Indoor Gardening
Indoor gardening can take place in a traditional outdoor greenhouse, a window greenhouse, or in your basement. Greenhouses come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials…making greenhouses a good fit for nearly any space.

Indoor gardening calls for a special set of indoor gardening supplies.

Winter Nursery Supplies Checklist
Winter nursery supplies differ from summer nursery supplies in many ways. Winter sunlight hours are reduced, and temperatures plummet, making sunlight and warmth two of the most difficult variables to control when growing plants during the winter.  Winter gardening supplies you may need are:

• Grow lights
• Heating system
• Winter work gloves
• Plastic sheeting for protection against strong winds and cooler temperatures
• Timers for grow lights
• Benches and shelving to keep plants up and away from the frigid ground
• Gentle ventilation to inhibit heat loss but encourage air movement
• Cold frames
• Portable or pop-up greenhouses
• Extra thermometers to spot check temperatures near planting areas
• Irrigation supplies to make up reduced water consumption in cooler temperatures
• Guide books for growing winter plants

Specific gardening supplies vary from gardener to gardener, but this list will provide a framework for creating your own winter nursery supplies checklist.

Winter Gardening Tips
Even if you don’t have access to a greenhouse, you can extend your gardening hobby well into the winter months with the use of cold frames and pop-up or portable greenhouses.  These items can be placed directly over plants in your backyard garden, extending your growing season beyond the first frost and even into the weeks of early snowfall.

Experimenting with winter gardening is nearly risk free since your plants would ordinarily die with the coming of the first frost. Trial and error tests that result in the death of a plant are only knowledge gleaning experiences since even a few extra days of extended growing are better than nothing.

Most plants will continue to grow as long as air temperatures remain above 40 degrees Fahrenheit and the soil remains unfrozen. Frequent temperature checks of your cold frames and portable greenhouses will help you better monitor the growing conditions of your winter nursery. A little common sense troubleshooting and imagination will help you become a successful winter gardener.

Winter nursery supplies and gardening supplies can easily be adapted to help you enjoy your love of gardening all year long.

Pumpkins have a two-fold purpose for gardeners. They are great for fall decorations and quite tasty as well.

Directions for Storing Pumpkins
Pumpkins can be pressure canned like most other low-acid vegetables and stored for the winter months. Canned pumpkin is good for 3-6 months. To prepare the pumpkin:
1. Cut open pumpkin and de-seed the shell, including removing any stringy portions of the pulp.
2. Cut pumpkin up into strips or chunks.
3. Place strips on a cookie tray, rind side up.
4. Add 1 cup of water to the tray and bake at 200 degrees for an hour. (The rind should peel off easily by hand or with a spoon or dull knife, but the pumpkin should not be mushy)
5. You can also cook the pumpkin in a covered dish in the microwave for 20 minutes, if you prefer. (Don’t’ forget to add the water.)
6. Remove from oven/microwave and allow to cool.
7. Remove rinds and cut the flesh into 1-2 inch cubes. (discard the rind)
8. Clean and heat canning jars and rings.
9. Place cubes into hot jars
10. Fill jar with hot water, leaving 1 inch of headspace
11. Clean and dry jar rims
12. Screw warm lids and rings on jars
13. Place jars in pressure canner and bring to 10 lbs. pressure
14. Time jars for 65 minutes for pints, and 75 minutes for quart jars.
15. Allow to cool and seal before moving jars

Freezing Pumpkin
Alternately, you can also freeze your pumpkin for up to 4-6 months. Follow steps 1 through 7 above, then place cubes into a food processor and puree the pumpkin. Pour the puree into freezer jars, seal and store.

