It’s been a while since I did a tour of the greenhouse, so I thought I would give a quick update on what’s happening in there. It’s in a sort of transition now, as I clear things out from the summer and get things ready for winter production. I make use of the beds, the benches, and the shelving to try and maximize the space in the 8×12 foot greenhouse.
looking in the door of the greenhouse
I have salad boxes on the bench on the left side as you walk in. They are presently planted with arugula and lettuce. These greens do amazingly well in the shallow boxes, and when they get tired or start to bolt, I replant with something else. I took a cutting of lettuce yesterday but you’d hardly know it to look at it now. There’s some potted chives sitting behind the salad boxes, and the chives are mostly taking a rest.
salad boxes with lettuce and arugula
The bed on the left side has a bare spot that needs to be planted. I have I’itoi onions on one end and kale on the other. I will likely plant lettuce in the bare spot, since I have lots of lettuce seedlings ready for a home.
left side greenhouse bed
The shelves on the left side are full of flats of seedlings, and some window boxes I have planted. The two boxes in the below photo are planted with lettuce and pac choi.
window boxes on greenhouse shelf
The bed on the right side also has a bare spot that will soon be planted in spinach, once the seedlings are ready. There’s a pot of Aji Golden pepper sitting there now, as I wait for the peppers to ripen. And there’s a container of radishes sitting in the narrow walkway down the middle. Time will tell if the radishes size up in time before it gets really cold in there.
right side greenhouse bed
The other end of that bed is planted with Vivid Choi, Mei Qinq pac choi, Mizspoona, and parsley.
greenhouse bed with greens and parsley
Two of the parsley plants are ones I dug up from outside and moved into the greenhouse. You can see in the below photo they are thriving after the move, even though parsley has a reputation for not transplanting well. That one is the flat-leaf variety Splendid.
Splendid parsley
I have another window box planted with I’itoi onions. I plan to harvest these as scallions, while I leave the ones in the bed to grow over the winter.
I’itoi onions in planter
I am also experimenting with growing micro greens, and I have one window box in the greenhouse planted with them so far. It’s a brassica mix from Johnny’s called Mild Micro Mix, and it’s ready to be cut for a second time. If I don’t cut it soon it will be a macro mix!
microgreens in planter
I have some shallow trays I will use to grow pea and sunflower shoots, as well as other microgreens like kale, mizuna and radishes. These fit inside a standard 1020 flat, and I plan to use them indoors under lights this winter. They can stay in the greenhouse until it gets really cold out there. I’ll do updates on them once they are up and growing.
flats for growing microgreens
I hope you have enjoyed this tour of the greenhouse. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!
This is wonderful. Is your green-house heated? Can you please tell me where you got the green-house? I am looking for green-house but don’t know which ones are good. And how many lettuce do you usually grow in such boxes? Thank you.
The greenhouse is a Sunshine Gardenhouse (http://www.gardenhouse.com/). I generally put 12 lettuce plants in the small salad boxes, and 16 or 20 in the large one. They don’t get full sized, but I am able to get more than one cutting from them. I do have a small electric space heater I use to heat the greenhouse on the coldest nights, but mostly it is unheated. In winter I grow plants that can take the cold.
That’s a lot of greens that you’ve got growing. It looks like a similar amount to what I can grow in one of my tunnels and I can barely keep up with the harvests when everything gets going. I don’t remember if you can keep lettuce going through the winter in there or if it gets too cold for them.
It just depends on how cold it gets, but usually lettuce survives. And it is a lot of greens! They are so nice to have when it is cold and grey outside.
Thanks for the tour of the greenhouse. I love it that you are able to grow food year round, even in snowy southern Indiana. Keep up the good work.
How exciting – all those greens! I’m hoping to one day try growing greens under lights over the winter. Not this year though as our basement is currently an obstacle course of stuff that’s been piling up all summer long & getting to the lights is a literal pain.
You certainly keep your greenhouse well used in winter.