Vegetables And Herbs For The Greenhouse

Tomatoes
SOW DEC, JAN, FEB, MAR
harvest MAY, JUN, JUL, AUG, SEP, OCT

Tomatoes are the classic greenhouse plant and one of the most popular grow-your-own crops. When grown successfully, they are notoriously heavy croppers, but it is probably the huge range of types available that makes them so seductive. In recent years, supermarkets have begun to pick up on our interest in very small or very large — and above all very tasty — tomatoes, but not before plenty of gardeners had already resorted to growing their own, happily and successfully. Tomatoes are generally considered a reasonable challenge to grow, so that means there are a lot of good gardeners out there!

Cultivation
DIFFICULTY They require plenty of attention, but the rewards are great.
SOW Two seeds to a pot in modules or small pots. Put them in a heated propagator at 16-18°C (60-65°F). Sow in mid- to late winter for growing on in a heated greenhouse (13°C/55°F), delay by about a month for an unheated one. If two seedlings emerge, nip out the weaker one.

PLANT Pot on into larger pots as necessary; don't over-pot, but don't allow the plants to become pot bound either: they need to be able to grow fast and freely. When they have reached about 20-25cm (8-10in), plant them out into the soil borders — spacing them 60cm (2ft) apart — or two to a growing bag or into 30cm (12in) pots.
'Sung°Id' has long trusses of small fruit with a sweet flavor that develops well under cover.

CARE Immediately after planting, give each plant a good watering in, then continue watering, but not over- generously, until the first flowers open. Increase the amount you water as the fruits start to swell. Start feeding with liquid tomato feed as soon as the plants reach about 15cm (6in) tall, or even before. After planting, feed once a week, increasing to twice a week once the first fruit have set. Although tomatoes like warmth, they don't like excessive heat. Ventilate well, especially as temperatures reach 21°C (70°F) or more. Support cordon types on canes, or strings fixed to overhead supports, and pinch out the sideshoots that appear in leaf axils when they are about 2.5cm (1n) long. Bush varieties can be left to get on with it unsupported and without any pinching.

HARVEST Pick tomatoes as soon as they turn fully red; left on the vine they will soften and split. In a heated greenhouse you can look forward to crops from late spring; an unheated one will start ripening fruit in early summer. The fruit will continue to ripen until mid-autumn in a good year. When the plants have to be cleared away, any final green fruits can usually be ripened in a dark place indoors. You can also pull up the entire vine and hang it upside down to ripen.
STORAGE If you have a glut, try roasting them in the oven with olive oil and garlic, then freezing them for using in sauces later in the year. Alternatively, make chutneys and relishes.

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Propagating From Seed

Carrots
SOW JAN, FEB, MAR, SEP harvest MAY, DEC
Baby carrots are a sweet addition to salads and are great cooked, too. You won't get huge roots under cover, but they are worth having. They're best in soil borders, or early crops can be grown under cold frames and cloches in the garden.

Cultivation
DIFFICULTY Easy; average input.
SOW Thinly in shallow drills in greenhouse borders or under cover in the garden. Cultivate the soil well beforehand so it is not lumpy. Avoid areas that have had manure added in the last year. Allow 10-15cm (4-6in) between rows.
CARE Water well and regularly. Thin if necessary as the plants develop. Remove weeds carefully to avoid disturbing the developing roots.
HARVEST Pull baby or salad carrots as soon as the first ones are big enough to use. Take alternate roots — this gives the remainder a little more space to grow. STORAGE Best pulled and eaten immediately. If necessary, store them in a plastic bag in the fridge for a few days.

Catch crops
Catch crops are a very popular notion out in the vegetable garden and there is no reason why they can't be equally successful in the greenhouse. Basically, they consist of fast-growing vegetables or those that can be eaten when still quite young or small, often called baby, or mini, veg. You plant them early or late in the year to get an extra crop, or squeeze them in any space that appears among other longer-term plants to get a quick crop during the main growing season. Because they are not there for long, they don't need much room and don't restrict the growing activities of their bedfellows. You do need to be well organized to get the seeds in whenever and wherever there is a space, and then be patient to allow them to do their thing. Beetroot, carrots, radishes, a huge variety of salad leaves and turnips are all proven (see under the individual entries), but you could try others.

