I've had my greenhouse for one entire growing season at this point. As a moderate season extender, a germination and propagation lab, for beauty and higher yields, YES!, the greenhouse has been a dream come true. Remember, however, the greenhouse is not immune to insects, rodents, freeze or heat!
My greenhouse is so messy right now. I hate to even go in it. Just too hot to clean. SE Texas. I use it to overwinter tender perennials and start seeds in January. Small heater set at 44 works great in my climate. I really thought I would use it more. 20-30 degrees hotter when it’s 90-100 is just too much! I don’t regret getting one!
Bless up. Never seen your videos before, but i recognized the voice instantly! You have the podcast with you, and a black woman from Chicago. I listened to a ton of your podcasts! You both always give really solid advice, and I like your personality’s. Im glad to have to stumble on to your UA-cam. Big up. Happy growing
I love my small, inexpensivse greenhouse for early season seed germination, protection of small seedlings from squirrel and chipmonk destruction, avoiding having to harden off, and now curing my onions.
I have debated putting a heater in mine but the cost of running a heater out weighed the cost of the crops i would be able to harvest. Give it a shot you never know
Jeff from East Tennessee. Clean off some of my summer garden. Amazing to really see size of garden I have. It’s 90x80 feet. That’s a lot for me with a full time job!! I don’t have any fall plants in the garden yet. I have stepped up and potted my cabbage in these big 6in pots. They are getting bigger and bigger. This gives me time to get my garden ready. I have a fence around the garden. I want to now double up with some more narrow mesh fence. I have had a few problems with some pest animals getting under my fence. This will make me feel more secure about my cabbage. Cool weather is coming so full steam ahead!! Thanks!!
I once saw a post in a garden group on FB asking questions about growing tomatoes and melons in a greenhouse through winter. There was no response after two days and this is a very large group. I told that person that probably no one responded because it's not worth the time, energy, and expense to do it plus the fruit wouldn't taste as good as ripening in the heat and sunlight of summer.
@sandybottomhomestead It wasn't a general greenhouse question. It was specifically asking about growing tomatoes and melons in the middle of winter in a greenhouse. So I'm assuming no one answered since no one has bothered to do it. FB posts get lost easily if no one likes or responds right away so it may be a victim of the algorithm.
I got my greenhouse here in NH installed last November, so this is my first real attempt at using it to its full potential. I do a have a small heater that heats the structure about 20 degrees warmer than the nightime lows. Im trying to get the tomatoes that are in there now to continue producing into November, but I also want to get purple sprouting broccoli inside for an early spring crop. These two goals are conflicting with each other. If i let my tomatoes go into November, i won't have enough time to plant the broccoli.
@@TJtheHAWK you do, just try it! Are you clipping the bottom leaves off tomatoes? They got plenty of space! Add more soil as a top dressing around the tomatoes, then plant the broccoli seedlings under and around tomatoes. Once the tomatoes fizzle out, cut the stalks down, don’t rip it out, so you don’t disturb the root system of brassicas
It is still too hot to sow seeds hee in Alabama, 90s in the shade, hotter in the sun. Thursday a cold front is bringing cooler temperatures to the area. I'll have six days where it will be cool enough to sow seeds, but not for everything. I have cabbage starts ready to transplant, and I'll sow seeds for brocolli, cauliflower, turnips, beets, carrots, Pak Choi, Swiss Chard, Komatsuna, tasoi, Yellow Heart Winter Choy, and Nappa Cabbage. I'm waiting for cooler weather to plant garlic and parsnips, low 70s. Aftr the cool air passes, it will be rollercoaster season with climbing temperatures followed by cool temperatures.