Please note: It is not considered safe to can pumpkin puree at home, nor can you freeze pumpkin chunks. http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/pumpkinprecautions.php
Pumpkin Recipes
Putting all that pumpkin-y goodness to use if the best part of growing your own pumpkins! Here are a few tasty pumpkin recipes to try out. (My favorite is the pumpkin roll!)
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook/pumpkincreamcheese.htm
Libby’s Pumpkin Pie (just substitute your fresh pumpkin puree for the canned): http://www.verybestbaking.com/products/libbys/
Pumpkin Chip Muffins: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook/recipe34.htm
Honey Pumpkin Pie: http://www.pumpkinrecipes.us/honey-pumpkin-pie.html
Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=32364
Pumpkin Stew: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook/recipe35.htm
Pumpkin Roll: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=32372
Quick Pumpkin Pudding: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=28454
Pumpkin Tomato Basil Soup: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook/recipe30.htm
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, in various flavors: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook/recipe03.htm
Pumpkin Chili: http://www.pumpkinrecipes.us/pumpkin-chili.html
Pumpkin Chili #2: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook/recipe11.htm
Pumpkin Pancakes: http://www.pumpkinrecipes.us/pumpkin-pancakes.html
Iced Pumpkin Cookies: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=5243
Stuffed Pumpkin (cooks in the pumpkin!): http://www.pumpkinrecipes.us/stuffed-pumpkin.html
Pumpkin Roll Out Cookies: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook/recipe24.htm

How to make a milk gallon portable greenhouse:

1. Take an empty milk gallon or 2 liter bottle of soda and rinse it well with clean water and soap or a small amount of bleach.
2. Cut the container on the long axis from the lip to the other end so that it folds open like a brief case (make sure you cut above center as we will put soil in the bottom portion and want to make sure the soil doesn’t spill). Poke some small holes in the bottom part of the container for drainage.
3. Fill the larger bottom portion of the container with soil and moisten.
4. Plant the seeds at recommended intervals
5. Close the top part of the bottle and tape or rubber band shut. (Make sure air can still get in for ventilation)

Once you have done this, you have created your very own portable greenhouse. This portable greenhouse can be left outside without fear of heavy rains washing away the freshly planted seeds. Since the seeds are in an enclosed container, animals will not be able to get to them to eat or to dig up.

Take a look around your house and find other items that can be used; the only requirements are that it must conform to the basic principles of how a greenhouse works. Do you have a Tupperware container that you no longer use? This would be another great innovative portable greenhouse, not to mention it has a lid that can easily be removed to plant seeds and to water the sprouting plants.

An opaque storage container could also be used, providing more space than a milk gallon. There are so many household items that can be adapted to become a portable greenhouse. Use your imagination, have fun and get dirty, after all, that is what gardening is all about.

NOTE: While this does work if conditions are right, don’t expect to grow prized plants in these containers. For one, your plants will need fresh air. So make sure your container is not air tight. Secondly, clear plastic is not the ideal greenhouse covering. If you have a lot of sun your plants will get overheated and stressed. This is really best suited to just protect your seedlings during their early development. So if you are growing seedlings that are hard to transplant, plant those into seeling inserts or a biodegradable pot instead.

How Hothouse Gardening Works
Hothouse gardening works by the scientific principle commonly referred to as the greenhouse effect. The glass or plastic covering of the greenhouse allows sunlight rays to penetrate the covering, but only certain rays of sunlight are allowed to escape back through the glass or plastic. Long wavelength infrared rays of sunlight are trapped within the hothouse, creating a warmer environment within the hothouse structure.

The temperature in the hothouse is controlled either by a climate control system or, as is more common, a ventilation system. Louvered windows and vents in the ceiling or sides of the hothouse allow heat to escape when the temperature rises. In addition, some hothouse gardeners choose to place shade cloths over the greenhouse during the hottest parts of the day to inhibit sunlight and the resulting warm temperatures. Ventilation also allows fresh air to circulate into the hothouse, which further lowers the temperature.

Timed watering devices, such as sprinklers or misters, administer water to the hothouse plants, creating a moist environment. This humidity is trapped in the hothouse unless ventilation is provided. In this manner, even hand watering creates a relative humidity inside the hothouse.

