You want a
greenhouse . . .
what next?
You have a greenhouse . . .
now what?
 Explore
this web site to lead you down the path to the
goal of a wonderful heat producing, food
producing and flower producing greenhouse!
Click around.
You won't believe
how much information is on this web site.
If you want every
question answered on greenhouse gardening check
out the book,
Greenhouse Gardener's Companion.
Click to learn more
about this handy resource.
"...Shane Smith
has been on the vanguard of "user-friendly"
greenhouse design and utilization for several
years. Virtually any question which might be
asked by either a novice or an advanced home
greenhouse gardener is answered fully"
-
HortIdeas
Note:
While we must have
advertisers to help support this extensive web
site, we are not beholden to any company nor do
we have any hopes to sell you on anything. Our
only hope is to help you become a great
greenhouse gardener!
Laugh
at the winter.
Make the summer last all year!
Kids love greenhouses too
Growing on. . . This is the time of year that your
greenhouse can be running a bit on the hot side. Don't let your
greenhouse temperatures run much above 95 degrees F. Why? High temperatures can be
harmful to the setting on of fruiting plants such as tomatoes, peppers,
eggplant and other crops. There are many strategies to keep a greenhouse
cool including evaporative-based cooling such as: evaporative misting, pad
and fan evaporative cooling, swamp coolers. Other options include more
traditional air conditioning and shading. For details on these strategies
to keep your greenhouse cool consult my book 'Greenhouse
Gardener's Companion.' If you need a copy you can order it
online by clicking below:
Order
Greenhouse
Gardener's Companion |
You can grow
food in your
own home greenhouse-
any day of the
year!
Gardens Create Abundance
Have a little food security
year-round!
This site grew out
of writing the best-selling book on gardening in
a greenhouse titled:
Greenhouse Gardener's Companion
by
Shane Smith.
The goal of this site is to provide a wealth of
up-to-date information and tips for those who
have a passion for gardening in greenhouses.
You will also find special pages
that discuss:
Heating:
Heat a
greenhouse without going broke. See
Energy Conservation for home Greenhouses.
Natural pest
control, Interior design and more.
Greenhouse
Questions Answered:
Jump to our
discussion
boards,
post
your question directly to the author and other
enthusiasts.
Want a copy of the
Greenhouse Gardener's Bible? Check your local
book store or
click here.
Check out the Greenhouse
Gallery
- see other home greenhouses and read about the
experiences of others. Behind every greenhouse
is a good story. Share yours!
"A well-designed
attached home greenhouse can heat your home,
provide fresh food and flowers. It is no longer
a question of whether you can afford a
greenhouse, but whether you can afford to not
have a home greenhouse"
- Shane Smith
There is such a thing as a
GOOD
Greenhouse Effect!
Grow your own
winter salads.
Leafy greens require
very little heat
in order to produce!
Start your
seedlings
see our schedule
Simple tip: If you have a low infestation
of Whiteflies convert your dustbuster into a
whitefly sucker. Simply make the tip of the
dustbuster yellow (done here with a yellow
sticky note). This attracts the little buggers
into the vacuum. Suck thousands of them in
minutes!
|
Turn your
greenhouse into a
food factory!
Fresh salads, herbs, tomatoes and even
tropical food like papayas and pineapple guavas
can all be grown in your home greenhouse. You
can even grow cut flowers year-round as food for
the spirit
What gives you a lot
of poundage? Greenhouse cucumbers
out-yield most other food crops (with the right
growing conditions.)
Use every square
inch and every cubic inch . . Use your air space
and ground space for effective yields. For
instance, you can grow edible peas or sweet peas vertically up a string next to a crop of
lettuce.
Grow "indeterminate"
vining tomatoes
straight up for higher yields in less space!!!
Learn more about
these
special growing techniques in the book
"Greenhouse
Gardener's Companion."
Results from my unscientific greenhouse tomato
variety test
Like many
greenhouse growers I live in a
short season area where growing tomatoes outside results in poor yields. The
best option is to grow indeterminate tomatoes up strings
 vertically in the
greenhouse. I get bushels of fruit every year. One tip I have found is to
use fish based fertilizer early in the season. This has resulted in a
dramatic reduction in diseases. Later in the season I switch to more balance
fertilizers. Here is what
I grew from March to Early October in my unheated backyard Wyoming greenhouse:
Early Goliath
(from Totally Tomatoes)
Most impressive of the season. Big early fruit.
Good disease resistance. Good flavor. Best of all it had the vigor to
continue on throughout the season!
Country Taste
(from Totally Tomatoes)
Not as early. Good late season production But still not as
good as Early Goliath. Best in flavor. Good disease resistance. Big fruited.
Early Cascade
(from Hirts/Amazon)
This is one of the most dependable greenhouse tomatoes I have ever grown. It
has good flavor, disease resistance is early and has great late season
vigor. Unfortunately, it is being dropped by many catalogs. This is probably
because the fruit are relatively small (around 4 oz.). What lack in size,
they make up for in yield. Where there used to be many catalogs
carrying this, no only a few do. I hope we don't lose this variety!!!
Geronimo
(from Johnny's Selected Seeds)
Big fruited, good disease resistance. Vigor: flagged towards end of season
on upper branches. Good flavor.
Arbason
(from Johnny's Selected Seeds)
Good flavor, good disease resistance. Vigor: not as good as I had hoped for.
Yield: not impressive. Good size.
Sungold
(from Johnny's Selected Seeds)
Always a great flavored cherry tomato. High-yielding, heat tolerant but some
cracking
|
