There is quite a few advantages to growing organic vegetables in a greenhouse. It’s not necessarily a fix-all solution to weeds and pests, but it definitely helps quite a bit.
Using a greenhouse gives you as much controls as you could possibly want over how you protect the vegetables that you want to grow.
The enclosure allows you to use your own organic soil which you can personally fertilize and no outside forces will be able to affect this.
You can also stop weed growth in its tracks by laying newspaper below a layer of soil. This is a process which will remain untouched by weather, which is a huge benefit.
So there’s a lot to be said for growing your vegetables in a greenhouse and there’s certain vegetables that are more suited to it. Here’s a couple of the best ones.
1. Lettuce
Greenhouses are actually the ideal environment to grow lettuce in. You will not get a more fresh result for this staple, leafy vegetable.
Depending on what type of setup you have with your greenhouse, there’s a few different, perfect times for you to grow good lettuce.
If you have a heated greenhouse, one in which the temperature is consistently 50 degrees F or higher, you can plant lettuce pretty much all year round.
Otherwise, plant it towards the end of winter. That way the lettuce will good and ready for eating by spring.
Whether you go heated or not is up to you and there’s a few other things to think about when actually building the greenhouse. Either way, you can grow fresh lettuce very easily.
2. Tomatoes
There’s certain tomato seeds that are produced specifically so that they can be grown in a greenhouse. These are the ones that are going to produce the best growth.
A heated greenhouse would be the best place to grow tomatoes. These fruits are susceptible to fungal diseases such as blight when the conditions are not ideal.
Not growing in a heated greenhouse will leave your tomatoes where they can be affected by rain and low temperatures.
When tomatoes are wet and cold is when they’re most likely to succumb to these issues but a heated greenhouse will remove that problem.
The tomato plants also can’t absorb water through their roots if the leaves are wet, which will slow down their growth significantly.
It’s best to avoid the bush style tomato plants and instead you should opt for ones that will grow upright. This will conserve the all important space in your greenhouse.
3. Cucumbers
Cucumbers are one of the most popular vegetables among greenhouse growers and there’s a very good reason for that.
Like similar vegetables such as eggplants, it’s very easy to grow a large amount of cucumbers at one time in a greenhouse.
You can grow them in a few different ways, you can use pots or bags but the humidity of a heated greenhouse will be beneficial either way.
The heat will keep the skin of the cucumbers thin which means that you’ll have to put less work into peeling, and they will also grow quicker without the interference of cold weather.
There’s a few different types of cucumbers, and most of them are well-suited to greenhouses but you could have a look here to get a good idea of which one’s best for you.
4. Asparagus
Asparagus is another vegetable that can planted pretty much all year round if you have a heated greenhouse.
The best way to grow high-quality asparagus is to use transplants. This is an alternative to using the more common one-year crowns.
There’s nothing wrong with planting one-year crowns per se but they can’t be planted in a greenhouse and so they can face the same problems that other vegetables face outside.
Cold and rainy weather inhibits growth. There’s a bit of variety here too with the types of asparagus how best to grow them, but you’ll get the best, most efficient results in a greenhouse.
5. Sweetcorn
Sweetcorn is very well suited to the heated greenhouse environment and the best-case scenario would be a larger house, because a lot of space is important.
Sweetcorn needs a lot of sun, but like pretty much all of the vegetables that we’ve talked about here, it won’t grow as well if it’s out in the cold and rain.
This is why it’s perfect for a greenhouse and it’s also the best place to grow mini-sweetcorn which comes up more quickly.
You can plant the corn in blocks as opposed to rows which will allow you to get five or six cobs from every plant.
Conclusion
Most vegetables will probably benefit in some way from a greenhouse environment and these are just some of the best ones.
While there is of course some work and planning that will have to go into greenhouse growing, these five are also relatively easy to grow.
They would be a good place to start if you’re not already that familiar with growing vegetables in a greenhouse.
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