Look out for...
Very early crops, especially those under cover, should not suffer from carrot fly, the biggest pest of carrots, which is active from late spring. If you find it is a problem, avoid thinning, as the smell attracts the females, or thin just before shutting up the greenhouse for the day. The smell will dissipate overnight.

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Containers For Greenhouses

And finally..

Water the pot really well, drenching it to settle all the compost around the roots. With some plants — such as alpines and cacti — you can add a mulch, for example grit or gravel chippings, for decoration and to stop weeds from growing on the surface. The mulch will also reduce water evaporation and prevents the surface compacting, which makes watering difficult.

Hardening off and planting out
If seedlings and cuttings are to go out into the garden, they need to be hardened off beforehand. Planting them straight out into the garden without some gentle acclimatization will give them a shock that sets them back, and may even kill them. You've spent weeks or even months getting them this far, so it isn't worth taking shortcuts at this stage. Young plants bought from under-cover displays at the garden centre should also be hardened off before planting out.

Take your time
Young plants raised in the protected environment of a greenhouse or poly tunnel will be delicate. All their shoots and leaves are soft and tender, and need to be toughened up gradually in order to survive outside. Start hardening off about two or three weeks before you want to plant out. Pay attention to the weather, not the date, and don't try to harden off in cold, wet or blustery weather — months of work can be destroyed overnight by impatience at this stage.

If you have a cold frame, stand trays and pots of plants in it. Open the lid on walnn, balmy days and keep it closed on cold, wet ones and at night. If you don't have a cold frame, you'll need to establish a daily routine of taking trays and pots in and out of the greenhouse. After a couple of weeks, leave them out on fine nights, covered with horticultural fleece.

Planting out
Choose a warm day to plant out. If you're planting tender vegetables or bedding plants, this must be after the last frost. Again, don't hurry — a few more days in the pot won't do as much damage as a frost at this point.
Even fairly tough plants like sweet peas need gradual acclimatization if they have been raised in the greenhouse. It is never worth hurrying hardening off.

Plant problems and remedies
Unfortunately, while you're carefully nurturing your plants inside your greenhouse or poly tunnel, there are many pests and diseases waiting for the opportunity to make the most of a free lunch. In fact, many of them are already present in the soil or among plants you bring in from elsewhere, so even if you raise your plants perfectly, you may experience problems. The best thing to do is to be vigilant and take action the moment that you spot anything going awry.

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A Healthy Greenhouse

Heated propagators

Heated propagators usually look like the better-quality unheated ones, and work in the same basic way, but have the advantage of a heating pad sandwiched into the rather thicker base. There are two types: fixed temperature and thermostatically controlled.

The fixed-temperature variety provides heat at approximately 19°C (66°F), which is ideal for germinating a range of seeds. They are generally reliable and really speed up germination of most seeds that require heat; they can mean the difference between success and failure with some of the more challenging ones. They are not expensive and are well worth the cost. Bear in mind that without a thermostatic control these propagators will provide heat even on the warmest days, so you'll need to check young plants regularly.

Don't forget
A small heated propagator is unlikely to be able to protect tender plants from frost in the greenhouse in winter.

Thermostats can go wrong. Check that your thermostat is always delivering the heat it should be by putting a thermometer inside the propagating unit.
Thermostatically controlled propagators.

The thermostat adds value but also expense to a heated propagator. These models are at least twice the price of the fixed-temperature sort for the same size, but they do have their benefits: they are more efficient, so they should use less electricity; they won't overheat your plants on a warm day; and they can be set at the precise temperature particular seeds need for germination or cuttings require to root. They are also available in larger sizes, making them suitable for overwintering a

Use a heated propagator with a thermostat for seeds that need a higher temperature to spring to life. small selection of plants if necessary. However, if you plan to go in for large-scale propagation, you might be better off making your own (see box, below).

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Greenhouse Alternatives, Paths And Other Hard Surfaces

Fans
Some greenhouses are fitted with a mechanical fan in the gable end opposite the door and work as the air flows through them. Opening the door or the vents should set them in motion, but their effect is minimal. Alternatively, if you have electricity installed, you could have a motorized fan. Extractor fans of the sort installed in bathrooms and kitchens are also suitable for greenhouses. Choose one with a thermostat so that it runs only when the greenhouse reaches a certain temperature, and make sure it has louvred 'storm guards', which drop into place when it is not working, to avoid draughts. Some greenhouse fan heaters can be set to run without the heating element. However, unless the thermostat set-up is particularly sophisticated (sensing heat as well as cold), they will run more or less continuously, which could prove to be quite costly.