The Benefits of Hothouse Gardening
Hothouse gardening allows people who live in an otherwise barren region to enjoy the fruits produced in a hothouse environment. Hothouses also allow dedicated gardeners to extend the growing season, with some plants producing fruit well into the winter months.

Hothouse gardening also provides the opportunity to grow exotic or fragile plants in any region. Because the hothouse gardener can strictly control the growing conditions, such as temperature, heat, humidity, water levels, and amount of sunlight, it is possible to grow nearly any crop imaginable with the right knowledge, equipment, and dedication.

Hothouse gardening, also called greenhouse gardening, is becoming an increasingly popular hobby. Gardening lovers around the world sing the praises of hothouse gardening for the many benefits and advantages, the wide range of choices available to the greenhouse gardener, and the spectacular results of hothouse gardening. Even professional commercial growers love hothouses and invest time and money into constructing hothouses for business use. Hothouse gardening benefits gardeners from various backgrounds and is useful in a wide variety of applications.

Portable greenhouses are largely inexpensive, easy to set up, and provide protection from cooler night temperatures and early morning killing frosts. Depending on the type of portable greenhouse you choose, you can move them around the garden, or set up a larger portable in a small corner. This means that you might have to alter your planting plan early in the spring to accommodate the set up of the portable greenhouse in the fall. Plant your tomatoes, beans, and lettuce in one area that can be protected by one, larger portable greenhouse to make the most of your space- and your veggies!

Pop-Up Portable Greenhouses
Pop-up portable greenhouses are great for providing protection for a plant or two. Depending on the size you purchase, you can pop one these greenhouses out in seconds to cover a still blooming tomato plant, or your prize cabbage or head lettuce. You can even set up a whole roll of these pop ups in just a few minutes when an early frost is predicted to help get the most out of your harvest.

Rigid Construction Portable Greenhouses
Rigid construction portable greenhouses are a little more involved to set up, but are still fairly painless to operate. Many gardeners like to set these easy set greenhouses up in late summer and fill them with their container gardening endeavors. They can be easily moved around the yard to take full advantage of daylight hours, or set up in a corner of the existing garden to provide work space and protection from the elements.

These portables also are quite useful other times of the year as well. If you are expecting a harsh storm with damaging wind and torrential downpours that can knock over newly rooted plants and wash away your rich topsoil, setting up a portable greenhouse can save your garden.

Portable Greenhouses in a Pinch
If you haven’t invested in a portable greenhouse yet, but find yourself in desperate need of one, you can make your own. Opaque plastic milk jugs can be cut and used to cover individual smaller plants in a pinch to provide protection from frost and storms.
Portable greenhouses truly are a gardener’s best friend all year long!

If you are a serious greenhouse gardener, you are likely to have a few tried and true garden tools that you can’t do without. For beginning greenhouse gardeners, the choice of greenhouse gardening tools and accessories can often be overwhelming.  However, there are a few trusted garden tools that will make your greenhouse gardening hours easier and more enjoyable. Sharing your experiences with beginning gardeners can save them time, aggravation…and money.

Tools of the Trade
• Pots: garden pots come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and materials.  When you’re growing in a greenhouse, you will need to consider if your plant will be transplanted into the garden or if it will find its permanent home in a container. Seedlings you wish to transplant can be grown in a wide variety of containers. Make sure the pot has room for root development and that it has good drainage. You can find pots made of naturally decomposing materials, like Cow Pots, that you can plant directly into your garden to prevent transplant shock. If you are planning to keep the plant in a container, look for a pot that allows root development, like the Smart Pot, to save you from having to transplant often.

• Insecticide: While weeds are not usually much of a concern for the greenhouse gardener, insect infestations can be a different story. Keeping a good multipurpose insecticide on hand is always a good idea. A good organic choices Veggie Pharm Insecticidal spray. Yellow sticky traps and beneficial bugs are also great ways to rid your greenhouse of pests.

• Benches: Gardening benches help save your back and make greenhouse gardening more enjoyable. They also provide extra working space so you can fit in twice as many plants and pots. Greenhouse benches can be made of a wide variety of materials, and selecting one is mostly a matter of personal preference. Look for a bench that is sturdy, water resistant and has slats for good air ventilation.

• Heating/Cooling: Every greenhouse needs some way to control heating and cooling for the budding plants inside. Shade cloths, basic fans, a small greenhouse heater and thermometer are often all that is required to control the temperature of your greenhouse unless your area experiences very hot summers or well below freezing winters.

As your greenhouse gardening hobby progresses, you are likely to collect more and more gardening paraphernalia, but knowing what the essentials are can help you keep your storage shed from overflowing and your piggy bank from growing lean.

Fall Canning Tips for Greenhouse Gardeners
One of the inevitable side effects of a love for gardening is hours spent in the kitchen preparing all those fruits and veggies for storage. Until a few years ago, I simply froze all of my garden veggies, but then I decided to give canning a try. Boy, am I glad I did! If you are new to canning, these time saving tips might prove to be very valuable. Give a few a try and see what a difference the extra effort can make!

1. Invest in a food processor. This is the first year I have used a food processor and I was simply amazed at how much time it saved. Veggies are ready for canning in seconds and the entire machine cleans up with a rinse in hot soapy water. My fingertips are very thankful that I won’t be scoring them repeatedly while slicing up cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, and beets this year.

2. Buy a pressure cooker. I know, most pressure cooker manuals do not include any instructions for pressure canning quarts and pints, but the FDA encourages home gardeners to use pressure canning for all low-acid foods, like beans and carrots. You can find pressure canning time tables and instructions online if your pressure cooker doesn’t come with canning instructions.

3. Compost your food scraps. Those snap bean ends, tomato cores, and corncobs make great fertilizer for next year’s crops.  Mix your layers of food scraps with coffee grounds, grass clippings, and leaves to create the richest compost. Be sure to water it well and turn it over often to increase airflow for better decomposition.

4. Enlist help. Recruit your kids, spouse, or friends to help you pick, clean, prepare and can your crops. The work will go twice as fast and you can reward them a few jars of the finished products.

5. Always label your jars. You may think it’s a no-brainer that jar contains this year’s beans, but in 12 months, your memory may not be so clear. Sometimes jars get missed from year to year and labeling them with the date canned helps keep you from wasting food and getting spoiled jars.

6. Stock up. Always buy an extra set of jars and several boxes of fresh lids to keep on hand. It can be frustrating to have a hot jar of produce ready for processing and realize you are out of lids or bands.

Canning your fruits and veggies from the greenhouse can be an immensely rewarding experience. Canning takes a lot time, and the lengthy process is often daunting for many gardeners who are new to canning, but taking a few time saving tips can help make your first canning season a pleasant one.

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, the garden crops tend to get ahead of us. There are only so many hours in the day, and when other responsibilities encroach on your treasured gardening time, you can find yourself stuck with a boatload of work. Here are few ideas to help you make the most of those busy gardening moments.

Overripe Cucumbers
Ah, the lovely cucumber! One vine can produce tons of cukes, long into the growing season. The leafy vines often hide growing cucumbers from your sight, resulting in overgrown, or overripe cucumbers. Overgrown cukes are long, large, and often yellow. The flesh is porous, less crisp than young cucumbers, and the seeds are large and plentiful. Many cooks will tell you these cucumbers are not suitable for pickling or relish making. So, what are you to do with these garden giants? Well, you can make them into a sweet treat. Pickled Cinnamon Cucumbers taste a lot like candied apples and the rich cinnamon flavoring makes them immensely appealing as an after-dinner treat.

They take about 3 days to process and the finished product is jar filled with richly colored red rings of sweetness with a cinnamon stick in the center. These jars are nice enough to give away as gifts or enter into the county fair. You can find the original recipe here: http://www.scrapbookflair.com/oklahomadawn/Cinnamon_Cucumber_Rings/Page1 .

CINNAMON CUCUMBER RINGS
2-3 gallons cucumber rings
8 1/2 qts. cold water
Red food coloring
1 tsp. alum
2 c. water
8 cinnamon sticks
2 c. pickling lime
1 c. vinegar
2 c. vinegar
10 c. sugar
1 pkg. red hot candy
Mix 2 cups pickling lime and 8 1/2 quarts cold water. Pour over cucumber rings. Let stand 24 hours. Drain. Wash and put in cold water. Let stand 3 hours. Drain. Mix 1 cup vinegar, red food coloring, alum, and add enough water to cover. Simmer 2 hours. Drain.
Mix 2 cups vinegar, 10 cups sugar, 2 cups water, 1 package red hot cinnamon candy, 8 cinnamon sticks. Bring to boil. Pour over cucumber rings. Let set overnight. Drain off; heat and pour back over cucumbers. Do this for 3 days. On 3rd day, pack rings in jars; seal.

Another option is to go ahead and make them into pickles with a special recipe that calls for overripe cucumbers. This recipe includes brown sugar and vinegar, making an unusual, yet palatable pickle. The original recipe for these pickles is here: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1636,149170-226205,00.html .

 MOTHER’S RIPE CUCUMBER PICKLE
Large ripe (yellow) cucumbers
2 lb. brown sugar
1 pt. cider vinegar
2 tbsp. whole cloves
2 tbsp. stick cinnamon
Cut cucumbers in half lengthwise. If very large you may need to cut crosswise also. Cover with alum water (2 teaspoons alum to each quart of water). Heat gradually to boiling, then let stand until clear. Remove cucumber from water and chill in ice water.
Make a syrup by boiling 5 minutes the sugar, vinegar and spices (tied in muslin). Add cucumbers; cook 10 minutes. Put cucumbers in jars and pour syrup over them.

Books on Canning:
Preserving the Harvest
The Beginners Guide to Preserving Food at Home
Keeping the Harvest: Home storage of fruits and vegetables

Green House Compost: the Ultimate Green Fertilizer
Compost: it looks great on your soil and smells better than your trash can. Composting is the ultimate recycling project. With a simple compost heap, you can transform your kitchen scraps, yard waste, and even those discarded newspapers into nutrient-rich fertilizer.
Purchase a prefabricated Compost Bin or to make a compost heap, cordon off a small area, and alternate layers of green leafy waste with brown waste (such as manure, dried leaves, or coffee grounds). Water it well and turn it over once a week with a pitchfork to allow air to penetrate the deeper layers and aid in decomposition. Worms, manure, and even old coffee can help make your fertilizer nutrient rich and healthy.
For quick and easy composting directions, visit http://compostinstructions.com/in-a-hurry-heres-the-ultimate-one-page-guide-to-composting/ to read an easy guide to composting. You can also view a few videos on composting on YouTube as well as this one, http://www.5min.com/Video/Learning-How-To-Compost-11225, from GrowingWisdom.com.

Banning Pesticides
Instead of using harsh chemical pesticides, Green House growers opt for a gentler solution. Introducing beneficial insects and nematodes into the greenhouse can help control most infestation problems. You can also try making your own insecticidal soap with a recipe of one gallon water, 2 t baking soda, 2 t dish detergent, and 2 t white vinegar. Spray the pest treatment under the leaves of your plants where the white fly eggs, scale and adults reside. This can be time consuming as the bugs will die only when they come in direct contact with the spray. Each leaf needs to be sprayed. You must be diligent and apply the spray every 3 to 5 days to maintain control over the white files. Use soaps when plants are not drought-stressed and when temperatures are under 80°F to prevent possible damage to plants. Test the insecticidal soap first on your plants to make sure it will not burn the leaves. Spray the soap on a few leaves and wait two days to see if there is any burning. If burning occurs, try diluting the spray with more water and test again. Insecticidal soap is very effective on controlling white flies and many other greenhouse pests. The drawbacks are it can also kill the good bugs and it is generally a big time commitment.

