[al78]

A friend of mine gave me a greenhouse and I have spent the last month and a half (because of continuously poor weekend weather) building a base and constructing it. I am now at the point where I have installed the glass and have ordered polycarbonate sheets for the roof.

I have ideas of how to utilise it over the coming year, and wanted to run them past you to check they are feasible.

1. Start early potatoes in bags in February to try and get a crop in May.
2. Sow carrot seeds in late February or early March (I am planning to build raised beds).
3. Plant out little Gem squash and dwarf French beans three weeks earlier (in April instead of May).
4. Start dwarf Kale in late August for leaves over winter.
5. Sow dwarf French beans late summer to try and get a crop well into October.
6. Grow a few tomatoes.

I was thinking of placing a small water butt painted black in the greenhouse and filling with water to act as a passive heat source (it absorbs sunlight during the day and warms, and releases that warmth overnight).

What do you think?

[TonyB.]

Wow! big greenhouse?

I sow early carrots, spring onions, radish and lettuce in containers in the greenhouse. That way the containers can come out when the proper greenhouse plants (peppers, chillies and melons) are ready to go into the greenhouse. Outdoor tomatoes and cucumber are put into plastic grow houses to get a head start on the season.
I find that my peppers etc still need to be in the greenhouse so extending at the end of the season is a no go.
Next year I am  going to try cabbage in pots to fill the gap between the winter ones and the start of the spring ones.

[al78]

Standard 8x6 ft area, but I live alone so no need to grow huge amounts of any one crop. I'm thinking of a couple of potatoes in one of those grow bags, that is about a quarter of a square meter. A couple of rows of carrots, that is similar area. A few dwarf French beans don't take up much space, and will only be there to get a head start, the bulk of my bean crop being climbers outside. The tomatoes are not for me so only one or two plants. One gem squash is sufficient to get going early, the rest can go outside. Dwarf kale in late summer, and maybe one or two other overwintering brassicas will go in when some of the other stuff comes out.

Of course, what happens when planning in my head and what happens in reality may be two different things!  Biggest issue is going to be getting there frequently enough to keep everything watered.

[Plot94]

The squash can be a problem when they get going, I usually pant a couple in the polytunnel and they regularly grow to over 20ft in length and scramble over everything in sight, which is ok if you have the room to let them, otherwise you may find you need a machete to get through the door.

[jezza]

Hello just give it a go with what you plan  as for watering there's  solar powered pumps and battery operated water computers only thing I'd be wary of is ventilation make sure that the vents aren't fixed closed with the polycarbonate sheets  jezza

[al78]

I have finally managed to get it finished after the strong winds last week ripped off one of the polycarbonate panels on the roof (despite my attempt to bolt it down). I'm in the process of constructing raised beds and rebuilding the pallet compost bin, where there is some soil to put in the raised beds. I am wondering whether it is worth buying a few first early tubers and having a go at starting them in bags in the greenhouse now, to try and get a very early crop. The winter so far has been unusually free of frost, and if it stays that way, I should be able to keep the potatoes alive through the next couple of months. Of course, knowing my luck, the instant I try this, the Beast from the East will come storming in again.

[Plot 1 Problems]

I have finally managed to get it finished after the strong winds last week ripped off one of the polycarbonate panels on the roof (despite my attempt to bolt it down). I'm in the process of constructing raised beds and rebuilding the pallet compost bin, where there is some soil to put in the raised beds. I am wondering whether it is worth buying a few first early tubers and having a go at starting them in bags in the greenhouse now, to try and get a very early crop. The winter so far has been unusually free of frost, and if it stays that way, I should be able to keep the potatoes alive through the next couple of months. Of course, knowing my luck, the instant I try this, the Beast from the East will come storming in again.

For an experiment I planted out a couple of first earlies in my polytunnel a couple of years ago and lucked out with only a couple of frosts to fleece against. The haul was fairly small, but I enjoyed the novelty of having spuds in May.