or flowers. Everyone is looking to grow your own, but its not always easy with limited space such as city balconies, patios and flats etc.

www.pdotwolf.com

 

[Glass-Wood-Steel]

Cucumber is an excellent crop for a glasshouse, it can be trained up leaving a bit of space below for shorter plants. Try looking for a variety called Burpless tasty, it is an outdoor variety but fine inside, really great flavour. It is non feminised so you need to get rid of male flowers. To combat mildew ylu can use potassium bicarbonate as a non chemical option.
A great chilli variety is Apache, lots of chillies as long as you keep picking. Also a thin skinned type so don't rot on the plant as easily and dry really well for long term storage and use.

 

[Erbswurst]

Valerianella locusta during the cold period.

Cucumis sativus during the warm period.

Mediranean frost resistant herbs at the entrance.

 

[MrEd]

Left field suggestion is to take the glass out and store it and then cover it with mesh and make a fruit cage!

 

[Erbswurst]

Or a bird cage.