--- title: Greenhouse Gardening Tips | Donna Balzer (3) description: "Donna Balzer is a former brand ambassador, garden expert, a regular guest on CBC radio and host is internationally aired \"Bugs & Blooms\" on HGTV. (3)" --- [Skip to content](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/author/donna-balzer/page/3#main-content) Announcement Bar/Update or Announcement   Learn More This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 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Posts by: ## Donna Balzer Donna Balzer is a former brand ambassador, garden expert, a regular guest on CBC radio and host is internationally aired "Bugs & Blooms" on HGTV. ![Cauliflower](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/hubfs/Cauliflower.jpg) ### [How to Grow Cauliflower in a Greenhouse? Perfect Conditions All Year Round](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/growing-greenhouse-cauliflower) Apr 25, 2022, 4:08:29 PM ### Quick Answer: **How do you grow cauliflower in a greenhouse for perfect results year-round?** Growing cauliflower in a greenhouse ensures consistent conditions—steady temperature, even moisture, and protection from extreme heat—leading to larger, sweeter, and more reliable harvests than outdoor crops. Start seeds indoors, stagger plantings to avoid a glut, and choose self-wrapping or colorful varieties like Veronica or Susanna for visual appeal and flavor. With drip irrigation, airflow, and soil amendments, your greenhouse can produce A+ cauliflower from spring through winter. --- ## Another Reason to Love the Greenhouse: Perfect Cauliflower Growth Lennie tracked me down at a party. “It’s my cauliflowers,” she sighed. “They are small and button-like instead of big like at the store.” ![](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/hubfs/Outdoors%20hugelkulture.jpg) ### [Thriving Plants with Hügelkultur: My Experience](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-gardening-tips-hugel-what) Apr 12, 2022, 12:29:18 PM ## Growing Soil with Hügelkultur When I moved homes and [built a new greenhouse](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-garden-tips-maximizing-space-to-grow-your-own-food), I was in for quite a surprise. The natural soil on my new lot is sand. Pure, yellow sand. This means it drains really well. It also means it does not hold nutrients to feed my plants. ![Spinach ](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/hubfs/spinich.jpg) ### [What Are the Tips for Starting a Greenhouse Garden Now? Schedule Your Crops](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-garden-tips-starting-with-cold-crops) Mar 21, 2022, 1:35:51 PM ### Quick Answer: **Want to kickstart your greenhouse garden this season?** The best time to begin is now. Cool-weather crops like arugula, bok choi, spinach, and radishes thrive in early spring greenhouse conditions—even in unheated spaces. Warm the soil with heating cables or IRT mulch to speed up germination and enjoy a head start on the growing season. Greenhouse gardening in late winter or early spring also means fewer pests, like flea beetles. While heat-loving plants like peppers need more warmth to sprout, starting them indoors on a damp paper towel can ensure strong, healthy transplants later. With the right timing and a simple crop schedule, your greenhouse can produce fresh greens and veggies year-round. --- ## Schedule Your Greenhouse Garden Now Showing off my arugula (also known as rocket) on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/donna_balzer/) leads to a lot of questions about my greenhouse and what I currently have growing.  ![Perennial Primula](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/hubfs/Perennial%20Primula.jpg) ### [What Are the 5 Proven Ways to Boost Your Flower and Food Greenhouse Garden?](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/early-greenhouse-growing) Mar 20, 2022, 4:27:00 PM ### Quick Answer: **What Are the 5 Proven Ways to Boost Your Flower and Food Greenhouse Garden?** To maximize your greenhouse garden, start by **seeding early**, **transplanting strong seedlings**, **dividing mature plants**, and **taking cuttings** to multiply your crops—all under ideal indoor conditions. These techniques help you grow more flowers, food, and even potatoes or grapes with better success and less risk than outdoor planting. Most importantly, **enjoy the space**—your greenhouse is not just a garden, but a peaceful, productive retreat that brings warmth, growth, and joy year-round. --- ## Five ways to raise your flowers and food ### Seed: Nature hates a gap. That’s why weeds fill in every nook and cranny available to them outdoors. Sprinkling desirable seeds outside as the snow thaws on the south side of your home or [Greenhouse Garden](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-garden-tips-maximizing-space-to-grow-your-own-food) this spring lets you copy nature’s best efforts. Inside your greenhouse, scatter seeds on top of pots or flats. A light dusting of soil and a sheet of glass laid flat over trays keeps the humidity high until the seeds grow. ![](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/hubfs/IMG_0331.jpg) ### [How Can Organic Gardeners Control Bugs in a Greenhouse Without Chemicals?](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/are-greenhouse-bugs-bugging-you) Mar 10, 2022, 10:49:00 AM ### Quick Answer: Organic greenhouse pest control starts with prevention and thrives with beneficial insects like Encarsia formosa, Delphastus catalinae, Persimilis, and Aphidoletes that naturally control whiteflies, spider mites, and aphids without chemical sprays—helping maintain a balanced ecosystem and long-term pest resistance. --- ## Success in the greenhouse is simple The doorbell rings and the Purolator truck pulls away as I open the door. A shoebox-sized package is waiting on my step: my greenhouse bugs have arrived! ![](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/hubfs/IMG_4497-1.jpeg) ### [How Can You Optimize Your Greenhouse for Year-Round Food Production?](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/growing-food-in-my-greenhouse) Mar 9, 2022, 4:16:00 PM ### Quick Answer: Optimize year-round food production in your greenhouse by maintaining controlled temperatures with heaters and fans, using soil management and cover crops to sustain nutrients and microbes, scheduling crop rotations strategically, and supplementing with grow lights to extend growing seasons—ensuring fresh, reliable harvests even in extreme weather. --- ## Optimizing Your Greenhouse this Winter by Growing Food Year-Round In my region an [atmospheric river](https://theconversation.com/how-an-atmospheric-river-drenched-british-columbia-and-led-to-floods-and-mudslides-172021) flooded out roads, rails and farms. This probably seems pretty minor compared to areas affected by cyclones and hurricanes but one thing is certain: there has never been a better time to own a greenhouse. ![](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/hubfs/Caulitflower.jpg) ### [What Are the Tips for Greenhouse Gardening in March and April?](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/sunny-march-greenhouse-garden) Mar 3, 2022, 11:33:00 AM ### Quick Answer: **What are the tips for greenhouse gardening in March and April?