Greenhouse Gardening Tips

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Donna Balzer

Donna Balzer is a garden expert, a regular guest on CBC radio and host is internationally aired "Bugs & Blooms" on HGTV. For more great tips from Donna, visit www.donnabalzer.com. You can also read Donna’s gardening books: No Guff Vegetable Gardening with Steven Biggs and keep track of your success with her Gardener’s Gratitude Journal: Part Diary, Part Personal Growing Guide.

greenhouse in garden

5 Easy Steps to Start Your Greenhouse Garden Today

Setting Up Your Greenhouse: The box has finally arrived - the greenhouse is assembled. Now what?

I called Rodney a year after his greenhouse was installed. I expected him to brag about the size of his tomatoes or the hours he spends sitting and enjoying the beautiful space he created.

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Start Your Fall Crops Now: Take Advantage of August's Greenhouse Space

August Plants

August crops are growing so fast that I should have a time-lapse camera to record the speedy growth. It’s a good thing I’m home all month to watch the changes and get the next crops planted and growing.  Check out my tips to grow your own food too!

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Winter vegetables growing

Summer Prep for Winter Greenhouse: Tips for Managing & Double Cropping

Surprisingly, Summer is the perfect time to prep for winterization

Managing your winter greenhouse with crops coming and going is a bit of an art form, so please bear with me. It involves starting seeds directly in greenhouse soil and also starting seeds in flats on shelves or potting benches.

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Cabbage growing amongst flowers.

Solving Watering Problems in Your Greenhouse Garden

Watering Problems?

Hand watering is fun for gardeners. If you are around to get the job done. But a wilted plant is a stressed plant and stressed plants get buggy. I would love to stay home all summer watering my
greenhouse at exactly the right minute but that’s just wishful thinking. The truth is, life gets in the way and instead of tending my tomatoes and pacifying my pak choi with hand watering I seem to travel just when my babies need me.

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Donna Balzer in her greenhouse, reading a book.

Cool Down Your Greenhouse: Benefits of Using Shade Cloth

Benefits of Shade Cloth

I’m sitting in my greenhouse sipping a cool drink as I look outside. With the current heatwave this is positively the coolest spot in the garden right now. But it didn’t use to be that way. Scorched leaves, dry soil and wilted, bolting lettuce used to be the norm.

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Seeds starting to grow

Trial and Error in Greenhouse Growing: Lessons from My Disaster

Trial and Error in Greenhouse Growing

My water wand blew up in the last brutal storm of the season when water froze in my greenhouse. No one was expecting that cold spell but then again we live in a Northern climate and a wintertime greenhouse garden is usually cold. I should have known better.

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