I think things can only be forced in certain seasons. They weren't actually changing the seasons, they were just moving them up a little. The strawberries were put in a hot frame (hot manure in the bottom) in February, and produced fruit in early spring. I think they
said that the greenhouse strawberries were something like 6 weeks early, and the ones in the hotframe were 3 weeks earlier than the outdoor plants...that could stretch the strawberry season to several
months long. Now, with the everbearing plants you can keep them producing year-round in the right conditions.
It looked like the asparagus, rhubarb, chicory, etc. was kept outside
also to get the 'chill hours' and put in the forcing pit (with heating pipes running through) in late winter. It was also kept dark
so the plants were blanched (apparently Victorians liked their veggies pale)...these plants don't need sun; just the heat made them
grow. In the show, they couldn't afford to fix and operate the massive boilers that heated all the greenhouses, so they had to rely
on natural sun heating of the greenhouses. I suppose with heated houses, they could grow just about anything any time of the year.
pineapples at Christmas time...that must have been a headache for the
gardener in a cold, grey climate!
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