Thoughts anyone?

I'd like to start a vegetable garden. I have a lot of space and have been told I should purchase a greenhouse to grow my veggies so that I won't have to deal with the insects, birds and weeds that would normally invade an outdoor garden. It sounds good and all, but if I use a greenhouse won't I still need helpful insects to pollinate the plants? Does anyone have a suggestion as to the best route to take. I've seen commercial-size greenhouses that would allow me to plant a few dwarf trees. But they are so expensive, and I'm not sure the cost will be worth it....

I've been growing fruit trees and vegetable gardens for years without a greenhouse. There will be insects but that's just part of having a garden. You can fight off the insects either organically or with chemicals. Most of the time I don't have a big enough problem with insects to worry with using anythng--they eat some and leave plenty for us :-} Sometimes I lose most of a crop to a certain type of insect but never enough to justify the expense of a greenhouse to protect them.

I get plenty of insects in my GH...I actually find them harder to control in there than I do in the garden because the plants are closer together. Unless you GH is hermetically sealed then you will have bugs in there.

I have been growing my vegetables and flowers for a long time without a greenhouse. I would love to have one....the space and environment to start my plants in and to over winter things.

You don't need a greenhouse to grow food unless you are wanting to grow through the winter. Start with foods you eat often, and do more each year. Learn to preserve the extras.

I had Japanese Beetles eating holes in the canna leaves two years ago, but they weren't really harming the cannas so I didn't worry about it. I had flea beetles on my eggplant last year. They ate little holes in the leaves, but didn't do any other harm so I left them alone. Aphids I spray with soapy water and they die. Squash bugs I squash. For tomato worms, I pick the leaf off with the worm on it, and then throw the leaf over the fence into the woods behind the property. Actually, I only had one last year and three the year before. When my brugs were still in pots, they got those mites that get on brugs. I sprayed them really hard with water every day. In a week the mites were gone.

That's pretty much the only problems I've had with bugs in the last three years. I have toads in nearly every veggie bed and flower bed, and lizards everywhere. If you use chemicals be very careful otherwise you will kill off the beneficial bugs and end up with a bigger problem. Using chemicals can also harm the other critters.

In your zone you have a long growing season, so you should be able to raise a fine garden outside.

Karen

Thank you all so much for your replies. It helps to get someone else's opinion on things :-).