? re: hothouse or greenhouse gardening

[blurose]

Now, can I pick your brains some? (pun intended) Anyway, I wanted to know more about growing in a "hot house." Do you heat this building at all or is it just natural solar? I have a little greenhouse and have been wanting some advice on what I can grow in it and how to grow in it. I've only just used it for starting seedlings in early spring so far. There is no way to heat it other than with just the sun, and the only way to ventilate it is with opening or closing the door opening. I live in the Tenmile Valley, just between Coos Bay and Roseburg, OR. I think that is zone 8b. When should I plant in the greenhouse with the goal of growing throughout the winter here? I'm afraid of starting anything in it now and "cooking" it as it gets pretty hot in there now even with the door open all of the time. I will, of course, be moving my small herb garden into it later this fall. Oh, I probably get at least or more than 30 inches of rain a year. However, we do often get a freezing fog (frost) during Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb, sometimes into March as well. I get only ususally one good snow fall a year (at least 6 inches) and it never stays around more than two days. I've also never grown a "winter" garden before and am looking forward to giving it a try. I welcome any advice from anybody on the subject.

 

[bills]

Well as you could see from my hothouse pic's, you really don't need anything to fancy, to still get good use out of it.

I currently don't heat mine, but if one wanted to do winter crops, you will need proper lights and heat for many plants. You might be able to get away with some of the cold hardy plants without heat, in your zone, but they will need the light. I suppose you could put a heater in, with the thermostat set to prevent the freezing nights from wiping out your efforts. I believe as far as tomato's and cukes, you would need heat even on the colder cloudy days. I think you could start anytime of the year with heat and light. My concern is the heating costs may outweight the results.

I think spinach, lettuce, radish, chard, leeks, perhaps peas, broccoli, etc. would grow with proper lighting, and the minimum of heat through winter. I'm thinking of trying a few.

Mine has openings at either end so during this hot weather I can keep it reasonably cool, and well vented. venting is important.

What the heck, give it a try.

 

[blurose]

What about hanging a brooder light in there since it is so small a space (4x6)? Or should it just be a "grow" light bulb?

 

[bills]

There are certain light "spectrum's" that a bulb gives off. Different bulbs, different spectrum's. A regular incandescent bulb will work to a degree, but I believe they don't fulfill the plants lighting needs. Too much of the red spectrum, If I remember correctly. I think you can get a fairly inexpensive, to buy/run fluorescent bulb for growing plants under. A neighbor used this kind with great results.
I remember one year it was snowing out, and a forsythia tree next to his greenhouse was blooming away. He ended up putting a cover over the greenhouse, which helped with the heating, and prevented the plants outside the greenhouse from getting seasonal confusion. It was a material sort of like the space blanket material.

The ultimate would be of course the more expensive professional grow lights. They also give off a fair amount of heat, so heating problems during the day would be alleviated. I think they are pretty expensive to run also. Perhaps they could be picked up at a police auction? They seem to come by a lot of them....here in BC, anyway.