Shade Cloths
Using shade cloths in the Green House is an eco-friendly solution to heating and cooling your greenhouse. Installing a basic temperature thermometer in the greenhouse will help you determine when to block strong sunlight or let the sunshine in to help heat your greenhouse.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Green House growers are natural experts at reducing consumption, reusing materials, and recycling waste. Potting oil can be baked in the oven to sterilize it and reused again the next year. Clay pots and plastic growing trays can be cleaned with bleach and water, reducing waste. Broken pots, old newspapers, and kitchen waste are recycled for use in other areas of the greenhouse.

Going green in the Green House is a great way to help the environment and reap the benefits of lush, healthy fruit sand vegetables in the process. With a few easy changes, your greenhouse can truly become a Greener House, too.

 Working with shade cloths, earthboxes, cold frames, and greenhouses can greatly improve your chances for gardening success. Gardening can be challenging, especially for the timid novice gardener.Why are you afraid to take that next step to growing a green thumb? Is it because there is just too much sunlight or wind in your area? Perhaps you have poor soil conditions or even worse, no soil conditions. Maybe you are hesitant because you won’t be able to enjoy the fresh produce year round. Whatever your reason, there are simple answers to help you garden better and faster. Here are some solutions to the above dilemmas.

Too Much Sun or Wind

Trying to garden where there is too much sun or wind can be devastating. As soon as you see the sprout start to poke its head above the surface, it is a constant battle to keep it from drying out or being removed from the ground like a fence post in a tornado. An easy answer to this problem is the shade cloth. There are numerous different types of shade cloths, depending on how much sun and wind blockage you are looking for. Some shade cloths are made out of nylon or plastic while others are made out of a textile material such as polyester.

Choosing the right shade cloth for your application is simple, the bigger the holes, the less sunlight and wind it will block. The smaller the holes, the more sunlight and wind will be blocked. Shade cloths allow balanced UV light transmission to your plants while keeping them out of the harsher environments.

Poor Soil Conditions

If your soil is less than perfect, or if you don’t have the privilege of having your own soil in an apartment or condo, you can still garden and have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. The Earthboxis a pre-designed system that is almost 300 times better than container gardening. The Earthbox is a self-contained garden, which comes with its own water reservoir so that the plants get the perfect amount of water at all times, a special gradient system to allow proper nutrients to plant root systems and also is usually made of plastic to prevent the invasion of plant-eating pests.

Year Round Gardening

If you are worried about year-round gardening, worry no more. Building a cold frame and even adding a hot bed can provide year round fruits and vegetables at your table. A cold frame is like a mini greenhouse. The box is enclosed with a glass roof that faces the South for optimum light penetration, even in the coldest of temperatures. The cold frame can help keep plants out of the external temperatures while still providing moies soil and plenty of sunlight.

Greenhouses

Of course a greenhouse will solve all of these dilemmas. A four season greenhouse lets you grow all year in most climates. Your plants are protected from snow, wind and other harsh weather conditions. It also solves the dilemma of poor soil of not having any room in your yard for a garden – a greenhouse can sit on your patio or a cement slab. You use only the perfect sterile soil from your local garden center. So no more worries about tough or nutrient depleted soil in your yard!

No matter what your reason is for not gardening, shade cloth, Earthboxes, cold frames, and greenhouses could, very well, provide a solution to your problem. You no longer have any excuses to not begin gardening, so get out there, protect your plants from the sun and light, and give them the best chance to survive and grow them year round. What are you waiting for?