Let's Talk Organic Gardening: Setting Up Your Greenhouse

Having a greenhouse tucked in the corner or the back of your home is worth serious celebration. There is beauty in protected and extended growing. Adding a greenhouse, even a small one, ensures fresh, succulent and healthy vegetables for your family's consumption, even through the winter. Here are a few tips to help you construct that greenhouse you have always wanted.

Choose the best spot for your greenhouse

Choose the best place to set up your greenhouse. It would be best to set up on a fairly sloppy area, as this will favor the drainage away from the greenhouse. Choose the size you want based on the vegetables you want to grow.

Set up the staging

To maximize on space, consider a stepped platform with ample spacing in between, for circulation purposes. The size of the staging should be comfortable enough for you to reach, to allow for irrigation, and for spraying or pruning.  You can have as many as five tiers on each side and as little as three.

Provide the soil on the staging

Now that the tiers are all laid out, you will need to provide the soil that will support vegetable growth. It's important to note that most garden soils are not necessarily the best for use in the greenhouse. For the best results consider using soil mixes. They are much lighter and fertile compared to garden soils. Soil mixes drain easily, have excellent moisture retention and have a balanced organic nutrient content. You can purchase soil mixes in your local garden store.

You can also make the soil mix you need using 2 parts of natural soil, 2 parts of ready compost, 1 part of sphagnum peat moss, and 1-part vermiculite or perlite. At this stage, soil testing is important to determine the PH, which dictates the most suitable vegetables to grow. For assistance, with a soil test, talk to a profession soil tester in your area.

Choose your vegetables

Once you have completed your setup, choose the vegetables you want to plant in the greenhouse. Tomatoes make great greenhouse choice. Make sure to plant them in the first tire as the demand extra care and support. You can also include bulb vegetables such as asparagus and Celery for easy pest control and pruning. Leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach could come on the second tier while bulb onions could come on the third tier.