I got a mega bargain and found a puzzle piece of a glass greenhouse all torn down in pieces, no instructions or directions. Clips and seals were in a tin can. I had no idea if all the parts were there. The lady sold it to me for $60!! It took awhile to figure out how it went together but I did it and other then having to buy an extra bag of greenhouse clips nuts and bolts, everything was there. It's a 6 x 8 in fabulous condition. She just wanted the pieces out of her garage. I'm still getting use to using it as this is my 3rd winter having it but it really "extended" my season. Still can't grow all winter but great storage for overwintering some of my potted spring bulbs! Southern Ontario 🇨🇦 6b.
Eastern Washington here- 7a/6b -desert here- great Fluctuations in day/night temps. Greenhouse from Costco-It’s been up since March of this year- I tracked my temps with a remote thermometer for a week before I decided to take my starts out there- ran a small heater when needed- Tracking again for the possibility of overwintering my citrus.. Thank you for the informative video!
Mine is glass, so yes, more expensive, but that doesn't help it to retain heat - every night the temperature drops inside the greenhouse to match the outside temperature unless I take other measures to add heat. I don't want to grow things in the winter in it, but I keep my cactuses and agaves in there, out of the PNW rain, and the citrus, away from the frost - if night temperatures are going to drop into the mid-20's or lower, then I run an outdoor-rated extension cord, and cluster my citrus, geraniums, and any other frost-susceptible plants I am attempting to keep alive, under sheets around an incandescent bulb shop light or a seed starting heat mat for those nights in such a way that there is no fire risk and the temperature in my make-shift shelter stays just above freezing. As spring comes on and frost danger passes, then it is seed starting time, and everything in the greenhouse gets extra daytime warmth, and then everything goes out except cucumbers and peppers which seem to care more for the extra summer heat in the greenhouse than optimized sunshine (mine is partially shaded during the summer months, but still warms right up even in filtered light). That is how in our PNW climate I put the greenhouse to best use anyway.
I'm glad to see you have your direct sown broccoli seedlings. I hope you never have the problems I have with direct seeding. Something eats the cotyledons off of many of my direct seeded plants. One thing I have seen eat them is a black beetle with red on its abdomen. I think it is a type of blister beetle. I have watched them do it in the past. There are probably other things I have just not caught doing it. Although I have not seen a beetle yet this year, my cotyledons on my direct seeded beets were gone this morning. Today, I decided to try to sow a few beets in six packs for transplant just to see if it will work.
Question on the water tanks, what are they and where did you get them? I plan on growing lettuces and herbs until we get freezing temps in January. My greenhouse is pretty hefty and is situated near deciduous trees so I’m hoping the sunshine will be sufficient. I’ll keep citrus trees as well as any random potted plants I end up with, artichokes I hope!
I was thinking about the weed in the greenhouse and wondered if you ever tried covering during off season (summer) like layering cardboard and covering cardboard with old tarp. If I can't plant a cover crop in summer I try to cover my ground to keep weeds out. I am 8b northwest Florida. I saw the other video you did last November, Want a greenhouse? Here's the truth about them, good tips on the Palram. I been admiring their Canopia Hybrid 6' x 14' Greenhouse - Silver. It has two roof vents. I like that Amazon will finance it interest free too! I'm tempted but I been looking at Farmer's Friend for a couple years now and their new Haven High Tunnel with the roll up sides and zippered end walls is what I been wanting. I applied to local USDA-NRCS high tunnel initiative grant but didn't get picked, they said we had over two hundred applicants and not enough grant money for everyone. I will try again this next application period but even without a grant Farmers Friend offers finance affiliate and they have free shipping, family owned company in USA made in USA.
@@sandybottomhomestead Have you tried malabar spinach or chinese multicolor spinach, they do well in extremely hot climates, maybe they would grow well in the Palram.
