To year round greenhousers (is that a word ). How do you do it? I'm very very new to greenhouses (I don't even own one yet, but hopefully tomorrow). Do you move the plants outside in summer time and back inside when fall comes? Or do you start seeds for outdoor plants and keep other plants in the greenhouse year round? I'm zone 5b (Chicago area)
Our ultimate goal is to be growing 80% of our produce by 2025 (I know we will still need to supplement bananas apples ect).
Do you grow Strawberries year round? What do you grow year round?
I'll take any tips for year round greenhouses you got.
You can rotate crops so you can grow year round. I used to own several dual layer greenhouses and grew vegetables in them year round, but I also heated it in the winter and used fans and cool pads in the summer. I now only have a single layer and in the winter I swap to broccoli/cabbage/etc... I'm in the southeast so we usually have mild winters and I've had a few tomato plants that over wintered fine without heat. this past December tho we had a week of daytime temps below freezing and I lost a few cold hardly plants.
Yup--I am on the division between zone 4/5. You can start seeds in there in the spring. I have winter-hardy greens just starting to come up in there without heat right now. In about 3-4 weeks, it'll be warm enough for most veggies in there. In the warmer summer months, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers will all love the heat (you will need shade cloth, it will turn into a sauna in there otherwise, and vents/fans).
Grow 'indeterminate' varieties in there, because they will keep going well into Fall. Any cold hardy veggies can be re-started mid/late summer and planted in there in the early/mid fall and they will keep producing until about mid-December. Even with heat, there is no longer enough light in there, so if you want to grow into the winter, you will need both heat and light after that point until about early March, when you can start all over again. Even if it's -20C (-4F), IF the sun is shining, it will get to 50C (122F) in there, so even if it dips below freezing in the greenhouse, the ground may never freeze.
So, kale will just become dormant, eventually, and will start to grow again as soon as it begins to warm up again. But note that in this climate, water in the greenhouse is an issue as hoses outside freeze. We have a giant stock tank in our greenhouse that I refill constantly with snow (and have an aquarium heater in the tank to warm the water for cheap) to use for watering. You won't water very much in the winter, but you will need to on occasion if things are growing in there.
We have in ground raised beds. We heat with propane and focus on having our plants mature and fruiting before it’s fully fall. You’ll Learn that starting seeds in the winter is tough unless you have grow lights in the GH.
I am in Michigan in summer I have my heat loving cacti , succulents and others. In winter all my porch plants get added with them along with peppers and herbs, bonsai and some house plants. Spring start seeds in any space I can find. I have lights and heat for winter. Screen door and fans in summer.
). How do you do it? I'm very very new to greenhouses (I don't even own one yet, but hopefully tomorrow). Do you move the plants outside in summer time and back inside when fall comes? Or do you start seeds for outdoor plants and keep other plants in the greenhouse year round? I'm zone 5b (Chicago area)