Solar-powered extractor fans are available at a price comparable to electric ones, but their extracting abilities are not nearly as good. Fans are rated by the cubic volume of air they can shift in an hour. For a smallgreenhouse of 2 x 2.5m (6 x 8ft) you want a fan that shifts about 300cu m (10,000cu ft) an hour — solar ones provide less than one sixth of this.

Don't forget
If you open the door in summer, it is worth considering fixing a net over the space to keep birds out. A warm greenhouse is also a rather popular sleeping area for cats, who you may want to discourage.
When it comes to ventilation, sliding doors are best, because they can be opened just a crack during cooler weather and fully when it is warmer.

Door
The door is an invaluable source of extra ventilation on hot days, and can be used to increase air circulation on days that are too cool for the automatic vents to work. Sliding doors are the most versatile as they can be opened in tiny increments. They also don't need propping to prevent them slamming in a breeze. Nevertheless, be wary of opening them on windy days — strong draughts are not wanted inside a greenhouse, because they cause havoc among plants and can even adversely affect the structure itself.
Doors are usually the only form of ventilation in a polytunnel. Very basic, roll-up types can be secured partly open, as can pricier sliding ones; polythene hinged doors may slam, but at least they won't break.

Avoiding wind damage
On very windy days, check that your automatic openers are up to the job and don't allow your vents to bang to and fro. Tie them down temporarily if necessary. If the wind does get inside a greenhouse, it can behave like a set of bellows, creating quick changes of pressure, which may pop panes out of place. For this reason, if a glass pane ever gets broken you must replace it straight away, otherwise it will start a domino effect, and more will go.

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Choosing The Right Greenhouse

Conifers are shady all the year around, but on the plus side, they do make a good windbreak in an exposed site. They are also less likely to drop bits onto your greenhouse, although bear in mind that all trees lose their leaves and twigs at some time or other.

Don't take the idea of an 'open' site too literally, however. Greenhouses cannot withstand the full blast of winter storms, nor endless strong winds, which also have a detrimental cooling effect. If your site is particularly exposed, consider erecting (or growing) a windbreak on the windy side. This is usually the south-west side, since this is where the prevailing weather comes from, but bear in mind that northern and eastern winds are much colder and will have a much stronger influence on conditions inside your greenhouse in winter. If you think you might need a windbreak, position it to give your greenhouse the most efficient shelter possible.

The best windbreaks are those that slow the wind, rather than blocking it
altogether. This means that hedges are most suitable, while fences with an open structure are more likely to be successful than close-boarded varieties, such as larch lap. With the latter, you may end up tunnelling the wind through a narrow space, which will increase its strength, or creating turbulence on the lee side of the fence, just where your greenhouse is.

Frost pockets
It makes sense to avoid putting your greenhouse in or anywhere near a frost pocket. If you aren't sure whether your garden has any, take a look around it on a frosty day. The coldest places are where the ground stays white and frozen longer than anywhere else.

Hot air rises and cold air sinks, so in a sloping garden the low-lying areas get much colder than those higher up. Where the co d air is trapped by hedges or buildings, the area will stay colder for longer, too. If you must position your greenhouse in such a spot, you might be able to improve matters by making gaps in hedges or fences, which will allow the cold air to flow on down the hill.

Shelter
An open site is most suitable, or as open as you can manage; keep 10m (30ft) from any substantial trees if at all possible. This is not only because of the shade they might cast, but also because they shed leaves and twigs, which can cause damage and will certainly block gutters and increase the frequency with which you have to clean the glass. Some trees, particularly limes, are hosts to pests that drop sticky honeydew onto whatever is below them; this encourages moulds to grow — again, something to be avoided if possible.

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Gardening With Annuals

You can eventually get pretty far down with hardpan, particularly if you put some muscle into it. Gardeners who want plants to put down deep roots or who want to put in a tree but don't want to dig and scrape for what seems like forever can rent a power digger or hire a professional to do this sweaty job.