That plant with the thorns, around 4:50. Does it also get glossy black berries on it? (Don't eat them, and don't feed them to your chickens if this plant's what I think it is.) It *looks* like buckthorn, an invasive species considered a noxious weed in many states including mine and yours. And it's aggressive, and tough. Assuming I'm correct in my identification, do not allow it to produce fruits. Those are eaten by birds but have a laxative effect and the birds then disperse the seeds which of course results in more buckthorn plants. The seeds have a laxative effect on humans, too, "...with nausea, vomiting and colic." Under no circumstances should you give these to your chickens or allow them access to this plant. Sometimes buckthorn carries crown rust (disease) but as one state's DNR remarked, it doesn't inhibit the species enough to help with eradication. My SO has on his property a honkin' huge buckthorn he's content to cut to within several inches of the ground from time to time, and then doesn't do anything about killing it off. (Usually I'm not in favor of killing things but sometimes it's prudent to make exceptions.) Still assuming I've identified your pest vegetation in the greenhouse correctly, please nip this situation almost literally in the bud and get that shrub *GONE.* Do it now while it can be done with comparative ease. There's a sci-fi kind of persistence about this plant: it grows quickly, it has very few pests, it apparently has no real, practical purpose unless you wanted to plant it around your house under the windows as a deterrent to intruders, it evidently has some toxicity, and those "thorns" or spikes are worse than merely wicked: one skewered me through the scalp once, and I didn't dare move since I couldn't see what I'd be doing and I had to wait for himself to get to me and manipulate the thorn and my scalp to get me free. (And I know that story I just shared doesn't equal, let alone trump, your own experience.) As it grows it can and it will destroy whatever foundation you have under your greenhouse and if it distorts the frame, well... "A word to the wise is sufficient," it's said. *Heavy* leather gloves, possibly other armor, and still be careful; cut this plant from the top downward, and from the outside, in, removing branches and main stems as you go to give yourself clear and safe access to the remainder of it without having to shove your forearms, arms and shoulders through the branches. How to dispose of it after you've removed it---get as much of the root system as you can to discourage this thing from coming back---I don't know. Burning, maybe, if you're permitted to do that. There is, by the way, a species of buckthorn called "Carolina Buckthorn" which was first discovered in South Carolina (hence the name), which gets sold as an ornamental and which does NOT have thorns or spines. I wish you every success with this. Much gardening love from Northeast Ohio! 😊💚💚💚💚💚😊
@@sandybottomhomestead I'm stumped, then. But I'd still get rid of that plant and any of its kith or kin I found anywhere on my property. And you have my sympathy. Truly.
@@shannonriley6491 Ah, something new! Thank you for this. It does come to mind that a great many plants are beautiful when they're where ya want them. 😉
@@shannonriley6491 Just looked this one up: Wowzers! Most definitely I'd be getting rid of it, beautiful or not. Those spines look wicked! A Wikipedia article refers to shiny purple-black berries which mature in the autumn; Ben stated his pest plant doesn't get berries (although I have to suppose it's possible they've escaped his notice; it seems doubtful that after having encountered this Devil's Walking Stick once, a person would fail to pay attention to it. Still and all, I know I've discovered plants in my garden area which didn't just "POOF!" into existence moments before I happened by, you know?) Thanks very, very much for sharing this. I'm in Ohio, but a map of *Aralia spinosa*'s distribution shows that it has made thus far small inroads into this state; no doubt a toenail hold is all it needs. Gardening love to you from Northeast Ohio! 😊💚💚💚😊
I've had my greenhouse for one entire growing season at this point. As a moderate season extender, a germination and propagation lab, for beauty and higher yields, YES!, the greenhouse has been a dream come true. Remember, however, the greenhouse is not immune to insects, rodents, freeze or heat!
thats the truth. Glad you like using your greenhosue
My greenhouse is so messy right now.
I hate to even go in it. Just too hot to clean.
SE Texas. I use it to overwinter tender perennials and start seeds in January.
Small heater set at 44 works great in my climate.
I really thought I would use it more. 20-30 degrees hotter when it’s 90-100 is just too much!
I don’t regret getting one!
