The Greenhouse in Winter

Okidokikly tis my first winter with my greenhouse, bless its cottons.. and it was so good in the summer, toms cucs etc but now I've cleared it, I don't have a clue what to put in it now.. I've got Bergonias overwintering in it, and some Winter density lettuces, but that's it.. It's not heated but tis very sparkly...

Spinach and Kale are great winter greenhouse crops, but I am in a completely different and colder climate ...

Lottie what about carrots and or spuds, lettuce, I did the carrots and the lettuce last year and it worked for me and I'm doing the same this year.
But this year I'm also trying to grow some spuds and they are all ready about 6 inch high.
I hope this will help LOL.

Thank you! Anything helps Nicky, though some say I am past help... :suspect:

I would'nt say that LOL

I have salad leaves, carrots & spring onions growing at the moment. However I still have something eating some pots which is annoying. :flower:

I have just harvested some beautiful carrots from the Polytunnel, which have stayed lovely and clean and tasty, due to being in a huge pot of light growing medium as opposed to our outside soil, which is lovely, but very clay-y and so hard to dig in at this time of year!

Wil be doing that again in 2010!

Compostwoman wrote:being in a huge pot of light growing medium as opposed to our outside soil, which is lovely, but very clay-y and so hard to dig in at this time of year! Wil be doing that again in 2010!

... & much easier to pull when you have a bad back...

Oh YES!

Bearing in mind I am not totally thick, just slightly, & thinking about the autumn & winter & light levels etc, would it help to put solar lights in the greenhouse. Is it the right kind of light to encourage plants to grow?

Not sure about the right kind of light, as haven't seen a spectral analysis of the light emitted by solar lights, but would doubt it from just looking at the colour of them. They are a bit blue-y looking

BUT I think they would help to add a bit of general light at dusk and dawn, so might extend the "day" a bit for the plants?

If you have lights anyway, and normally bring them in for the winter, it might be worth putting them in the greenhouse just to see what effect it would have?

I would expect the solar shed light type kits not to make enough light to make a lot of difference.

I have a set of mains powered florescent growlights, which have 2x55W tubes. They are intended for lengthening the day by use morning and evening. Trouble is, unless you go and move them out of the way each morning and put them back in the evening, they block as much natural daylight during the day as they produce !

I don't normally use the greenhouse over winter. My attempts with lettuce Winter Density have seemingly just provided a host for greenfly to overwinter on, and I struggled to get watering right - a little too much and they rotted off at soil level.

The carrot and potato barrels sound a better bet - I suppose they could be started outside and then brought in when the tomatoes are out of the way. Do you need to use those late cropping (i.e, cold stored earlies) to get a good result ?

I have always used normal earlies, planted in July. Tbh I use the shrivled ones left over from planting the normal earlies!

Carrots, I use early Nantes and succession-ally sow for a nice crop of clean fresh carrots during the winter, I tend to use buckets I have grown other stuff in (like peppers or toms) and just bung some carrots in and leave in the PT. I chuck all the used growing medium on the garden in early spring anyway, but I usually get a good crop of carrots from the buckets before the compost gets dumped.

I was thinking that this could be a good use for the carrots from that rather underwhelming RHS free seed offer earlier in the year ... they are Nantes Frubund and are supposedly very fast growing.

These arethe lights you just stick in the ground. OH liked them & bought them. I think I might try them & see what happens. As to what I plant, I just grab a packet & hope for the best. Usually carrots, land cress & salad leaves. I have some onions this year & will try a bucket of spuds as well.

I would suggest a back to back trial, one pot with a ring of the lights around, one pot as far away as possible from the light (but still in the green house) and one pot outside.?

Would be very interested to know results and might try it in the Polytunnel.

My greenhouse is a small one CW the idea of ringing 1 pot would not work LOL The light would affect everything. I had one light in the greenhouse last winter & I think it made a difference, shall put them all in & see what happens this time.

Ah OK then Pol. I might try that idea, though as the PT is probably big enough to do it .