Gardening successes/failures

[Geordie_Rob]

All I've done over the years is "have a go". I started out with a £30 tent type greenhouse years ago & bought some plant pots, compost, tomato seeds & a watering can. Same with peppers, cucumbers etc..

My advice for greenhouse growing is

1) grow your own from seed rather than buying plants. Sure some might not grow, but it isn't as demoralising as destroying your entire crop after spending a fortune in money & effort trying to save them from an imported disease.

2) ensure you water daily. You can maybe miss the odd day here or there during spring before it gets too hot. But June onwards I found daily is a must.

3) ensure good ventilation. This was another big problem I had this year. Such a big greenhouse needs extra ventilation compared your typical 8x6. I'm planning on incorporating removable air vents (to cover in cooler months) & install a bigger timed solar fan linked to a tumble dryer hose running outside so it sucks cooler air in (like a diy swamp cooler found on instructables etc..).

4) don't be afraid to try something. The worst that can happen is a plant will die. You can always try again next year.

5) you can use heaters to extend the start & end of the season. But unless you are loaded or can get parrafin very cheap (try allotment associations, it's 55p per litre here currently) then all they'll do is make your veg very expensive & most likely not worth it. The glass itself will give you a couple of weeks head start & around a month or so extra at the end of the year. My dad still has reddening toms in his unheated greenhouse now.

As for preserving, I had planned on buying a dehydrator from amazon or attempt to build a diy one myself. Since I didnt get much of a crop this year though it wasn't needed. We ate what we did get straight away.