Greenhouse Gardening - Making a start

We bought a greenhouse! It was one of those, "I've always wanted a greenhouse".... Followed by a "hey look, this one is for sale".... Then some googling alternatives, and picking one.



It's awesome. However, I have noted that the internet is limited about advice on actually greenhouse gardening, so I will be making a series based on our experiences, and hopefully helping others to learn from where we went right and wrong....

To start we picked a polycarbonate greenhouse. These are basically like a super strong, UV treated, plastic paneled greenhouse. We have dogs and high winds... So the idea of glass or a plastic tunnel house was out right away. This one is concreted into the ground using the 6 feet on the structure... It is also about 2 1/2m wide and 3m long... So it's pretty big.



Then assembling the damn thing... My husband described it as a divorce inducing process. The instructions were..... Lacking. So I ended up in tears, the husband frustrated, the mother and father both called in, and eventually, a greenhouse set up.


Divorce averted. Today.

Then I decided we would grow things in slightly raised beds inside the greenhouse. I build a 6x2 raised edge, bolted together, (like my tutorial on building a small raised bed). This was filled with mushroom compost, though any compost will do. This means that we get the benefit of planting in the ground from worms, water etc, as well as the benefit of increased temperature by raising it off the ground within the greenhouse.

I also put in a pathway... Mainly to be pretty....



So far we have planted a tamarillo tree which we hope will fruit... And some lettuce and watermelon. Mainly, as it is summer, and it's too hot in there to grow many things. Everything I have read indicates that summer is the time to replace compost, to clean the greenhouse, and to prepare for autumn plantings. We however want to get something going, so we are trying subtropicals. I will be buying taro and a banana plant to attempt that. I am a huge believer in companion planting, so I'll be carrying that on in here. So far I have marigolds to keep out bad bugs, and lobelia and alyssum to attract the bees.



The greenhouse still needs a lot of water at this point, mainly because the compost is still decomposing into soil, and the ground below the greenhouse was super dry when we erected the structure.

Hopefully I'll have another update soon on how we are reworking it to our needs.


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What's Growing in the Garden...

After a long hot summer, with almost no rain whatsoever, critical water shortages and over 30 degree heat, I was pleased for a little respite in the weather.

Until it got hot again.

Then we saw the forecast for rain this weekend... hence... time to plant for autumn and early winter crops.  As I have never successfully kept the garden growing all winter, this is a challenge!

So all the beds were composted again and turned over.  The strawberries are all producing runners, so they just got weeded and a little tlc.  I planted some comfrey in their bed... but mainly as I got all confused... My grandfather always swore by having borage in a strawberry patch, except in my moment of panic at the garden store, I picked up comfrey instead.

The tomato patch is on it's last legs, and the chillies are doing great, so they just got a light weeding.  I hope to coax a few more cucumbers out of the vine, but we shall see, and the pumpkin and silver beet have been going gangbusters.

So what did I do?

Planted cabbages, remembering to leave heaps of space between, broccoli and perpetual spinach.  Also added lettuce, but we shall see the success rate there.  Added lavender to the silver beet patch, as it is supposed to help, and planted foxgloves in each bed as they are meant to aid all growing plants.  I also planted pale blue lobelias and pansies, though I actually forget what they are supposed to do.  Companion planting is genius, but other than remembering to plant basil with tomatoes, I always forget the benefits.

I planted spring onions and leeks, but I have never had much success with these in the past.  I hope for good things.  I also added more parsley and attempted to reign in the mint.

I wanted to plant radishes and alysum, but that was a failure as my cart was full.....

I still have a load of apples to harvest and preserve, and I made a wad of pasta sauce last Sunday... so even with a droughted summer, the garden hasn't been a total let down.

The weeded strawberries

Cabbages well spaced this year...

My tended patches

The pumpkin and silver beet patch

Leeks and Spring Onions in with the tomato patch

Garden from the berry patch

Still plenty of passionfruit

For those also interested in more gardening, here is superwoman Janet's blog - she is attempting to grow ALL her families vegetables this year.