Bless up. Never seen your videos before, but i recognized the voice instantly! You have the podcast with you, and a black woman from Chicago. I listened to a ton of your podcasts! You both always give really solid advice, and I like your personality’s. Im glad to have to stumble on to your UA-cam. Big up. Happy growing
yup thats me! @thebackyardgardenspodcast glad you could stop by
I love my small, inexpensivse greenhouse for early season seed germination, protection of small seedlings from squirrel and chipmonk destruction, avoiding having to harden off, and now curing my onions.
If I didnt let mine weed so much I would use it for curing too
I put mine on a deck I built from leftover material. It was the perfect place to cure onions.
I use straw bales around the outside base of the plastic. Just a little extra insulation. I have a small mounted heater but I'm terrified to use it.
I have debated putting a heater in mine but the cost of running a heater out weighed the cost of the crops i would be able to harvest. Give it a shot you never know
Jeff from East Tennessee. Clean off some of my summer garden. Amazing to really see size of garden I have. It’s 90x80 feet. That’s a lot for me with a full time job!! I don’t have any fall plants in the garden yet. I have stepped up and potted my cabbage in these big 6in pots. They are getting bigger and bigger. This gives me time to get my garden ready. I have a fence around the garden. I want to now double up with some more narrow mesh fence. I have had a few problems with some pest animals getting under my fence. This will make me feel more secure about my cabbage. Cool weather is coming so full steam ahead!! Thanks!!
I once saw a post in a garden group on FB asking questions about growing tomatoes and melons in a greenhouse through winter. There was no response after two days and this is a very large group. I told that person that probably no one responded because it's not worth the time, energy, and expense to do it plus the fruit wouldn't taste as good as ripening in the heat and sunlight of summer.
Thats a shame they should have answered that person. It is a common dream amongst people wanting a green house.
@sandybottomhomestead It wasn't a general greenhouse question. It was specifically asking about growing tomatoes and melons in the middle of winter in a greenhouse. So I'm assuming no one answered since no one has bothered to do it. FB posts get lost easily if no one likes or responds right away so it may be a victim of the algorithm.
I got my greenhouse here in NH installed last November, so this is my first real attempt at using it to its full potential. I do a have a small heater that heats the structure about 20 degrees warmer than the nightime lows. Im trying to get the tomatoes that are in there now to continue producing into November, but I also want to get purple sprouting broccoli inside for an early spring crop. These two goals are conflicting with each other. If i let my tomatoes go into November, i won't have enough time to plant the broccoli.
@@TJtheHAWK you do, just try it!
Are you clipping the bottom leaves off tomatoes? They got plenty of space! Add more soil as a top dressing around the tomatoes, then plant the broccoli seedlings under and around tomatoes.
Once the tomatoes fizzle out, cut the stalks down, don’t rip it out, so you don’t disturb the root system of brassicas
Sprout your broccoli now, in trays to be transplanted around first frost. (Still in the greenhouse)
that heat you added should help a bit
It is still too hot to sow seeds hee in Alabama, 90s in the shade, hotter in the sun. Thursday a cold front is bringing cooler temperatures to the area. I'll have six days where it will be cool enough to sow seeds, but not for everything. I have cabbage starts ready to transplant, and I'll sow seeds for brocolli, cauliflower, turnips, beets, carrots, Pak Choi, Swiss Chard, Komatsuna, tasoi, Yellow Heart Winter Choy, and Nappa Cabbage. I'm waiting for cooler weather to plant garlic and parsnips, low 70s. Aftr the cool air passes, it will be rollercoaster season with climbing temperatures followed by cool temperatures.
I got a mega bargain and found a puzzle piece of a glass greenhouse all torn down in pieces, no instructions or directions. Clips and seals were in a tin can. I had no idea if all the parts were there. The lady sold it to me for $60!! It took awhile to figure out how it went together but I did it and other then having to buy an extra bag of greenhouse clips nuts and bolts, everything was there. It's a 6 x 8 in fabulous condition. She just wanted the pieces out of her garage. I'm still getting use to using it as this is my 3rd winter having it but it really "extended" my season. Still can't grow all winter but great storage for overwintering some of my potted spring bulbs! Southern Ontario 🇨🇦 6b.
that is a steal!