B is for bedrock
In some areas, not even scraping the soil gets the hole deeper. It is possible that you have bedrock — a layer of some type of rock underneath the soil.
It is tempting to try to plant in the softer soil above hardpan or bedrock. But it's not wise. When water comes in — hose water or rain — it sits above the hardpan or bedrock almost as if its contained in a bowl. The roots reach down until they are blocked by the hardpan or bedrock. Then they become waterlogged, and if the situation continues, the roots will eventually rot.

In warm weather, hardpan and bedrock cause additional problems. Plant roots, instead of reaching deep into the soil, are confined above the hard layer, in a shallow layer of soil. Being shallow, the soil dries out very quickly and plants wilt very soon after being watered.

How high is the water table?
Natural water under the earth can be very deep down or almost just below the surface. When it rises above the surface, as in streams or floods, you can easily see it. But if the water is just below the surface you don't notice it or even think about it. That is, until you start digging a planting hole. In addition to other drainage problems, you may see water seeping into your hole. You will either have to plant in another way (in a pot or a sunken container, for example) or consider installing some type of drain line.

Basically, a drain line is a downhill trench with the high point at your targeted planting area and the low point where you want the water to emerge. The trench will have to be lined and pipes installed. You may prefer to use a professional landscaper for this job.

Dealing with drainage problems
Dealing with drainage problems depends on what you want to plant. If you have hardpan, dig down to a minimum of 30 centimeters for a small plant and 1 meter for a small tree. Replace all soil with good topsoil. For a deep-rooted plant such as a tree, you may want to dig down as far as possible, fill the hole with good soil, and then create a raised mound about 60 centimeters high. Alternatively, use containers or raised beds.

Masterminding mulch
MULCH IS ANYTHING that can be put on the surface of the soil without Injuring the plants. Mulch reduces topsoil erosion, helps keep soil from baking In the sun and drying in the wind, and discourages the sprouting and growth
of many weeds. Mulch also helps limit soil movement during the winter Sudden /lasts, alternating with sudden thaws, make the soil shift, disturbing plants. In the vegetable patch, mulch scattered underneath such plants as cucumbers, marrows, or unstaked tomatoes acts as a cushion. This cushion decreases vegetable contact with damp ground, a situation that encourages rot.

When to mulch
In deter weeds, apply mulches in early spring before seeds sprout, or germinate. To control water loss during hot summer months, apply mulches after the ground warms tip in spring. If you place a mulch too early, the soil stays cool and plant growth slows. [his particularly affects vegetables such as corn, cucumbers, melons, and early-ripening tomatoes, which need warmth for a good start. To protect more delicate plants from winter frosts, apply mulch straight after the first hard frost of the season.

Do not apply mulch on seeded areas or around emerging seedlings. This will encourage damping off, eliminating qourtinq new plant growth almost overnight.
If you're growing seedlings, wait until they have become reasonably sturdy before you start mulching around them.

Picking the perfect mulch
As with soil improvers, lots of different substances might be used as a mulch. Some are organic and some are not. The best mulches are inexpensive, easy to get, and easy to use. Organic mulches disintegrate over time, but you can then dig them into the soil, which is quite beneficial.

Mulches can be made from all manner of substances, such as spent mushroom compost, rotted garden compost, chipped bark, shredded bark, and coconut shells. There are even decorative mulches, such as gravel, pebbles, or glass beads. I'm going to go into a bit more detail about mulches on the next few pages.

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Guide To Gardening

Pebbles

Gravel, pebbles, or crushed rock make an elegant mulch, and they are often used for the front of the house, where looks are everything. Colors include white, grey, shades of beige-brown, and a dark auburn for volcanic rock. These colors can be selected to blend with your home or patio.

Be careful when putting stone mulches close to a lawn, because mowers can pick up and throw the pieces. This can cause very serious injury to the person mowing and to passers-by. Rock mulches don't integrate into soil over time, the way organic materials will. They tend to scatter onto adjacent pathways, so put down more rock about every 5 years.

•The muted shades and smooth texture of pebbles look particularly attractive next to plants of different hues of green, such as golden creeping jenny and bugle. The effect looks voy natural.

