You want a greenhouse . . . .
what next?

You have a greenhouse . . . .
now what?

If you want every question answered on greenhouse gardening check out the book,  Greenhouse Gardener's Companion by Shane Smith.

Click here to learn more about this handy resource.

"...Shane Smith has been on the vanguard of "user-friendly" greenhouse design and utilization for several years. Virtually any question which might be asked by either a novice or an advanced home greenhouse gardener is answered fully"
                    - HortIdeas

Send me your ideas for how to improve the book Greenhouse Gardener's Companion for the next 4th edition being developed right now.

Explore this web site to lead you down the path to the goal of a wonderful heat producing, food producing and flower producing greenhouse!

Click around.

You won't believe how much information is on this web site.

Note: While we must have advertisers to help support this extensive web site, we are not beholden to any company nor do we have any hopes to sell you on anything. Our only hope is to help you become a great greenhouse gardener!

Laugh at the winter.
Make the summer last all year!

Kids love greenhouses too

__________________________

Winter is a special time in the greenhouse.

Read what the famous horticulturist Liberty Hyde Bailey said about the joy of greenhouses in 1928

"It is in the dead of winter that the greenhouse is at its best, for then is the contrast of life and death the greatest. Just beyond the living tender leaf- separated only by the slender film of the pane- is the whiteness and silence of the midwinter.. . . . .

Order Greenhouse Gardener's Companion

You can grow food and flowers in your
own home greenhouse-
any day of the year!

Gardens Create Abundance
Have a little food security
year-round!

This site grew out of writing the best-selling book on gardening in a greenhouse titled: Greenhouse Gardener's Companion by Shane Smith. The goal of this site is to provide a wealth of up-to-date information and tips for those who have a passion for gardening in greenhouses.

You will also find special pages that discuss: Heating: Heat a greenhouse without going broke. See Energy Conservation for home Greenhouses.
Natural pest control, Interior design and more.
Greenhouse Questions Answered: Jump to our discussion boards, post your question directly to the author and other enthusiasts.

Want a copy of the Greenhouse Gardener's Bible? Check your local book store or click here.

Check out the Greenhouse Gallery - see other home greenhouses and read about the experiences of others. Behind every greenhouse is a good story.  Share yours! 

"A well-designed attached home greenhouse can heat your home, provide fresh food and flowers. It is no longer a question of whether you can afford a greenhouse, but whether you can afford to not have a home greenhouse"    
- Shane Smith

There is such a thing as a GOOD
Greenhouse Effect!

Grow your own winter salads.
Leafy greens require
very little heat
in order to produce abundant yeilds!

Start your spring seedlings
see the current planning schedule
Check back monthly for schedule updates

TWO Favorite tomatoes for the greenhouse

Early Goliath (from Totally Tomatoes)

Most impressive of the season. Big early fruit. Good disease resistance. Good flavor. Best of all it had the vigor to continue on throughout the season!

Sungold (from Johnny's Selected Seeds)
Always a great flavored cherry tomato. High-yielding, heat tolerant but some cracking

This year I tried
grafting tomatoes
for the first time . . .

    It was not scientific but I was convinced that this is a great way to go for increased late season yields and increased disease resistance. It is especially helpful in growing heirloom varieties that have little in the way of disease resistance.

     I was pleased that Johnny's Selected Seeds sells a variety of grafting clips and rootstock tomato varieties. Check out this great data that the folks at Johnny's posted. I experienced similar yield increases. Plants were more vigorous and yielded higher up on the tomato truss.

     Check around the web and you'll find all kinds of information and videos on grafting tomatoes.

I'm sad to report that my greenhouse was wiped out by hail . . .

There is no such thing as a totally hail resistant greenhouse. This year we got a whopper with ping pong sized pellets that damaged every car, roof and garden in the neighborhood. Fortunately, with a few patches, caulk, and tolerating the leaks, We can still keep some crops going through the winter.

I am now shopping around for my next home greenhouse and will be excited to tell you what I plan to grow in next.

Not snow but hail!

Turn your greenhouse into a
food factory!

Fresh salads, herbs, tomatoes and even tropical food like papayas and pineapple guavas can all be grown in your home greenhouse. You can even grow cut flowers year-round as food for the spirit

What gives you a lot of poundage? Greenhouse cucumbers out-yield most other food crops (with the right growing conditions.)

Use every square inch and every cubic inch . .  Use your air space and ground space for effective yields. For instance, you can grow edible peas or sweet peas vertically up a string next to a crop of lettuce.

Grow "indeterminate" vining tomatoes straight up for higher yields in less space!!!
 

Learn more about these
special growing techniques in the book
 "Greenhouse Gardener's Companion."

Tomatoes in a short growing season using a greenhouse

Like many greenhouse growers I live in a short season area where growing tomatoes outside results in poor yields. The  best option is to grow indeterminate tomatoes up strings vertically in the greenhouse. I get bushels of fruit every year. One tip I have found is to use fish based fertilizer early in the season. This has resulted in a dramatic reduction in diseases. Later in the season I switch to more balance fertilizers. Here is what I grew from March to Early October in my unheated backyard Wyoming greenhouse: