As night falls and the weather gets colder and colder, you may wonder if you can still use the greenhouse. The answer is yes!
In winter, you can plant many plants in your mini greenhouse with grow light. Although their growth rate is not as fast as that in warm months, they will still thrive with a little protection.
The key to a successful harvest in winter is to know the vegetables suitable for winter planting and match them with suitable seasonal supplements (greenhouse lighting fixtures, heaters, etc.)
Table of Contents
Skills of Planting Plants in Winter
The most amount of sunlight exposure is ideal for your winter greenhouse. You may produce a warmer microclimate by capturing more sunshine. The goal is to have six hours of daylight each day in the winter.
If the location of your greenhouse can’t be carried out, then you need to use a greenhouse lighting system to ensure that the plants have enough light.
There is no need to fertilize the soil before the first sowing because the soil must be fertilized in autumn. But after a while, after fertilizing the soil, it is necessary to loosen the ground and add compost.
The growth process of plants takes place in different ways under greenhouse conditions. Water, useful elements, and oxygen are quickly absorbed by the soil, which is why it is necessary to dump compost several times a week when the ground is dry. If the plant doesn’t get enough valuable trace elements, it will continue to grow, but if you decide to transplant it, you will make the flowers and ovaries of the plant fall off.
After transplanting the seedlings into the soil, it is necessary to loosen the soil regularly, not only using compost but also using nitrogen fertilizer and potassium fertilizer. Last but not least, learning the best guide to using greenhouse lighting fixtures will inspire you to grow.
Growing Winter Vegetables When building a greenhouse, grow winter vegetables. Please add a passive solar collector, such as a black paint kettle wall. This helps to prevent freezing.
On the coldest day of the year, add an extra small heater, propane, or electric heater.
When Should I Plant Seeds For The Winter?
When sowing directly, you can sow at any time, as long as the ground is thawed enough for the seeds to penetrate into the soil. The seeds will remain dormant until the soil temperature is suitable for them to germinate in spring.
In a warm climate, this is beneficial to crops like green leafy vegetables, which tend to bolt once the weather becomes too warm.
For containers, in cold climates, it is best to plant them after the winter solstice, in January or early February. So they still have enough time to imitate the natural germination conditions.
In milder places, seeds suitable for these climates don’t need frost, so your time can be more flexible.
Which Vegetables Are Suitable For Planting In Winter?
Vegetables most suitable for greenhouse vegetable gardening in winter include lettuce, spinach, radish, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.
However, what crops you can actually grow successfully depends on the night temperature you decide to keep. A cool greenhouse with a temperature of 40-45 F at night is suitable for lettuce, spinach, and radish.
Peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers need warmer temperatures at night, about 65°F, especially during fruit growth.
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Pepper
As peppers need a minimum night temperature of about 13 degrees Celsius, it is very dangerous to put them outdoors in the UK.
Even in a greenhouse without heating, the extra temperature generated by shelters and transparent walls is enough to keep peppers happy for a longer season.
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Tomato
Some tomatoes are most suitable for growing outdoors, but if you find varieties suitable for the greenhouse environment, you will be able to reap rich rewards in a longer season than outdoors-and there are far fewer pests to worry about!
The best ones are those that grow mainly upward, not sideways, because you can train them and use your space to achieve the best results.
Cucumbers grow well in fields, planting bags, and even flower pots! There are many varieties to choose from, some do well inside and some do outside, so choose according to where you plan to put them.
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Root vegetables
Although root vegetables like carrots and potatoes can really grow well outdoors in Britain, growing them in a greenhouse means that you can plant them in mid-winter, harvest them in mid-spring, and even keep the production going until autumn.
Put carrots together, then thin them when they get bigger and use the smaller ones for stir-frying, stews, or even interesting snacks. They will be tender, sweet, and delicious.
Beet is a multifunctional vegetable for cooking and baking, which can be planted all year round in a suitable greenhouse.
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Sweet corn
Sweet corn, like all very sweet vegetables, tastes best when it is very fresh. If you plant it in a greenhouse, you can get fresh, sweet, and delicious sweet corn just minutes away from the stem.
You can plant miniature varieties to save space-some varieties can produce up to 6 corn cobs per plant.
Sweet corn can also be successfully planted outdoors. If you are in the right area and want to save greenhouse space, grow plants indoors and then move them out when they are ready.
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Squash
Pumpkin is a very diversified choice for your greenhouse cultivation. It comes in many sizes, shapes, and flavors, so you can try many and then pick your favorite.
Winter pumpkins include pumpkins and butternut pumpkins, and when those summers come, you can enjoy yellow curved-necked pumpkins, yellow straight-necked pumpkins, and scallop pumpkins. Pumpkin varieties are usually good growers and an excellent choice for beginners and experts.
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Brussels sprouts
Brussels sprouts are a superfood. They originated in Belgium and its surrounding areas, and are very healthy and delicious!
They also grow well in cool weather, so they are very suitable for harvesting in winter when some other vegetables are in low stock. They did a good job. In fact, you can even harvest them after they experienced frost, and they are still great!
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Lettuce
Lettuce will be interesting in the garden because it grows fast, big, and green, and is a delicacy for almost any meal-just pick some and put them on a plate!
If you plant it in a greenhouse, you should be able to harvest it all year round. Choose a few of your favorite varieties to make things interesting.
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Radish
Radish is an interesting cold crop because of its low maintenance cost and fast growth. Certain varieties grow in winter, such as radish, with a slower growth rate, but the results are good and crisp. They are directly sown in sandy soil with good drainage outside.
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Pea
Peas grow well in cold times and help improve the soil by fixing nitrogen. They don’t need a lot of fertilizer, but it will help to add some compost to the soil before planting. Sow them outdoors at the end of winter, and make sure they have a grid or something else to climb.
Summary
When you know what vegetables are suitable for planting in winter and how to grow them, you will have less trouble in greenhouse planting.
If you are worried about the lack of light in winter, you can certainly make use of greenhouse lighting fixtures to make up for the light. And you don’t have to worry about this. In the long and cold winter, you can let the vegetables in the greenhouse accompany you.
