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Building a Productive Greenhouse – a guest post by Caitlin Smythe
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Many gardeners use greenhouses to cultivate exotic, heat-loving or tender plants, to get seedlings ready for re-planting or to extend the seasons and make use of the waning autumn sun. Even gardeners with small, unheated greenhouses can make the most of the sun’s warmth to produce vegetables that are nutritious and tasty. Start by having a look at some of the best public greenhouses available in your area.
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One of the most impressive greenhouses open to the public is in Kew Gardens in London. The Princess of Wales Conservatory is divided into ten computer-controlled micro-climactic zones and populated with Dry Tropics and Wet Tropics plants. Every inch of this conservatory is covered in plant life – from ferns clinging to rock faces to climbers twisting up columns – so that visitors can spend hours taking in the subtle and fragile details of beautiful collections of orchids, cacti and bromeliads. It’s certainly worth the visit for budding gardeners but remember to look for voucher codes before paying full entrance fees.
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Naturally, not every home garden is equipped with the kind of resources available at Kew; however, it’s possible to have a productive greenhouse for most of the year. Electrically heated greenhouses provide optimum temperatures for growing vegetables but they do tend to weigh heavily on homeowners’ utilities bills. A warm greenhouse is an excellent place to grow fragile vegetables such as aubergines, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes, and while these are fun to prune and harvest, they’re great to serve at the dinner table as well.
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For home gardeners just starting out, it’s important to insulate greenhouses, whatever the mode of heating you choose. Begin by sealing cracks, replacing panes and ensuring that doors fit snugly. It’s really important to protect plants from frost and experts recommend draping fleecing over plants or covering the whole greenhouse with roll-down blinds during cold snaps.
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Name of author: Caitlin Smythe
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