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.
---------------
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