The Small Greenhouse Place

Among the many different styles of greenhouses, the lean-to greenhouse can range from a quickly-built temporary lath-and-poly shelter for hardening off seedlings, to a solidly-built extension to the house with a foundation, heating, etc etc.

Between those extremes, many people find that a kit-built or ready made lean-to greenhouse is easy to build and extremely useful. The most important point to consider is the location – which way the greenhouse will face once it’s built. Since it only has one side and half a roof to collect sunlight instead of two sides, it’s very important that it get plenty of sun for as much of the day as possible (though in some locations, afternoon sun may be too hot).

Some lean-to greenhouses are large enough that you can walk inside through a door at the end, others are smaller and accessed through the side. With a larger lean to greenhouse attached to the house, you can have a door from the house straight into the greenhouse, which is wonderful when the winter weather outside is frightful. It also allows the house to benefit in winter from the warm damp air from the greenhouse.

What’s in your hoophouse or polytunnel this winter?

Here’s what’s in mine (I’m on the Canadian southwest coast, USDA zone 7-8, temperate maritime climate):

Self seeded corn salad (mache). Last spring’s uneaten corn salad flowered so I waited to collect the seed – but waited a little too long so a lot of it fell before I grabbed it. For a long time it didn’t germinate and I wondered if it was no good, but come the cooler temperatures this fall it germinated like mad, so that section of the southern bed is a solid mass of corn salad.

Last spring and summer the center bed, under the trellis, contained strawberries, but they didn’t like the heat and even less being buried in bean vines. So I moved them to the northern side bed, where they will be cooler in the summer (that side rolls up) and have more space. Up to a week or so ago they were still determinedly setting flowers, but they seem to have given up now.

Along with the strawberries in the N bed I moved a load of clumps of corn salad, all of which are happy and perky. Luckily we like corn salad! Lettuce seed has been sprinkled around, too, to germinate when it feels ready during warmer spells, and grow on in the spring. There would be spinach seed too except I’ve run out.

Peas (bush shelling peas) will go in the south side bed in the next few weeks, again to germinate when they feel like it and give us an early crop next spring.

The center bed is empty now, waiting for compost and a good digging over to fill the holes where I took out the strawberries with plenty of roots, and to wait for tomatoes next April.

Related Items:

The Polytunnel Companion