** Early spring greenhouse gardening involves starting fruit cuttings like raspberries over heat mats to encourage rooting, transplanting hardy crops such as peas for early harvests, and directly sowing cold-tolerant seeds like radishes, spinach, and arugula in unheated soil. By managing space, timing crops carefully, and using seasonally appropriate strategies, gardeners can extend their growing season and enjoy fresh produce well before outdoor gardens mature. This approach maximizes greenhouse productivity while creating a rewarding, year-round gardening experience. --- ## Sunshine on Your Face in the Greenhouse Garden I close my eyes as I bask in the sun, heat on my face. I take off my jacket and then my hat. My neighbors, friends and family have gone away to Martinique, Belize and Spain but I am experiencing the best holiday. I am sitting in the sun at home – in my [Greenhouse Garden](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-garden-tips-maximizing-space-to-grow-your-own-food). ![tomatoes growing in a greenhouse](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/hubfs/Tomatoes-1.jpg) ### [What Are the Tips for Growing Greenhouse Tomatoes in the Heat? July in the Greenhouse](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-garden-tips-july-in-the-greenhouse) Mar 2, 2022, 12:27:00 PM ### Quick Answer: **What Are the Tips for Growing Greenhouse Tomatoes in the Heat?** To prevent heat stress and flower drop in greenhouse tomatoes, use 40-70% shade cloth to reduce temperature and light intensity, maintain good air circulation with fans and open screen doors, and regularly water soil and paths to cool the environment and increase humidity. Selecting heat-tolerant tomato varieties, like smaller-fruited types or proven heirlooms such as Juliet and Cherokee Purple, helps ensure fruit set during hot spells. Combining these strategies allows growers to maximize tomato yields and extend the harvest season even in extreme summer heat. --- ## The Trouble with Greenhouse Tomatoes ### Do your greenhouse tomatoes have heat stroke? If your tomato blooms are bending and falling off, flower and all, they are having a heatstroke. When extreme heat hits, greenhouse tomatoes fail to set fruit even as the leaves keep growing and new blooms appear.   ![Strawberry leaf stippling due to thrips](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/hubfs/Strawberry%20leaf%20stippling%20due%20to%20thrips.jpg) ### [How Can I Solve Pest Problems in My Greenhouse Using Biological Controls?](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-garden-tips-pest-problem-solved) Mar 1, 2022, 3:43:00 PM ### Quick Answer: Biological controls like *Amblyseius cucumeris* for thrips and *Phytoseiulus persimilis* for spider mites offer targeted, chemical-free pest management—just be sure to identify pests correctly, maintain humidity, and avoid sprays to protect beneficial insects. --- #### *Like something out of a horror film, the army of purchased insects sense the trouble-makers and bite their head off as they emerge…. And just like that, my greenhouse problem is solved.* ## In the Beginning ### Short Answer: Biological controls, such as predatory mites like Amblyseius cucumeris for thrips and Phytoseiulus persimilis for spider mites, offer an effective, chemical-free solution by naturally targeting specific pests; accurate pest identification combined with maintaining proper humidity and cleanliness helps optimize their success in your greenhouse. --- Speckled leaves on my strawberries make me think of spider mites, but I am wrong. When I tap a leaf with tell-tale speckled leaves, I catch three white immature [thrips](http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/IPM/english/strawberries/insects/western-flower-thrips.html) on a piece of paper. Thrips move slowly, crawling or sometimes hopping but never really flying. They fall easily on the piece of paper I hold below the leaf. Whiteflies are a brighter white and they fly quickly as soon as a leaf is touched. I do not have whiteflies. My immature thrips are the size of a 12-point Helvetica lower case “e” on the recycled paper I use to catch them and they are a serious bother on my strawberry plants. ![Growing starts in my April greenhouse](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/hubfs/SeedlingsH.jpg) ### [How Do Worm Castings, Pests, and Algae Affect My Greenhouse Garden?](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-garden-tips-my-april-greenhouse) Feb 24, 2022, 5:18:00 PM ### Quick Answer: Worm castings naturally fertilize plants and support beneficial bugs like fungus gnat predators, but excess moisture and nutrients can also lead to algae growth—use well-draining soil, sticky traps, and fans to balance greenhouse conditions and protect seedlings. --- ## Pests, Worm Castings and Algae ### What are Worm Castings? Before we get to [greenhouse gardening](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/) algae, let's talk about a shopper on Amazon that complained about bugs in her worm castings. If you [don’t speak garden lingo](https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-garden-tips-maximizing-space-to-grow-your-own-food) yet, worm castings are simply worm poop. They are mixed with soil in garden beds or in pots to make tomatoes grow faster, stronger and healthier. And just in case you missed the memo, worm poop comes with bugs of its own. The good ones. 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