Here in New England, winters can be frigid, with temperatures sometimes dropping below 0oF (-18oC) and snow that can get three or four feet deep. If you, too, live in a cold winter climate and have greenhouse plants that must stay above freezing, you’ll need some form of greenhouse heat. For years, I used an […]

If you own a greenhouse, where do you keep your tools and supplies, such as trowels, rakes, scoops, shears, pots, potting soil, fertilizers, pesticides, cleaning gear, and other necessities? All these things collectively take up a lot of space, especially in a small greenhouse. Clutter inside a greenhouse competes with and detracts from the plants, […]

I recently cooked a Thai dinner with ingredients from my greenhouse, including kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass, Thai basil, and Thai hot peppers. Here are tips on growing each. Kaffir lime is a small tree with serrated leaves that are chopped or sliced into tiny slivers. To harvest these leaves for Asian meals, buy a […]

Because the temperature in my greenhouse can reach 140oF on a sunny summer day, most of my greenhouse plants spend the summer on my patio. Come fall, however, these plants must be moved back into the greenhouse. For them, it’s rather like returning to an indoor home after enjoying summer at the cooler, breezier beach. […]

Growing flowers in winter gives cheer to cold, gray, snow-covered days and can make you feel that spring is truly just around the corner. An array of beautiful flowering plants can be “forced” into blooming no matter how frigid and dreary the outside world is. And if you own a greenhouse, you can create a […]

Pots are essential in a greenhouse, but picking which pot to use for which plant isn’t always easy. The options come in many different shapes and sizes as well as different materials and colors. So how do you select the best pot for a particular purpose? A few tips will help. Choosing a pot of […]

Pots are essential in a greenhouse, but picking which pot to use for which plant isn’t always easy. The options come in many different shapes and sizes as well as different materials and colors. So how do you select the best pot for a particular purpose? A few tips will help. Choosing a pot of […]

When summer arrives in Rhode Island, I move everything out of my greenhouse in preparation for a cleaning blitz, including window cleaning. It’s easy to clean the outside of the windows year-round because no plants are in the way. But when the greenhouse is full, cleaning the inside of the windows is difficult because access […]

One of the first things you learn when working in a greenhouse is that long-handled tools can be a problem in such an enclosed space. While the tool’s working end is where you want it, the other end may knock pots off shelves, damage plants, or even break window panes. The only long-handled tool I […]

Have you noticed that produce has become more expensive in supermarkets lately? One reason is the cost of transporting fruits and vegetables from the southern hemisphere, another is unfavorable recent weather in California, a major supplier of produce, and a third is a decreased number of migrant workers available for harvests. If you’re a greenhouse […]

The weather forecast was foreboding, with the third major winter storm in two weeks about to hit the northeast. But the blinding snow and lashing winds that my Amtrak train hurtled through on its way to Philadelphia belied the beautiful, springtime ambiance awaiting me inside the 2018 Philadelphia Flower Show. This premier horticultural event, presented […]