Eastern Washington here- 7a/6b -desert here- great
Fluctuations in day/night temps. Greenhouse from Costco-It’s been up since March of this year- I tracked my temps with a remote thermometer for a week before I decided to take my starts out there- ran a small heater when needed-
Tracking again for the possibility of overwintering my citrus..
Thank you for the informative video!
Thank you😊
For me up here in western wa, tomatoes and peppers would be great....in the late spring and summer. My plan is too eventually get one.
i hope you do. I bet with that cool weather you have you would do good in a greenhosue
@@sandybottomhomestead My brother's girlfriend grew some awesome cucumbers in hers. I'm jealous. Lol
Mine is glass, so yes, more expensive, but that doesn't help it to retain heat - every night the temperature drops inside the greenhouse to match the outside temperature unless I take other measures to add heat. I don't want to grow things in the winter in it, but I keep my cactuses and agaves in there, out of the PNW rain, and the citrus, away from the frost - if night temperatures are going to drop into the mid-20's or lower, then I run an outdoor-rated extension cord, and cluster my citrus, geraniums, and any other frost-susceptible plants I am attempting to keep alive, under sheets around an incandescent bulb shop light or a seed starting heat mat for those nights in such a way that there is no fire risk and the temperature in my make-shift shelter stays just above freezing. As spring comes on and frost danger passes, then it is seed starting time, and everything in the greenhouse gets extra daytime warmth, and then everything goes out except cucumbers and peppers which seem to care more for the extra summer heat in the greenhouse than optimized sunshine (mine is partially shaded during the summer months, but still warms right up even in filtered light). That is how in our PNW climate I put the greenhouse to best use anyway.
I'm glad to see you have your direct sown broccoli seedlings. I hope you never have the problems I have with direct seeding. Something eats the cotyledons off of many of my direct seeded plants. One thing I have seen eat them is a black beetle with red on its abdomen. I think it is a type of blister beetle. I have watched them do it in the past. There are probably other things I have just not caught doing it. Although I have not seen a beetle yet this year, my cotyledons on my direct seeded beets were gone this morning. Today, I decided to try to sow a few beets in six packs for transplant just to see if it will work.
i hope it works well for you
Question on the water tanks, what are they and where did you get them? I plan on growing lettuces and herbs until we get freezing temps in January. My greenhouse is pretty hefty and is situated near deciduous trees so I’m hoping the sunshine will be sufficient. I’ll keep citrus trees as well as any random potted plants I end up with, artichokes I hope!
I believe they are olive oil barrels. Got emnfrom a friend. Look on marketplace
I was thinking about the weed in the greenhouse and wondered if you ever tried covering during off season (summer) like layering cardboard and covering cardboard with old tarp. If I can't plant a cover crop in summer I try to cover my ground to keep weeds out. I am 8b northwest Florida. I saw the other video you did last November, Want a greenhouse? Here's the truth about them, good tips on the Palram. I been admiring their Canopia Hybrid 6' x 14' Greenhouse - Silver. It has two roof vents. I like that Amazon will finance it interest free too! I'm tempted but I been looking at Farmer's Friend for a couple years now and their new Haven High Tunnel with the roll up sides and zippered end walls is what I been wanting. I applied to local USDA-NRCS high tunnel initiative grant but didn't get picked, they said we had over two hundred applicants and not enough grant money for everyone. I will try again this next application period but even without a grant Farmers Friend offers finance affiliate and they have free shipping, family owned company in USA made in USA.
No I have not cover because I have been trying to see if I can grow in there during the summer
@@sandybottomhomestead Have you tried malabar spinach or chinese multicolor spinach, they do well in extremely hot climates, maybe they would grow well in the Palram.
