Greenhouse Vegetable GardeningThis page talks about building a greenhouse and greenhouse vegetable gardening. A greenhouse has much to offer; however, we must be careful that we do not use plants that have to be pollinated by insects, otherwise, we will have to pollinate by hand. There are many vegetables that can be grown inside a greenhouse, but there will need to be some air movement in order to circulate the pollen.
Tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, some cucumber varieties, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, turnips, broccoli, radishes, and onions are just some of the things that come to mind that can be grown without a lot of work with extra pollination. A greenhouse helps us control the temperature, humidity, diseases and insects. It will also keep the birds off our produce and will help protect our worms from the birds. In the pictures below you can see the start of my greenhouses over my raised beds. Now my beds are four feet apart, but I think that six feet would have worked a lot better. These are not walk in greenhouses but are designed to work from the outside in. I am not sure where I got the idea or if I just came up with it. I am sure I saw it somewhere. I am using 3/4", schedule 200, PVC piping. Now my houses do not look too good but part of it is I am using used pipe that was used for something else. For optimal looks, try using 20 foot pieces. I am using 10 foot pieces. I am putting these together with screws. Now you can use PVC fittings here and there and make it look better, but I am not worried about looks. Due to the rain I have not been able to complete my greenhouse but I hope to finish it this weekend. Today is 10-14-09. But rain is predicted for yet a fourth weekend. After the drought we have had here this year, I am not complaining. We need the rain.
Winter Update: 1-10-10 Our temps dropped down into the teens for a couple of nights. I put some heaters in the greenhouses but as you can see in the pictures below, they did not work. I am hoping the actual heads are not damaged but time will tell. I am getting some plants ready in the house for early Spring. Below the pictures are some products that will work in a Spring greenhouse.
1-10-10 Below are some vegetables we did harvest. The turnips are very good but the beets just are not growing very well at all. The carrots I planted outside are still growing but growing slowly. This has been an unusually cold and cloudy winter this year. But that is what gardening is about. You roll the dice and take your chances.
In the carousel below are some plants that can be grown in a greenhouse. These have been developed especially for greenhouse growing since they do not require pollination.
In the picture below is my hoop frame. It is not very even due to the fact that I am using used materials. But it will do the job.
Below are the two raised beds I built with their hoop frames for my greenhouse vegetable gardening. On the frame on the right I need to put two side cross bars and one on the top.
If you have the time and funds, and are very good at cutting exact measurements then you could use fittings to connect everything together.
In the pictures below are some of the cuts I discovered that work best for our greenhouse vegetable gardening. If the screw is put in at an angle instead of straight like I did for most of my project, then there is no way to trim off the rough parts. By putting the screw in at an angle, I was able to come back and cut the PVC off flush this eliminating any rough areas to tape or poke through my plastic.
You may notice that I am using white rocks as my base around my raised beds. Once again, these are materials I already have so I am using them here between the raised beds. I would prefer grass. However, because I am using stones in between my rows of greenhouse vegetable gardening, I am going to qualify for some sort of water rebate. 11-07-09 Below is an email I received and my answer: "Do you enclose the whole garden or is the plastic just for a cover and only goes down the frame half way or you just enclosed the whole thing? What kind of plastic do you use to cover the whole thing with? " I will try to post some more pictures in the next couple of days showing how I enclosed the whole thing. However, I have decided that this type of semi-greenhouse is good if you do not want to completely close it in. It is a pain to get in and out of with the side open like I have it. I used 4 mil plastic that I got at Home Depot..the thicker the mil the longer it will last. " I have discovered that if I want a completely enclosed greenhouse it is better to go ahead and do it in the traditional way. In the next few months I will try to build one.
Below is my completed greenhouse. I have the sides opening up by picking up the plastic. I am going to reverse this so that I can open it up by letting the sides down. I am using cargo ties to keep it from blowing open but these will not be needed when I reverse it.
Below are some more pictures of the greenhouses I am using for my greenhouse vegetable gardening. I am using a screw with a hole in the PVC as a way to hook the door up. The plastic is fastened to the greenhouse using screws. Once again I would rather have built a full greenhouse instead of the way I did this.
12-20-09 I had some great pictures of the green beans, pole beans, radishes and turnips, but they have met with misfortune as my son accidentally deleted them from the camera. I have replanted and hope to have some more pictures soon. Your Garden StoryDo you have a garden story to share with us? Keep checking back for updates.Thank you for your visit. Go to Home Page from Greenhouse Vegetable Gardening
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