Summer Greenhouse Care

Make the best use of your greenhouse by filling it with flowers, fruit and veg, says Anne Swithinbank

- Anne Swithinbank

A lot of people have been moving house in the past year, and I wonder how many gardeners have discovered a greenhouse in the undergrowth. However small this glass space (I once inherited a dinky 6x4ft/1.8x1.2m structure), be sure to make the best use of it. These are not embarrassments to tuck away with the shed and compost heap, but useful and vibrant spaces.

If you are planning to add a greenhouse, arrange the base so the door faces welcomingly into the garden and use it not just for crops but also to extend the range of plants you can grow. If well-used, greenhouses quickly become the nucleus of a plot, where plants and gardeners alike can shelter from extremes of rain, wind and cold.

Just like the garden beyond, a greenhouse offers many different microclimates of temperature, light and shade. The best are equipped with soil beds, enabling tender shrubs and climbers such as Plumbago auriculata and cruel plant (Araujia sericifera) to grow in well-cultivated soil.

Providing shade

With an increased root run they reach their full potential and flower abundantly. A run of staging will create raised areas for working, standing trays of seedlings and displaying plants, while shade beneath is perfect for ferns and cuttings that might cook or wilt in harsh sun.

By high summer, winter residents such as bird of paradise, oleander, olive and citrus will be standing outdoors, making space for tender crops such as peppers, aubergines and physalis. In mild, wet western areas of the country glass cover and a drier atmosphere will protect tomatoes from blight. Bulbs that die back for summer, including those of Guernsey lily (Nerine sarniensis) and cyclamen tubers, can rest safely in a mainly dry and dormant state.