Greenhouse Ideas, Tips & Guides

Struggling to extend your growing season and protect plants from adverse weather? A greenhouse can be a game-changer for gardeners, even those new to the concept. In this guide, we'll cover essential tips for setting up and maintaining a greenhouse garden effectively. 

Sterling, Scotland, known for its rich historical significance and stunning landscapes, is now home to a blossoming community of novice gardeners embarking on their horticultural journey with the help of GardenAdvice’s MyGardenTeam service. Among these enthusiastic beginners are clients who have recently developed a new vegetable plot and installed a greenhouse, aiming to cultivate a variety of vegetables and fruits. The Dream Begins: A New Vegetable Plot and Greenhouse

Bougainvilleas

Sweet and juicy, freshly harvested watermelon is a delicious treat and tastes far superior to what you can buy in the shops. Part of the cucurbit family, watermelon plants look similar to courgette and squash plants, with flat, green and slightly furry leaves followed by yellow flowers and fruit. They can be left to scramble across the ground or trained to climb a frame, where they take up less space. Like other types of melon, watermelons need up to three months of sun and heat to produce ripe fruit, which means success relies on a long, hot summer.

As of last summer, the island nation of New Zealand was home to 6.3 million head of dairy cattle, up 82 percent over the last two decades. The country also holds 3.8 million beef cattle, 800,000 deer and a whopping 26.8 million head of sheep. That’s a lot of livestock for a country of about five million people. 

The garden as a whole has looked pretty hot in recent weeks, with June’s abundance filling it with glorious colour and lush foliage; the gardener, however, sees it very differently, and will quickly provide a list of its defects, things which a casual visitor might overlook. As simple as the overblown geranium above (probably G ‘Ann Folkard’), perhaps, draping itself over several smaller choice plants in front of it, or a more complex problem like the lack of support given to Rosa ‘Strawberry Hill’ (gearing up for a repeat flush) by its current support, below. Certainly, as I see it, everything is NOT coming up roses, or maybe it is but just not in the right place.

Hey GPODers! If you’re savvy on social media and your IG feed is full of gardens that make you say, “How do they possibly do it??” You might recognize today’s submitter, Valerie or @cottageandblossom. Today we’re looking at her enviable greenhouse and gorgeous cutting garden:

The fruits and vegetables harvested from your own patch of earth are always the sweetest–doubly so if your garden is more shoebox than sprawling country pile. In pursuit of the perfect strawberry, modern gardeners are turning to the old Victorian favourite: cloches.

My early sweet peas, grown in the greenhouse, are now flowering prolifically and I have to work hard at picking them regularly – but will have to work even harder soon as there are now buds on my outdoor varieties. The indoor ones have been bred specially to flower at lower light levels and in the UK have to be grown in a greenhouse. For some reason the lavender blooms are more dominant this year, although I sowed the same number of seeds of each colourway.

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May growing with Rachel

We have had a few days away visiting my Mum, and although I wouldn’t usually choose to leave the garden at this time of year it was a case of needs must. Fortunately, one of our neighbours can be relied on to water everything in the greenhouse in our absence, my main concern, and this is where I hot-footed it to on our return. Not only were the seedlings still thriving, but they looked increasingly sturdy and bursting with health, necessitating several hours in the last couple of days potting them on.

A compost bin gives you the satisfaction of turning kitchen and garden waste into rich, crumbly compost, which you can use as a mulch in the garden or mix with loam and leaf mould to make your own potting mix. What’s more, because food and garden waste releases methane (a harmful greenhouse gas) when sent to landfill, composting is good for the planet, too.

The Clemson Extension Horticulture Team recently visited the Greenwood City Greenhouse to see a behind the scenes tour of the Festival of Flowers topiaries. Plan a visit to Greenwood, SC to see these amazing topiaries that will displayed  around downtown Greenwood. The Festival of Flowers Celebration is June 6th through the 9th. The topiaries will be on display the entire month of June.

What is the tiny critter on the petal of this strawberry bloom?

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There are no sleuths investigating a dastardly crime here, it’s just that all but one of my contributions for Jim’s meme at Garden Ruminations this week are inside and undercover! Snowdrops, both common and specials are all but over here, but Galanthus ‘Peardrop’ (above), my star performer, is still strutting her stuff, flaunting her HUGE blooms, a full 2″ (about 5 cms) from the top of her green ovary to the tip of the outer perianth segments – she’s gorgeous!

March growing with Rachel

I must be honest and say that the petticoats are not velvet, but two pots of hooped petticoat narcissi in the Coop, Narcissus bulbocodium ‘Arctic Bells’ and ‘Casual Elegance’ (above); what is velvet, however, is a plant recommended for a cool greenhouse by well-known UK nurseryman Bob Brown. I was trying to find suitable contenders for the Coop and bit my tongue as I tried to ignore that it has yellow flowers – I am glad I did as the foliage is not only delightful but tactile too, and as a plant it has sailed through two winters with negligible attention and without batting an eyelid, looking every bit as smart as it did when I first bought it. Let me introduce you to Oxalis spiralis ‘Sunset Velvet’ (below):

11 Easy Ways to Extend the Harvest Season

What are the red spiders on my plants?

