Greenhouse Gardening
The Victorian Orangerie Greenhouse
Owning and using a greenhouse to raise your own food is the best way you can ensure the safety of the foods you eat, reduce your carbon footprint (which means eat local foods that don't have to be trucked in from far away as much as possible), enjoy a sense of well being and accomplishment from growing it yourself, and you can have a lot of fun while you do it.
Our most basic need for life is eating. We have made cooking into an art, gardening into an art, it is now time we made eating into an art form. What do we eat, why do we eat it, do we like it, where does it come from? All these factors should be considered before we insert anything into our mouths. The 'Health Food' movement has come and stayed, with an emphasis on supplements and healthy choices, etc. We need to look again at just what is the best way to stay healthy. In spite of the fact that we live in the age of communication, much is not seen, some is out dated, and some things are ignored. And look at us. We sit indoors all day, eat from vendors, drink sugar & caffeine, and wonder why we are obese. That is a broad sweeping statement that only applies to about one third of the 'developed' world. If, hopefully, you are not content with that status quo, you are already on the track to a better lifestyle, and let it start with EATING healthy.
I think it is appropriate to start out by looking at the fact that our bodies are made to operate on good food. In one of the sequels to Star Wars, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker are stranded on a strange planet with a damaged ship. The only thing they have to eat is their emergency rations, which consist of capsules of nutrition to keep them alive. They swallow a couple of these, but I did wonder, when I read this book, about how well their systems worked on such a meal with no roughage in it. That's sci-fi for you - it always leaves out the logical.
Fortunately, we live on a very logical earth planet with seasons to plant, seasons to grow, seasons to harvest and a season to preserve what will keep us alive. At the same time, we also live in a time when there is a college degree given for food production that has nothing to do with real food, rather it is for how to develop a 'food-like product' that will taste good enough that people will eat it. No matter that it is a combination of artificial flavors, fiber, and conditioners. The artificial flavors, like artificial vanilla, taste very much like the real thing, which can be anything, chicken, mushrooms, crab, beef, vegetables, etc. The fiber can come from many sources. It used to be ground up wood fibers that were added to products like bread. It's very cheap.
Today, they are much more imaginative with the labeling of fiber, applying it to stuff you ordinarily would not eat. And then there are 'conditioners'. This is the stuff that makes artificial chicken feel like chicken (sorta) in the mouth. It usually lends a rubbery, chewy sensation. Frankly, I do not know the makeup of conditioners, but I am already so far past wanting to ingest something like this, it does not matter, the first two are bad enough.
Then there is real food that has been prepared for you - but... Pre-made salads will only last so long without a preservative sprayed on them. If McDonalds makes up a bunch of pre-made salads and loses them all to browning of the edges, they would not be able to stay in business. Occasionally I become desperate for some food and will eat out at dubious places. Last month I ordered a burger that tasted like cardboard. It also had chunks of gristle in it (that must be the fiber). Who knows what goes into preformed burger patties!
Since we have to eat, let us eat well. We are smart enough to make something taste like food when it is not food, we are smart enough to figure out how to preserve food for when its not growing. Are we smart enough to go one step further and grow our own food for as long as possible and eat the right things to maintain our health? By Golly! I think we are. We are able to benefit from the collective creativity of many people who have gone before us that developed the ideas of gardening, greenhousing, and hydroponics. We can benefit from knowledge taught to us by J.I.Rodale, who founded the organic gardening and farming movement. We can check up on the truth of what others have to offer, to say, to teach. We can question everything and make the best choices for well being based on what we learn.
I hope you will continue to explore the benefits of growing your own food and owning a greenhouse to be able to do it year round.
Basic Greenhouse Supplies
Some of the basic greenhouse supplies you will find a use for in your gardening adventure are:
- Potting bench
- Seed trays
- Containers to hold seed starting mix
- Waterers
- Pots
- Sprayers
- Watering trays
- Heating pads
- Thermometer/Hygrometer
The potting bench can be as fancy or as rough as you can make it. It's basic purpose in to hold your seed trays at a comfortable height while you work. A simple frame of 2x4's with harware cloth nailed over the top will work. I will allow the spilled materials to fall through the wire to the ground and you won't have standing water mess on the work surface. You can purchase potting bench kits that are very handsome, some come with a handy upper shelf or rack which is nice to keep your tools and other equipment on. A bench should be very sturdy, able to hold trays of dirt and other items while you work. Your potting bench does not need to be inside your greenhouse. If you want to use all of your greenhouse space for growing, place the bench right outside of it, under a tree, or even in a potting shed, which is the traditional place for one.
Seed trays are shallow wooden or plastic trays or boxes that will hold just enough soil to start seeds in. Once the seedlings have 2 sets of leaves, you will be moving them up to individual cells or pots large enough for them to grow their roots further down. One reason we start the seeds by broadcasting them in a tray is, they won't take so much area on the heating pad to keep them warm enough to sprout. Once the second set of leaves appears, they will function without the heat.
