Page 38 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2021/22

Making use of our greenhouse
BY EMILY PLUMB FNVS
We may not have got our garden totally (or even nearly!) sorted since we moved in, but one thing that I think we made good use of during 2021 was our greenhouse. After dismantling it from its old location, washing down
its frame and glass panes and re- assembling it in our back garden, we put it to work straight away.
During the course of the year, we had all sorts growing in there: sweet peppers, chilli peppers, beefsteak tomatoes, aubergines, and cucumbers.
The aubergines were less of a success, but we think that the rest of the crops did really well. Who knew you could fit seven types of sweet peppers, two types of chilli peppers, five types of cucumbers, an aubergine and four types of beefsteak tomatoes in a 6’ x 8’ greenhouse during the course of a single growing season!
In addition to the above which grew in the greenhouse to maturity, we also started off lots of our seeds in here, our seedlings before they were hardened off, as well as our early planting of container courgettes and our other tomatoes and peppers when they were first potted up, which then
grew on to maturity outside.
We think that having the bed of
soil for the pots to be placed on does wonders for the crops. Although not essential, it’s surprising how many roots the plants have put out of the holes at the bottom of the pots and into the soil beneath when you come to tidy everything away at the end of the season. This wouldn’t be possible if the pots were placed on to a concrete base, paving slab or
greenhouse is the louvre. Although most greenhouses come with windows at the top, a louvre acts as another
way to allow air flow amongst your plants. We positioned our one directly opposite the door so that in the summer months we could leave both the door and the louvre open to draw air through and cool the crops in the greenhouse down. Although the crops we had planted in there are designed
similar. Equally, we grew our cucumbers in bottomless pots, so they definitely got their roots into the soil bed below too.
We’re very excited
for greenhouse growing, it can get very hot at the warmest parts of the
day during the summer months and so air flow is super important.
There is also nothing stopping you growing up in a greenhouse, as we discovered this year. At certain points in the season, we had bamboo canes and thin battens criss-crossing all
over the sides and across the top of the greenhouse. This meant that we could give our cucumbers a longer run to produce cucumbers, as well as a support for the weight of our tomatoes and peppers on their plants.
Another great feature in our
Before the spring, we’ll make sure to give the greenhouse a good wash out and dig over the soil
bed ready for the 2022 growing season. We’re very excited to get planning
for 2022 and working out how we
can make even better use of our greenhouse space! We’re definitely planning to grow some beefsteak tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in there again for 2022, but who knows what else we’ll end up growing in there!
38 Simply Vegetables