Once again I have a question. I'm thinking about trying to grow tomato plants and other veggies through the winter bcause we have so many beautful days and just a few really cold ones. Given the wild temp fluctuation and the wind I'm not even sure if it can be done or where to start. Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Lisa
Hoophouse/greenhouse
While I have never grown veggies in my greenhouse, but some things apply whether one is growing veggies or ornamentals. I'm well south, about 30 miles north of I-10, have the heater thermostat set at 50ºF and it comes on every night during winter. Are you planning to grow fall veggies or spring veggies? According to these links, the temperatures for tomatoes have to be above 55ºF or the plants won't set fruit.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5483303_grow-tomatoes-texas-winter.html
According to this next link, Optimum temperatures shouldn't go below 60 - 65ºF and daytime temperature over 80ºF.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/greenhouse/hydroponics/tomato.html
Night time temperatures can be kept up by cranking up the heater, but you will also have to have a way to vent the greenhouse during days when the temps in the greenhouse soar up to 90ºF. It's doable. Does your heater have the capacity to heat your greenhouse up to the recommended temps? If so, go for it!. If not, how much are you willing to pay for greenhouse tomatoes?
I don't even have a heater. I'm just entertaining this idea, and the cost of heating is definately in my mind. I just want to know if there is a way to do this, without it blowing away also.
Thanks,
Lisa
I'm just south of you. I've done it with the plastic hoop coldframe, against the southern wall. The tomatoes set fruit just fine, but didn't taste very good - not a lot of flavor, and a mealy texture. Peppers similarly had really thick walls, but that was ok to chop them up in sauce or stew, the flavor was fine. So I don't think the results are worth the bother.
Just to be obvious, you are planting the regular fall/winter vegetables, right? You're right, there's plenty of light all winter long, and at least you don't have to worry about stupid August burning all your hard work to dust. All the root stuff (carrots, radish, garlic, onions, beets, turnips, potatoes), green stuff (spinach, chard, lettuce, cabbage, english peas if there's not a hard hard freeze) and weird stuff (brocoli, cauliflower). Those aren't my most favorite vegetables, but it adds up to pretty productive for the winter, and none of them need much care.
With some of the winter veggies, you don't even need to put them in a GH. I don't do too much myself. Onions are fine outside here, Cilantro, parsley, certain kinds of lettuce. Chervil I've done in pots. If it gets too cold, I just throw an old sheet or row cover over plants. But I don't have a GH. If you do, some things can be fine in pots outside until cold spells come along, then put it in GH or inside. I've kept certain kinds of potted pepper plants alive during the winter by having them outside, putting them inside in really extreme cold or just covering them if less extreme. You'd be surprised how much cold my Habanero Pepper plants took, for example...they survived just fine after some unexpected freezes uncovered, so I finally just stopped covering them. I was just saving them for the next year, then planted them out in spring. A friend of mine told me about a way to protect potted plants in winter....she set aside an area with enough thick mulch to bury pots in so just the tops are exposed. Kind of insulates the pots. She grows lots of winter veggies in the ground and in pots, likes to push the envelope and grow as much organic stuff herself as possible.
Thanks for everybody's input. I do plant cole crops, root crops, and greens. I've never covered them even when it freezes. I go through this every year. My peppers and tomatoes are doing better then ever I just hate to see them die if we get just below freezing and then it is nice again for weeks. I cover them but I have a big garden and the dang wind blows everything all over. I was hoping that there was somethng I hadn't tried yet.
Lisa