Containers for seed starting mix that are durable and strong and won't split from constant handling will make it a lot easier to dip into the mix with a scoop or small bucket. Here again, it can be just about any material that is sturdy. I have used plastic trash cans with lids that come off. I put the lids back on to keep birds or cats from getting into the container. For year round gardening, you will want to keep a supply of soilless mix or the ingredients for making your own handy at all times. Then, if you suddenly get the urge to start some indoor herbs, you are supplied.
Waterers can be anything that will get the water from the faucet to the potting bench so you can wet your seed starting mix and keep them watered daily.
Pots are used to move the seedlings up to a larger container from the seed starting tray so it can grow bigger roots. You will probably want to keep pots of all sizes on hand. You can recycle seed and pot trays you get from purchasing plants, and lots of pots are available everywhere for purchase. Try to use re-usable and permanent pots to reduce landfill loads. Some gardeners prefer one material over another. You will find over time, the benefits of each type and choose your own favorite. I find that new construction landscaping jobs throw away a wide assortment of pot sizes that can be retrieved for nothing. You may also find enough material to build a potting bench out of.
Sprayers, or misters, are used to keep the surface of seed trays moist to aid the seedlings in growing up through it. Once the seedlings have emerged, you will stop misting them so they don't become susceptible to dampening off disease. Sprayers and misters are also used to moisten or fertilize the leaves of larger plants. Leaves can absorb food for the plant in this way.
Watering trays are anything that is fairly shallow and will hold water, which will allow you to set a seed starting tray inside of it to soak up water from the bottom. This handy tool will save you many hours of pot by pot watering. It should be large enough to accomodate some larger pots as well, then you can simply put water in it, place the dry pots inside and go about other chores while they soak up moisture, then go back and switch those for another set of pots that needs watering.
Heating Pads are plugged into electricity and placed under newly seeded trays to keep the soil warm and encourage sprouting. If you do not have a heated greenhouse, a heating pad will put the heat where it is needed.
Thermometers keep track of the temperature inside a greenhouse. A Min/Max thermometer will tell you how low the temperature dropped during the night and the warmest temperature it gets during the day. This information is very important to know if you are starting seeds in climate that will vary. Once you see the temperature dropping towards too-cold-for-the-plants, you can start heating the greenhouse.
Hygrometers measure the humidity inside the greenhouse. Knowing the humidity levels will alert you to the need for more air circulation in order to prevent diseases. Hygrometers are usually attached to a thermometer.
The Food Room
I have a garden room in my yard. It has fencing all around it to keep out the cows, dogs, and sometimes I can keep the cats out. Inside my garden room I have erected a greenhouse to raise some of the food I like to eat. Where I live, we get hail in the summer that can really damage or destroy the plants, so if I want to be assured of having some green beans, I plant them inside "The Food Room", which is what I call my garden room greenhouse. A room inside of a room. I have harvested enough green beans this year to satisfy even me.
Inside my Food Room
The great thing about having a Food Room is not having to worry about those summer storms. We get them every year, so I may as well plan for them. A friend of mine that grows tomatoes in pots, has to move her plants around every day to keep them happy. She waited a long time for the first ripe tomato, but, alas, she waited a day too long, and the squirrel got it first. Now, if she would plan ahead, she would have the tomato, not the squirrel. If I had a squirrel competing for my food, I would keep the plants in wire cages or a greenhouse that could be kept closed to keep out varmints. I planted my tomatoes inside the Food Room the last two years, and I think it is the best method where I live. I have not seen a single tomato worm since I started this. That alone saves me many hours of hunting down the hornworms and disposing of them.
I have been gardening for many years, and I am having to learn and use new tricks to get the harvest. When you go out to your garden and see the devastation a hail storm can do to it, you are shocked. It is kind of like having your house burn down, and all you have left are ashes. Every year I put in hours of hard labor to plant, water, transplant, and feed my garden. I do not like wasted effort. I also like to have a garden that is pleasant to look at as much as possible. My greenhouse compliments my garden room. Gardeners appreciate the necessity of having composters and hoses and tools handy, so if they are laying about the garden, well, it's a sign of life.
Someone said, 'Happiness is being able to look back with pride and forward with hope." That is certainly a good motto for gardeners. We can take pride in what we are able to do well, and still look forward to doing better, every year, every growing season. And now we can take pride in our ability to grow food year round with a greenhouse. If you have a 'Food Room', you can have success after success with what you grow and when you grow it. Not everything will be successful, but most of it will.
Raised beds inside the Food Room
Having a greenhouse to grow food in is becoming a standard for families everywhere. You don't have to live in the country or have lots of room to garden. You can attach a Food Room to your house and call it a conservatory, or put a free standing greenhouse in your backyard. Even if you only have ten square feet of yard, you can still have a small lean-to on the sunny side and keep a tomato in a pot inside of it. You can make your kitchen into more of a 'Food Room' by keeping a tabletop growing system on the counter and grow your herbs fresh in it.