Ummmm -16. January 2024 SW MO where they now say we’re a 7a zone. 😆
yeah they might be a bit off with that one
That plant with the thorns, around 4:50. Does it also get glossy black berries on it? (Don't eat them, and don't feed them to your chickens if this plant's what I think it is.)
It *looks* like buckthorn, an invasive species considered a noxious weed in many states including mine and yours.
And it's aggressive, and tough.
Assuming I'm correct in my identification, do not allow it to produce fruits. Those are eaten by birds but have a laxative effect and the birds then disperse the seeds which of course results in more buckthorn plants. The seeds have a laxative effect on humans, too, "...with nausea, vomiting and colic." Under no circumstances should you give these to your chickens or allow them access to this plant.
Sometimes buckthorn carries crown rust (disease) but as one state's DNR remarked, it doesn't inhibit the species enough to help with eradication.
My SO has on his property a honkin' huge buckthorn he's content to cut to within several inches of the ground from time to time, and then doesn't do anything about killing it off. (Usually I'm not in favor of killing things but sometimes it's prudent to make exceptions.)
Still assuming I've identified your pest vegetation in the greenhouse correctly, please nip this situation almost literally in the bud and get that shrub *GONE.* Do it now while it can be done with comparative ease. There's a sci-fi kind of persistence about this plant: it grows quickly, it has very few pests, it apparently has no real, practical purpose unless you wanted to plant it around your house under the windows as a deterrent to intruders, it evidently has some toxicity, and those "thorns" or spikes are worse than merely wicked: one skewered me through the scalp once, and I didn't dare move since I couldn't see what I'd be doing and I had to wait for himself to get to me and manipulate the thorn and my scalp to get me free. (And I know that story I just shared doesn't equal, let alone trump, your own experience.)
As it grows it can and it will destroy whatever foundation you have under your greenhouse and if it distorts the frame, well... "A word to the wise is sufficient," it's said.
*Heavy* leather gloves, possibly other armor, and still be careful; cut this plant from the top downward, and from the outside, in, removing branches and main stems as you go to give yourself clear and safe access to the remainder of it without having to shove your forearms, arms and shoulders through the branches.
How to dispose of it after you've removed it---get as much of the root system as you can to discourage this thing from coming back---I don't know. Burning, maybe, if you're permitted to do that.
There is, by the way, a species of buckthorn called "Carolina Buckthorn" which was first discovered in South Carolina (hence the name), which gets sold as an ornamental and which does NOT have thorns or spines.
I wish you every success with this.
Much gardening love from Northeast Ohio! 😊💚💚💚💚💚😊
it doesnt get berries on it but boy is it sharp!
@@sandybottomhomestead I'm stumped, then. But I'd still get rid of that plant and any of its kith or kin I found anywhere on my property.
And you have my sympathy. Truly.
It looks like devil's walking stick, Aralia Spinosa. It's a beautiful plant when it's where ya want it.
@@shannonriley6491 Ah, something new! Thank you for this.
It does come to mind that a great many plants are beautiful when they're where ya want them. 😉
@@shannonriley6491 Just looked this one up: Wowzers! Most definitely I'd be getting rid of it, beautiful or not. Those spines look wicked!
A Wikipedia article refers to shiny purple-black berries which mature in the autumn; Ben stated his pest plant doesn't get berries (although I have to suppose it's possible they've escaped his notice; it seems doubtful that after having encountered this Devil's Walking Stick once, a person would fail to pay attention to it. Still and all, I know I've discovered plants in my garden area which didn't just "POOF!" into existence moments before I happened by, you know?)
Thanks very, very much for sharing this. I'm in Ohio, but a map of *Aralia spinosa*'s distribution shows that it has made thus far small inroads into this state; no doubt a toenail hold is all it needs.
Gardening love to you from Northeast Ohio! 😊💚💚💚😊
Greenhouses have a purpose but ugh! They are work.
you aint lyin!