Getting the most from your cold Greenhouse

If you are about to invest or already have invested in a greenhouse then its worth spending some time considering how you can extend its use. Most people figure they can grow summer crops in your glasshouse such tomatoes and cucumbers but with some planning and help from the GardenAdvice team even with a cold unheated greenhouse you can dramatically extend its use
Here are GardenAdvice recommended crops for year around interest and crops in a cold greenhouse
Forcing crops – in late winter you can use your greenhouse to force Rhubarb dig up some Rhubarb crowns pots then up cover them with a black bucket and place them in your glasshouse and within a couple of weeks you will have some forced rhubarb stems. Other crops you can try are forced chicory from its roots in the same way as rhubarb.
Winter flowers – In the summer starting a few stocks in a pot or in your greenhouse beds will provide a few flowers you can cut in the winter.
Early spring flowers – by potting up a few spring bulbs you can create some early season flowers, Try some crocus, Daffodils, Snowdrops and tulips.
Early season crops with hot beds – its easy to make a hotbed in the greenhouse using a raised bed and some fresh horse manure to raise the temperature to grow some winter salad leaves.
Late season flowers – Poor Man’s Orchid, Schizanthus easy to grow and a great show of colour. Spray or single bloom chrysanthemums. Both these flowers can be started outside in pots and moved inside as your tomato plants start to die back ready for flowering.
Crops for summer – together with your summer tomatoes and cucumbers you can grow can grow some grapes, with the plants planted outside and grown into the greenhouse and trained along inside the roof grape vines will also provide some additional shade in the summer. Another interesting crop to try is melons
For some advice on Greenhouse for sale and on particular crops contact the GardenAdvice team