The range of choices about how much we can do towards gardening is endless. Our only limits are our imagination and willingness to try it. Gardening is not hard to do, you don't have to learn a lot before you begin to garden, and you can spend as much time as you want on it. No one will grade you (thank goodness) on how well you did. The only grading is in the taste test. Let your tongue tell you if you did well. You can do your gardening all alone, or with others. There is lots of help and advice to be had for the asking. Gardening blogs and clubs are everywhere. We are here to help you succeed and enjoy the gardening experience.
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Compare the condition of the green bean plants below, raised in the same garden at the same time. One photo shows a plant outside and one photo shows a plant inside the greenhouse. Production was also affected by exposure to many contrary elements on the outside plant, with very few beans produced, whereas the Food Room grown bean plants have been prolific producers.
Beans grown outside
Beans grown in my Food Room Greenhouse
Air Circulation
Winter growing in a greenhouse, especially if you use hydroponics exclusively, will require extra air circulation and ventilation. Air circulation is simply moving the existing air around inside the greenhouse; whereas ventilation is moving air from the outside into the interior of the greenhouse, and moving greenhouse air out.
Holmes Oscillating Clip Fan
Fans will move the interior air around, and ventilation fans will bring in (intake fans),or expel air out (exhaust fans). These are both important to have in place for good plant production.
Plants utilize Carbon Dioxide (CO2) that is present in the air. When humans breathe, they expel CO2, and the plant can use it. Trees do the same thing. Trees and plants expel Oxygen (O2) which humans need to survive. This is called a symbiotic relationship, where two living things benefit each other.
In a greenhouse environment, you can create symbiotic situations that will benefit the plants, even when you are not present. The fastest and easiest way to incorporate CO2 into the interior of the greenhouse is with a wall mounted intake fan that brings outside air inside. You can also heat this air before it hits your plants, which is helpful in the cold winter months. If your intake fan is not going to heat the air, you will not want it bringing in winter air if you are gardening inside. You can use air circulation fans to stir the air, which will make what CO2 that is present more available to the plants. A completely air tight or sealed greenhouse will have a limited amount of CO2 present, so you will need to find a way to bring more CO2 into the greenhouse.
Here is a greenhouse term you will want to remember: CO2 Enhancement. It refers to increasing the amount of CO2 that is present in the greenhouse to speed up the growth of plants and fruiting or flowering. Too little CO2 present will actually slow down the plant growth. To enhance, or increase, the amount of CO2 present inside your winter greenhouse when cold outside air is not desired, you simply need to put into place the practices that will emit more CO2. A greenhouse that is attached to a house is not as likely to have a CO2 shortage because of increased human activity and opening of doors, gas stove fumes, pets present, etc.
Solexx Universal Solar Powered Vent Opener
One way to add CO2 into your greenhouse interior, is to put your working composter inside it. As the composting process is going on, the microbes emit CO2. When manure is decomposing, it gives off CO2. Putting your composter inside your greenhouse will help the composter work faster, and it will actually heat up, and give off a small degree of heat into the greenhouse, which benefits the greenhouse plants. It is also very convenient for putting plant debris into it when you harvest, dead head, or trim them. That is a benefit for the greenhouse grower.
Another factor involved in CO2 levels is compost in soil. The billions of tiny microbes that are present in compost emit CO2. Therefore, the more organic compost you have in the pots, the more likely they are to be obtaining all the CO2 they need.
Modern greenhouses are so well made and airtight, they tend to need CO2 enhancement. Fans are the most critical way of moving the air around and making the CO2 that is there available. In a totally still environment, a plant leaf will use up all the CO2 around it, and not be able to receive more. When you move the air, it pushes CO2 onto the leaf surface where the leaf can take it in. Even if you have no other CO2 Enhancement program in place, a fan will increase the plants growth by as much as 40% compared to without air movement.
If you are burning propane or natural gas inside your greenhouse to heat it during the coldest months, you are recieving ample CO2 enhancement.
Plants utilize and convert CO2 only when there is good light available. On days that are dark and cloudy, not much photosynthesis is going to happen, so you can turn off the fans. They are not needed at night-time either.
If you are growing plants in raised beds inside your greenhouse in the cold winter months, use plenty of good organic soil amendments in the beds with plenty of compost, and mulch your plants with natural materials, and you won't need to worry about carbon dioxide levels at all.
ActiveAir Wall-Mount 16" Fan
If your greenhouse has an exterior wall mounted intake or exhaust fan, you want to make sure cold air is not entering through it. If you have very mild days and want to bring in outside air, be sure the ambient temperatures are warm when the air reaches the plants. Check it with a thermometer placed near the plants on the shelves.
Carbon Dioxide in the air is essential to photosynthesis, which is the process of the leaf exchanging light into energy to grow.