Black poluitherte

I call this black bin-liner plastic, which, to me, describes it better. Sold in rolls from about 30 to 120 centimeters wide, black plastic makes a functional, if unattractive, mulch. Sunlight doesn't penetrate the plastic, so weed germination (and thus weed survival) is minimal. An added benefit is its heat-holding capacity Planting within black plastic is simple. You carefully cut a hole in the plastic where you want your plant to grow. Then you dig a planting hole, backfilling with a mixture of soil and organic matter. Plants sited within a plastic mulch stay about 5 degrees warmer than their plastic-free neighbors. Those few degrees can mean the
PLASTIC MULCH
survival of tender plants when the weather fluctuates.
Many gardeners use black plastic covered with a layer of bark chippings or gravel.
The covering enhances the plastic's appearance, endurance, and safety. Plastic without a covering can be slippery when wet. Covered, it is less exposed to the elements and to damage caused by foot traffic. If you do decide to use this lightweight material alone, you will have to weight it down. You can do this with either soil or rocks.
Black plastic will shred after a few years. If unprotected, plan on replacing it in 2 to 3 years. Note that plastic is not the best choice on poorly drained areas, because it holds the moisture in the ground.
Wood products
Bark chips, usually brown or reddish-brown, often come from pine, cedar, fir, or Scandinavian redwood trees. Quite natural looking, bark chips make a very attractive mulch. Some gardeners put a layer of black plastic beneath the bark to help keep weeds away. Bark chunks, available in various sizes, tend to scatter or thin after a while. Plan on augmenting them every 2 to 3 years. The larger the size initially the longer bark chips last and the less they tend to scatter. Another option is to use small wood chips in various sizes. Spread them in a generous layer that
BARK CHIPS is around about 7 centimeters deep. If these small wood chips are used continually and not mixed with anything else, you may need to add a bit of extra nitrogen fertilizer.
If you're considering sawdust, use only well-composted sawdust. If you simply can't wait, you can mix it with shredded fallen leaves or straw bits to break it up. As with chipped wood, some gardeners like to add some extra nitrogen fertilizer to their sawdust mulch.
In some areas there is a plethora of pines, and therefore pine needles. They are quite useful as a mulch if you have acid-loving plants, such as azaleas, camellias, chrysanthemums, and rhododendrons. However, you must remember never to smoke a cigarette or use a match around dry pine needles. They are extremely flammable. Old, shredded, oak leaves are also useful around acid-loving plants.
Your recticled garden
Fallen leaves and dried lawn clippings must be used as a team in order to make an effective mulch. Using just leaves, or just lawn clippings, will eventually result in a matted, smelly damp blanket.
•Bark chunks and chips help to control weeds by blocking out the light. The mulch will need augmenting, but should last for several years.

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Arranging Cut Flowers

Perpetual and prolific

That's not all. Most biennials self-sow, but not so promiscuously that you curse the moment you introduced them. I've banned forget-me-nots from my garden for this reason. Some years, I've weeded out more forget-me-not than chickweed, but you don't have to worry about this with the ones I recommend. There will be a scattering of offspring all around the parent plant, but not willy-nilly all over the garden. You can leave the seedlings where they are, thinning them out to give them enough room to thrive, or you can transplant them to another place (see opposite).

They're invaluable in their season of flowering too. In both the cutting garden and ornamental garden, the turn of the season between spring and summer can be a momentary blip in the color bonanza. Tulips are over and the bulk of annuals haven't yet got going. Biennials, along with autumn-sown hardy annuals, plug this gap, flowering prolifically from the middle of May. The demonstration gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show are always stacked with biennials - they can be guaranteed to flower in that crucial third week of May.

Which biennials to grow
My favorite biennial is the Iceland poppy (Papaver nudicaule 'Meadow Pastels'). No one should be without this plant. It's the best cut flower on my whole seed list. If you sear the stems in boiling water for thirty seconds, it lasts a week in water. You can pick it in full flower, or in tight bud and it will open as it stands in the vase. But don't just think of it as a cut flower. I love it in the rest of the garden too. By early May it's covered in huge, saucer-sized blooms, with ten to fifteen flowers on each plant. They're like crumpled swatches of fine silk, a palmful on the end of each stem. I love the colors in this mix - pink, white, cream, primrose and orange - bright and pale together; and each is scented like a Tazetta narcissus. If you don't want mixed colors, go for P nudicaule 'Red Sail', which is just as good - a single color, the red-orange of tomato soup, but without the scent. Drifts of both these plants look good in late spring and they'll still be looking good in late summer if you keep picking the flowers - live- rather than dead-heading, not allowing them to run to seed.

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