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4 MIN READ TIME

GREENHOUSE

WORDS: ROSIE YEOMANS.

STEP BY STEP

Create a terrarium display

Plant up a jar with tropical plants or even cacti to make a terrarium. Tropical plants need a closed lid for humidity, while cacti and succulents are best with a wide opening and no lid. Choose plants based on the size of the jar. Coloured leaves of fittonia or polka dot plants are great, and ferns will love the humidity, too.

1 POUR in a 5cm layer of gravel, pebbles or even decorative glass marbles into the bottom of the jar. Shake the jar to ensure this sits at an even depth to provide good drainage right across the jar.
2 USE a mixture of loam-based potting compost with activated charcoal and extra grit for drainage. Add some peat-free compost if it’s too dense. Trim long roots of plants before lowering them into the jar, using chopsticks or a long spoon.
3 FIRM the plants into the layer of compost with the long handled spoon, then drop small amounts of sphagnum moss into the jar and push it carefully between the plants to make a moist mulch cover.
4 DRIBBLE some warm rainwater into the jar using a watering can with a small spout. Allow it to gently soak the compost and mulch without draining too much into the pebble layer. It’s best to do this very slowly to avoid adding too much water. Use a misting sprayer occasionally to keep the air around the plants’ leaves humid.

Disinfect and clean staging

Clean every nook and cranny to remove overwintering plant pests
PHOTOS: SARAH CUTTLE; TIM SANDALL

Protect your spring seedlings by cleaning the greenhouse shelves and staging now to remove any fungal spores or bugs taking refuge through the colder months. A large bucket of hot water with normal household detergent will do, but a specialised garden disinfectant is even more effective.

Use a brush to sweep off any plant or compost debris first, making sure that you get rid of any bits lingering in the cracks, then use a damp cloth across the surfaces. Spray a solution of garden disinfectant deep into the cracks and joints to be sure of getting them perfectly clean.

10 MINUTES TO SPARE

Carefully mop away any condensation that has settled on the glass or other surfaces. Keeping things dry helps to reduce the risk of serious fungal problems. Opening any vents will also help to reduce the build-up of unwanted condensation.

Turn salad pots for even light

Keep turning pots of salad leaves regularly to help them grow evenly and upright. Do it every day if you have the time because the plants react to light direction in just a matter of hours.

It’s near impossible to get even light into a greenhouse at this time of year unless you’re using supplementary lighting, so this small job stops your pots becoming straggly and lop-sided. There is no need to feed the crop in winter, just water sparingly and pick only the outer leaves to keep the plant in growth.

Without regular turning, salads flop south towards winter light

Don’t forget

Sow bedding plants such as pelargoniums and begonias

Start a new crop of onions from seed

Begin chitting firstearly seed potatoes, placing them in trays or egg boxes indoors by a window

Pinch out the tips of autumn-sown sweet peas for bushy growth

Spray lubricant on hinges and runners to keep the door opening smoothly

Max/min thermometers are handy for tracking temperature variation

Check temperatures

Take a temperature reading in the greenhouse every day to check whether the day and night temperatures vary wildly.

A max/min thermometer tells you the highest and lowest temperatures over a 24-hour period. When the sun comes out the temperature can soar, so young hardy plants such as sweet peas may be better put outside at such times. Alternatively, reduce the temperature by opening vents.

If you find that temperatures are getting very low, you may need more insulation or extra wrapping on the most vulnerable tender plants to protect them.

Pull off yellowing leaves, but stop doing so when flowering is over

Check and tidy cyclamen

Snip off the yellowing leaves on cyclamen if the plant is still in flower. Yellowing can mean they have too much or too little water.

The compost should be just moist, not waterlogged or dusty and dry. Temperatures above 15°C also cause yellowing so move the plant to a cooler spot if necessary. If flowering is over, yellowing is simply a natural part of the plant dying back ready for its summer dormancy period, so leave them in place so that they can continue sending energy to the corm for as long as possible.

QUICK SOLUTIONS

Remove fallen leaves and debris from greenhouse gutters to stop them overflowing and to allow rainwater to flow freely into your water butts. This is a messy job so wear waterproof gloves.

Keeping gutters clear also reduces the amount of moss and algae that can build up in them.

LOOK OUT FOR

Diseased cuttings

Check any rooted cuttings for signs of fungal disease and pinch out any affected growth that you notice. If you leave it, disease can spread very quickly, particularly on the softest tissue. The important thing is that neither the stem or the central bud is affected. It is normal for the lower leaves to wither, so take these off anyway. Keep cuttings on the dry side until they go into growth and don’t be tempted to pot them on until spring arrives.

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BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine
January 2024
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