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.

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Optimizing Your Greenhouse this Winter by Growing Food Year-Round

In my region an atmospheric river 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.

Meet Greg, The Design and Engineer Manager Behind The Best Greenhouses in the World

Greg is a bit of a mystery man. His role at BC Greenhouse Builders has greatly evolved in the almost twenty years he has been here. No one is entirely certain what he does exactly due to the complexity and unbelievable amount of detail required.

Nathan Steegstra, a factory greenhouse installer for BC Greenhouse Builders, reminisces on his history

“I started approximately 20 years ago and I was hired by Jay.  Jay said it was the most unorthodox interview ever,” Nathan chuckles.  “My buddy Darren worked for BCG and I picked him up from one of their parties. All I remember is Henry’s big arm is around my neck and he hands me a beer.  Kyle starts interviewing me and then I think “I gotta get out of here”.  Two weeks later, Nathan joined the production crew and is now our lead factory greenhouse installer.

BC Greenhouse Featured in Style at Home Magazine

BC Greenhouse Builders Limited, North America’s leading builder of hobby and estate greenhouses, is proud to announce the recent article “A Photographer's Backyard Greenhouse is Picture Perfect” by Christy Wright.  The article features our customer Emily Yewchuck and her stunning Cottage model 12x16 glass greenhouse.

Backyard Greenhouses are Growing on Homeowners

BC Greenhouse Builders Limited, North America’s leading builder of hobby and estate greenhouses, is proud to announce the recent article "Backyard Greenhouses are Growing on Homeowners" by Melissa Feldman.  The publication comes at a great time while we are celebrating our 70th anniversary.  This article featured two of our greenhouses and greenhouse customers.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

 

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.

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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.

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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 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.

Joanna, accountant for BC Greenhouse Builders, is a legacy

As part of our 70th Anniversary, we continue with spotlights on people who have shaped the BC Greenhouses that we are today. 

Joanna DeJong, Accounts Manager of BC Greenhouse Builders, started her long career in 1997.  One of the few legacy employees who not only remembers the Hedley location in Burnaby but worked there too.  Joanna started as a Girl Friday of sorts but her introduction to the Heinen family started much earlier.

Big Idea:

Build the best greenhouse for you, forever. Listen to this greenhouse podcast and learn more about BC greenhouse Builders and their 70 Years of building high-quality greenhouses.