A little greenhouse can be the means for a lot of gardening. Many gardeners have dreams and ambitions which far exceed their gardening space—the solution is to extend gardening in time rather than area. With a small greenhouse, your gardening can be a twelve-month proposition, regardless of the amount of outdoor growing space at your disposal.
Let’s take the plight of many suburbanites. The lot is small, to begin with, and after the house. garage, necessary landscape shrubs, and lawn care included. there may be space enough for one, maybe two flower borders. That’s it! No space is left for experimenting or “pampering” such plants as chrysanthemums to get football-size blooms or snapdragons with 3-foot spikes.
These and other gardening specialties are naturals for a greenhouse—and it doesn’t have to be too large nor will it cost you a small fortune to operate. This extension of your outdoor garden under glass can be most fascinating.
Not only can you grow your favorite garden plants bigger and better, but you can have them in the off-season. One snapdragon spike from your greenhouse garden in mid-January is worth a bushel of outdoor blooms in mid-July.
Indoor and Outdoor Plants
Most of these “indoor-outdoor” plants are grown in what is termed a “cool” greenhouse where a night temperature of 45° to 50° is maintained. (Remember, all greenhouse temperatures indicated are those maintained at night.
During the day the rise will be ten to fifteen degrees.) A cool greenhouse is not only inexpensive to heat (on average it would take twice as much fuel to heat the same size greenhouse at 60°) but also the air is cool enough to discourage many insects and diseases and also retard evaporation of water. It will take less maintenance time to operate a cool greenhouse in winter than the same-size outdoor garden in summer.
Just like your outdoor summer garden, your winter greenhouse garden can be a little of this and a little of that. There are many showy plants to be grown in this cool temperature just from a few packets of seeds and a handful of cuttings.
Popular Garden Plants Perfect for Winter Greenhouse Garden
Chrysanthemums—are always a favorite. No doubt you have seen fancy chrysanthemums the size of dinner plates or perfect pom poms that are as uniform as a powder puff.
Any gardener will tell you that it’s a very difficult job to grow these “perfection” specimens in an outdoor garden. Not so in a greenhouse! You could almost say that greenhouses were made for chrysanthemums—or vice versa.
In addition to the regular standards (large varieties which are disbudded to leave but one or two blooms) and pompons you sec in the garden, you can also grow some of the exotic kinds such as spiders and quills.
Also, you can grow those varieties that bloom late—in November and December—that are never too successful outdoors. And, by manipulating the light—giving shade at some seasons and extra light at others—you can have chrysanthemums blooming throughout the winter.
Snapdragons
Snapdragons are another outdoor plant for excellent winter bloom. Once you have grown snapdragons in a greenhouse you will never be satisfied with those you cut from the garden. With snapdragons, though, you grow a winter-flowering type that will far exceed those grown outdoors in summer.
The seed is readily available from large seed houses. Just as in the summer garden, greenhouse snapdragons will give a multitude of flowers. They keep sending out side branches throughout the winter and you will be surprised at the number of bouquets you will cut from ten or fifteen plants.
Sweet Peas
Sweet peas outdoors are here today and gone tomorrow. Once the weather warms up they are through. In a greenhouse the right temperature for a month on end allows you to cut flowers, flowers, and more flowers. Two dozen plants in a greenhouse will give you more flowers over the winter than four dozen plants outdoors in the month or so they are blooming.
Pansy
Pansy is another plant that likes the temperature on the coo! side. You know how they go as soon as June heat hits them. Pansies in a cool greenhouse during the winter will surprise you. By planting giant-flowering strain seeds in August, you can have brooms 3” and 4” inches across on foot-long stems through the winter.
Of course, many other “garden” plants can be grown in your cool greenhouse. To name just a few: ageratum, anemone, aster. calendula. candytuft, campanula, forget-me-not, annual gypsophila, larkspur, marguerite, marigold, nasturtium, ranunculus, salpiglossis, stevia, and zinnia.
Then, too, there are plants not too common to the outdoor garden which are at home in a greenhouse maintained at 45° to 50°: bouvardia, calceolaria, carnation, cyclamen, freesia, kalanchoe, primula, and others.
In addition, the greenhouse can be used very effectively for forcing spring bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and bulbous iris. These will have to be put close to the heater where the temperature will generally be a little higher.
If your garden space outdoors is limited, a greenhouse is one answer for more gardening pleasure. But, where can you put a greenhouse in a small garden? There may be a problem here. but quite often it is easily solved. Look at the greenhouses pictured on pages 66 and 67 and you will see how some gardeners overcame this very same problem.
Ideal Arrangement
Most greenhouse owners will agree that the ideal arrangement is to have the greenhouse attached to the home somewhere where it is possible to walk into the greenhouse without having to go outdoors. Attached thus, it is also possible to connect the home heating system to the greenhouse for convenience and economy.
The greenhouse, though, should be placed in a spot that receives sun all of the day if possible. Try to locate it where light from the south, west, and cast is not blocked off. Keep it away from trees, too, even small trees for eventually, they will grow up.
There are very few places where it would be impossible to locate a greenhouse. especially a small one of 10 feet square. Even this little garden under glass will provide many hours of pleasure throughout the entire year-not just during the growing season.
Naturally, once you have a greenhouse garden, you can go on to the more exotic plants by running it warmer. This can be looked upon as another type of greenhouse gardening even more intriguing. The entire gardening world is yours when your garden is under glass.
44659 by WL Meachem