Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Sep 20, 2008, at 10:04 AM, VAN DELL JORDAN wrote:

> --- On Sat, 9/20/08, Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I do have a greenhouse, but it's more for starting
> > plants in the spring.
> > It doesn't make sense to add expensive heat and lights
> > for a few
> > tomatoes in the winter.
>
> Have you ever considered some kind of solar heating??  I happen to  
> have a large concrete slab on the outside of my barn.  Thinking in  
> that situation it might be easy to build a heated greenhouse.  Don't  
> know how effective solar heat might be in other situations.

In areas with freezing winter temps, greenhouses are fine for salad  
crops and the like. Only heated greenhouses will produce tomatoes and  
peppers, which are summer crops requiring substantial heat and sunlight.

The best book on the subject is Four Season Gardening.