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To help you fulfill your holiday shopping list for the greenhouse gardener in your life without busting your budget, we have put together a few holiday gift giving ideas for the greenhouse gardener that are easy on the wallet and welcome in the greenhouse.
Greenhouse Gardening Gifts for Tight Budgets
Hothouse gardening uses basic scientific principals to produce spectacular results. Fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers grown in hothouses are every bit as large and healthy as those grown in a traditional garden, but they can be grown during colder months and survive fluctuating temperatures and water levels without difficulty.
How Hothouse Gardening Works
Hothouse gardening works by the scientific principle commonly referred to as the greenhouse effect. The glass or plastic covering of the greenhouse allows sunlight rays to penetrate the covering, but only certain rays of sunlight are allowed to escape back through the glass or plastic. Long wavelength infrared rays of sunlight are trapped within the hothouse, creating a warmer environment within the hothouse structure.
Designing a custom watering system for your greenhouse is never an easy task. There are so many different types to choose from depending on what you are planning to grow. The first thing to decide on, of course, is what types of plants you are planning to nurture, because the type of watering system you will ultimately need is greatly determined by the types of plants most often grown in your greenhouse. For example, tropical plants require more water and often grow best with a misting delivery system. Ask yourself if the plants you are growing will grow best with a drip irrigation system, a misting system or even a running water system. Each system has it’s own unique features and setup that help you achieve the perfect balance of water to your greenhouse, and keeps from wasting water.
Late March Planting = June and July Harvesting
I am not a sophisticated vegetable gardener. My growing expertise focuses on perennials, shrubs and trees. Vegetable and fruit gardening needs to be simple for me to enjoy. If you want to be successful in growing your own crops, I recommend starting off with radishes, swiss chard, and snap peas. The seeds are large, easy to handle and have a high success rate. I find it fun to get the family involved and a great way to encourage future generations to get bit by the gardening bug…
General Planting Tips for Cool Weather Veggies
• Look for seeds that are “open pollinated” or marked “organic”.
• Radishes, chard and peas are considered ‘cool’ weather crops. They can be grown through summer months in succession or you can rotate your crops after harvesting has occurred. I am now planting carrots in place of the radishes. The peas are still producing in mid-July. The chard can be harvested almost year-round.
Since greenhouse plants lack the natural benefits of uninhibited sun, soil, and rain, special fertilizers and foods for greenhouse plants are necessary for successful greenhouse crops. Outside plants obtain nutrients from the soil, but greenhouse crops are generally planted in sterilized soil to help control bacteria growth and insect infestations. This removes essential nutrients from the soil. In addition, planting in containers isolates plants and prohibits the transfer of nutrients from nearby soil during heavy rains.
While the controlled environment in the greenhouse is favorable for many reasons, nutrient depletion is a definite drawback. To help keep your greenhouse plants green and healthy, fertilizers and food additives are essential.
Fertilizers and Foods for Greenhouse Plants
It’s that time of year to begin transplanting your starts from the greenhouse. Greenhouses are great for getting an early jump on the spring growing season, but transplanting all those little seedlings can be a challenge. To help make spring planting easier, here are a few tips for novice and seasoned greenhouse gardeners alike.
• Don’t transplant seedlings until they have 4-5 full leaves. This ensures that your delicate seedlings are big enough to survive outside of the greenhouse.
• Some crops need to be transplanted while the weather is still cooler. You should wait until the risk of frost has passed, but these crops prefer cooler temps and may wilt if transplanted during warmer temperatures. Some cool weather crops are lettuce, spinach, carrots, and beets.
• Leave the root ball intact when transplanting seedlings. Dig a tapered hole similar in size to the plant’s previous container and water the cavity well prior to planting.
High Tailing It to Fun
Who said the economy is hurting? Friday morning vendors reported a line of people waiting for the event to open.
We arrived at 11:30am and the place was already packed! One of the things I love about summertime in the Pacific Northwest is the plethora of garden tours and festivals we have to choose from. Instead of going to the same events over and over, I try to attend a few each year I haven’t been to before.
One such event is Sorticulture which was recommended by a few garden friends in Seattle. The festival is held each year in Legion Memorial Park located in Everett, Washington from June 12 – 14, 2009. The 4-acre park had the unexpected delight of housing the Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens to explore as well.
Tamp Dancing
I rented Martha Stewart’s Spring Gardening Series from the local video store for tips and hints on seed starting. In one segment, Dan Hinkley demonstrated how to build handmade soil tampers.
Soil tampers can be used before or after sowing seeds. They evenly push tiny seeds into soil easier than a fist or fingers. I tried sourcing pre-fabricated tampers locally and on the internet. Available from the UK, tampers range about $10 – $25 online not including shipping. I wasn’t ready to shell out funds allocated for plants and seeds, so I created yet another carpentry project for my husband.
Materials and Time Required
Total project cost averaged $5.00 using scrap wood and materials on hand.
It took one person and two hours to build four soil tampers.
The gable-style greenhouse is a popular greenhouse design for many reasons. Here are the 4 top advantages to having a gable greenhouse.
1. Gable Greenhouses: Aesthetically Pleasing Designs
This architectural style often correlates with other Colonial style buildings on a property, providing a continuity of visual form that is pleasing to many greenhouse gardeners and homeowners. Such an attractive flow of design adds value to a property and is readily accepted by zoned communities and picky neighbors alike.
2. Gable Greenhouses: the Perfect Choice for Snowy Regions
The gable greenhouse is ideal for climates that receive a large amount of snow and ice, as the steeply sloped sides of the roof facilitate shedding of heavy snow. Excess snow and ice accumulations can crack or cave in a greenhouse roof. A design free of snow and ice also allows more winter sunlight to penetrate the gable greenhouse’s roof panels, providing extra nourishment for delicate winter plants.
Starting your gardening season with the proper greenhouse gardening tools can make the experience more of a success. Specific gardening tools are made for specific tasks and can not only cut down on your gardening time, but help you yield better gardening results. Take a look at these greenhouse gardening tools you won’t want to garden without.
Any gardener will tell you it’s quite important to have a cultivation tool on hand when gardening. Tools such as trowels, shovels and spades are quite popular for digging. While traditional gardening requires larger digging tools, most greenhouse gardening tools for cultivation are hand-sized and smaller than traditional tools. After all, you won’t need a full size shovel for your greenhouse gardening. The great news is greenhouse gardening doesn’t typically require the gardener to use large tools such as tillers, often rented for soil cultivation by traditional gardeners. In fact, greenhouse gardeners choose their own soil for growing.
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