Enjoy the conservatory all year round, even in winter

In spring, summer and early autumn, we make eager use of the greenhouse, and it often quickly becomes too small for all our ambitious growing plans. During the winter months, many vegetable gardeners give the greenhouse a thorough cleaning and then leave it alone for a while. A big clean after a busy growing season is a must but also during the winter months your greenhouse comes in handy, and you can spend quite a few hours there.

Sowing in the heated greenhouse

With a conservatory, you can bring forward and extend the growing and harvesting period of your crops. With good planning you can serve home-grown vegetables, fruit and herbs on your plate all year round. This way you have sufficient variation in your harvest, but you also make sure that you do not have to stuff your vegetable garden and greenhouse because you only have a number of growing months. To continue harvesting during the winter months, you can use a heating element. So you can already start sowing in mid-January (check out our range of seeds and growing trays here) in a heated greenhouse (for example, corn salad, radishes, carrots...) An extra advantage of sowing in spring is that there are no insects, diseases and pests lying in wait. This is different when the temperature rises again.

Don't you have a heater?

Then be sure to use bubble film that you attach to the inside of the greenhouse. This provides an insulating layer on the glass, keeping the heat in the greenhouse but allowing the light in as well. Is there not enough natural light coming in during the gloomy days? Then you can install artificial light in the conservatory. This also ensures that you can 'mess around' in the conservatory more often during the darker days.

Temporary shelter for perennials

During autumn and winter, you can also shelter your perennials from the cold in the greenhouse. Please note: you will need to provide extra protection for tropical plants with fleece, jute protective covers or straw. That way you can be sure that your favourite (patio) plants will survive the winter. But you can also place pots with flower bulbs there so that they get nice and warm when the first rays of sunshine hit, and you can enjoy a colourful wealth of flowers early on.

Enjoying the garden room

It is not only the flowers and plants that enjoy spending time in the conservatory, but also the (vegetable) gardener who can turn it into a real garden room. When the sun shows itself, the temperature can quickly rise by a few degrees and it is the ideal place to enjoy a steaming drink and a book in a thick jumper. Or maybe just snuggle up and observe the garden life? Is it too cold to sit still? Then you can also equip the greenhouse with an (electric) heater. Or how about decorating the greenhouse with some Christmas lights during the Christmas holidays? That way, the garden also looks festive! You can even leave them hanging all year round to make it cosy on warm summer evenings.

A balanced soil

Of course it is also necessary to take extra care of the greenhouse after an intensive cultivation period. It is better to first remove the remains of, for instance, the tomato plants and to water the greenhouse. When it snows you can also shovel the snow into the greenhouse (but snow alone is not enough). In this way the moisture will slowly be absorbed by the soil. Tomatoes demand a lot from the soil, so it is also important to lime the greenhouse well so that the soil is rebalanced and the new crops can get enough nutrition from it. Read here how to prepare your greenhouse for the winter in a few steps!

Most greenhouses have a delivery time of 3 to 6 weeks, but this can vary per type, so be sure to order your greenhouse in time to get started in the spring!

Want to read more about the greenhouse? 👇

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