Cross summer-blooming begonias with some of their cold-tolerant counterparts and you get the Rieger begonia—a great option for a pop of tropical color during the winter season. Pronounced “REE-ger,” the Rieger begonia is a winter flowering plant with blossoms like tea roses. Although these hybrids don’t have any scent, they more than make up for it with their riotously colorful, creamy blooms. Riegers range from reds, pinks, and bright yellows to shades of orange and stark white. What’s more, under the right conditions, they can bloom indoors for several weeks and they’re fairly easy to propagate, too.

Commemorating John Tradescant (died 1637), gardener to Charles I (Commelinaceae). A genus of 60 species of hardy perennial and greenhouse plants from North America and tropical South America. The hardy varieties are commonly called spiderwort, flower of a day,

A genus of hardy herbaceous perennials, some of which are useful border plants, the dwarf species are good rock garden plants. Several are natives of the British Isles but those valued for gardens are from Europe, South America, and the Near East.

Mostly evergreen shrubs, chiefly from tropical America, belonging to the Pea family, Leguminosae. They grow from 6-50 ft. in height, have pinnate, dark green, glossy leaves, and bear golden-yellow flowers in terminal clusters in summer. Cassia is from the original Greek name Kasia.

A group of tender perennial plants, only one of which is commonly grown. This is Strelitzia Reginae, which has large ornamental leaves on long strong petioles (leafstalks), and bears brilliant orange and purple flowers, several together within a large bract, on stems 3 ft. or more high in spring. It is a native of South Africa and belongs to the Banana family, Musaceae. The name commemorates Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Marigolds (Tagetes ) are annuals of great decorative value during the summer and autumn months. They are natives of Mexico and South America and belong to the Daisy family, Compositae. The name is said to have been derived from a mythological deity, Tages. These Marigolds are quite distinct from the Pot Marigold or Calendula.

A genus of herbaceous perennial plants from tropical America, grown mainly for their ornamental foliage, though some also have showy flowers. They need warm greenhouse treatment in cooler areas. From the Greek dis, twice, chorizo, to part, aner, anther, referring to the 2-valved anthers (Commelinaceae).

(Deut’zia). A group of leaf-losing shrubs that are beautiful in bloom but are otherwise undistinguished. The flowers are produced from the side buds of the previous year’s growth. Many kinds are known, chiefly natives of China, Japan and the Himalayas. The majority are not perfectly hardy in the North against winter cold and should be given sheltered positions even in the climate of New York City and its environs. The Deutzias are closely related to the Mock Orange, or Philadelphus; they belong to the Saxifrage family, Saxifragaceae. The name Deutzia was given in honor of John van der Deutz, a patron of botany and at one time Sheriff of Amsterdam.

Orchids seem to do best if a greenhouse is devoted solely to their cultivation, though some types such as Odontoglossum grande and Coelogyne cristata will succeed very well in a general collection of plants.

From the time of the Greeks and Romans, various fungi have been eaten as a delicacy and the expert can find many varieties growing wild which are equal, if not superior, in flavor to the mushroom (Psalliotta campestris). But there are also a number of poisonous fungi, some deadly. The field mushrooms which appear in profusion in meadows in the moist autumn days are perfectly safe, but the inexperienced townsman would be well advised to make sure first that he is actually picking field mushrooms, because some poisonous fungi are very similar. Cultivated mushrooms are absolutely reliable and a valuable food as well as a delicacy.

Tagetes (Tage’tes) are annuals of great decorative value during the summer and autumn months. They are natives of Mexico and South America and belong to the Daisy family, Compositae. The name is said to have been derived from a mythological deity, Tages. These Marigolds are quite distinct from the Pot Marigold or Calendula. See Calendula

Climbing leaf-losing shrubby plants, from Brazil, which belong to the family Nyctaginaceae. They are cultivated outdoors in the far South and in colder climates in greenhouses. The slender woody stems are furnished with small, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, green leaves and sharp thorns.

If one of your New Year resolutions is to grow fruit and vegetables, take the time now to design the plot and you will reap the rewards in just a few months. I started six years ago with a blank canvas – just a patch of lawn divided into various spaces, including a vegetable garden. Separated from the rest of the garden by a hornbeam hedge and a trellis of espaliered apples, my vegetable plot is 11.3 x 5.3 metres, with an extra 3.7 metres square tagged onto the side to make it L-shaped. A greenhouse at the far end faces out over three long raised beds and a square bed to the side.

Growing with Rachel