How best to use a small greenhouse

I live on the coast in the south of England and, when I moved recently, I inherited a 6ft x 4 ft greenhouse – quite small and something I have never had before so would appreciate some advice on how best to use it. It’s a basic design (I’ve seen many like it) with a sliding door at the one end, a single automatic opening roof section, and it stands on bare earth – the soil is very clayey and there is a layer of clay about a foot below – the whole of the garden has this level of clay close to the surface.

There is an 18” slab path all the way down the centre of the greenhouse with a narrow, steel shelving unit across the far end. I will be improving the soil in the coming months, ready for use next year but this leads to my question – as I said, how best to use the greenhouse?

I thought I would grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and chillies next year, but what else and what instead? How can I best use it, in all seasons? In the three months I’ve been here, I’ve successfully grown a cucumber and three tomato plants, in spite of the soil. Two chillies and one sweet pepper however, haven’t done at all well. Be gratefull for any advice.

 

Cucumbers take up a lot of space - is that the best use of what you have available?

Okra grew well for me under glass - good for Indian and Creole cooking.

 

Hiya Quaedor

I guess it boils down to what you like to grow/eat. A greenhouse of that size won't make you self-sufficient in any particular crop if you try to grow it all. To me, tomatoes are something that I use most of, so I would just concentrate on those. On the other hand, you may be inclined to 'grow for fun', in which case what you have done this year makes sense. Maybe if you enjoyed how this year went, you could invest in something larger, or even an additional greenhouse? That way you could grow a more significant crop

Cheers...Freddy

 

Hi Freddy,

I think, from what I've read on the Internet, that one of the best uses will be to start seeds, for the vegetable garden, that bit earlier in the year. The second will be to plant a few crops that need a longer growing season.

I will be growing potatoes and a few salad plants for Christmas. Next year, I agree, I will grow a few more tomato plants. I will grow some in the vegetable garden but these in the greenhouse certainly grew quick, look very healthy. and the tomatoes are a good size. On the fun side, I bought a packet of Trompetti in Italy a week ago so will try planting these in the greenhouse - these are a type of squash (or so I believe!) with the seeds all at the one end of a long vegetable.

The greenhouse was already in situ when I bought the house and a larger one wouldn't fit the space available - and there's nowhere else in the garden that I can think of installing another one besides which I want to see just how useful this one is first.

Thanks for your input!

 

Spot on. In a small greenhouse I recommend not trying to grow both Toms and Cues - they need different conditions really - much easier to achieve that in a larger greenhouse.

So if you eat plenty of Toms I'd stick to them as it will give you best bang-for-buck.

Growing things that you like to eat, things that specifically taste better picked fresh from the garden and things that are expensive in the shops, would be top of my list.

Runner Beans (if you like them!). Very prolific, expensive in the shops.

Sweetcorn tastes a million times better if picked immediately before cooking ... but its a low-yield crop.

Main Crop Potatoes are a waste of growing space. Cheap as chips to buy, and the chilled-storage that growers have will be better than you can provide.

There's plenty in between those two extremes though