Okay, Im fairly new to gardening, I always helped my grandmother with her flowers, roses and fruit trees, so other than that, everythings pretty foreign to me. I recieved a green house for Christmas of 09 (just this past christmas), I didnt have a chance to put it up til just recently but its booming with a ridiculous amount of peppers, basils and various herbs waiting to be planted. But im not sure what the "rules" are for green housing. How hot is too hot? Will I need to heat it? What veggies need to be hand pollinated? Which varietys arent suitable in the GH? Tips and suggestions? Is it better to have everything in pots or is digging an in ground veggie bed suggested? Do veggie plants die after the seasons over or will they continue to set fruit as long as they're warm? Will they go dormant and come back in spring? When should I start seeds for the winter months? I live in the high desert of southern california, winter temps lows (nite) are about 20 on average, as low as 10F degrees, My GH is double walled I suppose, Summers can get up to 115F degrees and stay that way for a couple days (Summer "Shade" cloth coming next year hopefully).
You will need fans and shade cloth for sure! I am in central Indiana and my GH gets very hot in summer and on clear days in the middle of winter! I can imagine yours would get much hotter. I keep a shade cloth on mine. The fan is on a temperature sensor to come on automatically and some vents open automatically when it gets hot. I grow in pots. Your veggies to keep them going would need large ones or grow in the ground. I keep some peppers and tomatoes in large pots on my patio and just bring them in to the GH when it starts to get cooler in the fall to extend harvest. I do not grow through the winter but I do keep the roots from freezing on my rosemary and a couple other plants that need a zone warmer than mine. .My GH is double walled and well insulated. I have a small electric heater that I use in the winter. It is on a timer to come on for 30 minutes just when it is very cold like at night and days that it is below 20 degrees outside. I go out and shut it off on sunny days. I am not familiar with your area so I couldn't tell you what time to start your plants. If you keep plants in there all summer you will need to water more often than you would outside.
I never thought of putting the shade cloth over the gh, My husband said it was nuts putting it over the GH because "A GH needs all the sun and warmth it can get", I guess I should stop listening to him LoL, I had planned to add some fans but with the combination of how windy it is here, and the position of the GH I mite not have to, it gets an awesome breeze when I leave the door or window open, though Im sure when the humidity rises I'll need one, Or at least should have one on hand if needed. Do you know if they have solar fans? My husband doesnt want to run power to the GH, and he said the heaters a no go, He wants no electricity what so ever going to the GH, I was looking at parrafin heaters, have you tried those? I do have most of my peppers in pots (Hot and bell) except for about 6 bells which are alreadysetting fruit and are a pretty awesome size now :-D and im dredding repotting the peppers, mostly because they're so damn expensive, I guess I'll have to stick with the nursery pots next go around, do you find the peppers like deeper pots compared to Wider ones?
Greenhouse shade cloth comes in different degrees of shade depending on what your climate requires. You can use large white bedsheets this summer in a pinch and figure out just how much shade you need before ordering what you need. http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/Shad ... ucts/1117/ I use a white 25% shade cloth on mine.I have a glass lean to type of greenhouse attached to my garage. I have hardy hibiscus that grow along the south side, a small deciduous tree on the south east corner and a solid wall with just 1 window on the west end. In the winter and spring these plants don't shade it at all. I tried the whitewash paint the first summer but I like to be able to see outside. I use an electric heater because I don't have to vent any fumes from it. They make solar fans and vents for greenhouses.
