Have you ever considered growing vegetables under lights during winter? It’s an excellent way to extend your current growing season or to get an early start on next spring. But before you decide to invest in creating a winter growing system under lights, some basic information about plants and light will help. Plants depend on […]
This spring was quite wet, which made it ideal for producing berries. I grow a variety of berry plants, all of which keep on giving year after year. Not wanting to make jams or jellies during the heat of summer, many of my berries are bagged and frozen to be used in cooler weather. Here’s […]
With all the rain we’ve had this summer, I decided it was time to build a rain garden to absorb some of the water runoff from my greenhouse roof. Because the greenhouse is a lean-to-style one attached to my studio building, additional water runs off the studio roof as well. This runoff can fill my […]
It’s hot. Really hot! Forecasters say that temperatures here in Rhode Island could reach 100oF (38oC) with humidity to match even though summer is just beginning. Fortunately, I live on the coast, so high temperatures inland create a sea breeze that cools our local area outdoors. But inside my greenhouse is a different story. If […]
I have tried to grow a lot of plants in my greenhouses. They have ranged from orchids to vines, from seasonal vegetables to perennial fruit and I have found that there are certain plants that or either difficult, invasive or just plain ornery when grown in the greenhouse. They range from plants that cannot stand […]
There are so many ways to enjoy strawberries, a bright-colored topping on your breakfast cereal being just one. So why not try your hand at growing them. Strawberries can be grown in pots, both inside and outside a greenhouse. Or you can grow them in the ground, either outdoors or in a greenhouse bed. If […]
Last year the US Department of Agriculture released a new Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which is based on average minimum winter temperatures over the prior 10 years. Most locations were given a somewhat higher categorization on this new map to account for global warming. So, because of ongoing climate change, gardeners may be seeing earlier […]
Many people use a greenhouse to start seeds, but where do you put all the potted-up plants when the greenhouse isn’t large enough for them? An outdoor, raised bed can be an ideal location. Plus, with a few additions, the bed can be easily converted to a polytunnel or even a small, temporary greenhouse. The […]
As you may have read last month, I grow a lot of plants. It’s hard work and a lot of physical exercise, but the results are greatly worth the effort. Here’s a rundown of some of the vegetables I grow each year and how I do it. Plants that grow slowly, such as onions, leeks, […]
I’ve been a gardener since childhood. In England, as I was growing up, I tended the family garden while my dad traveled frequently for work. After I moved to the US, my wife and I bought land in Rhode Island. A Victorian-era house had previously been on the property, but it had long ago been […]
Now that we’re well into fall, growing outdoors is almost impossible unless you have a greenhouse or some other protected enclosure. But how do you keep this environment sufficiently warm to prevent the winter cold from killing your plants, especially at night or on days without sunshine? There are more ways of doing this than […]
A year or so ago, a friend was throwing out a dozen ten-foot-long, one inch-diameter, galvanized pipes. I said I would take them with the thought in mind of building an affordable hoop house. Having filled my 300-square-foot heated greenhouse with more than 200 plants, and with more plants than I intended in my unheated […]
