Unheated greenhouse in Zone 4b

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Author Message   Maggiepie  Posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 02:04 pm EST :    Hello, I am the proud owner of a new, small greenhouse, it will be unheated and I am wondering if there is anything I could winter in it. The temps here get to -27 or -28 C, not counting windchills. That's -17 to -18F. I have never had a greenhouse before so am not really sure if I can use it at all before next spring sometime. TIA Maggiepie - New Brunswick, Zone "4b"   Maciver  Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 12:08 pm EST :    Hi there Maggie--even here in zone 7b the unheated greenhouse has to be used carefully for wintering stuff. The big advantages are protection from wind and excess rain...hellebores for e.g. do so much better if their containers are at least under a rain shield of some kind, or we lose lots to rot over the winter. Evergreens are also helped in the wind protection department, since many things freeze dry with the arctic winds blowing, no matter how "hardy" they are to simple cold. The disadvantage of the greenhouse is that container plants have their roots more exposed to cold than things outside in the ground. My solution has been to dig trenches in the greenhouse floor (garden soil in my case, how about you?) and bury the containers as deep as practical...giving them that slight heat source from the ground compared to being above it. Above all, I avoid leaving containers on benches overwinter, unless they are very bone-hardy (is that even a word?!) Hopefully others have tips from colder zones, but thought I would start... Maciver - British Columbia, Zone "7"   Maggiepie  Posted on Wednesday, November 07, 2007 - 11:11 am EST :    Hi Glen, Am so sorry I missed your reply. I decided to not bother trying to use the greenhouse for wintering anything, it has a concrete floor which had a baby barn on it before the greenhouse. If it had been on the ground I think I would have had plunge beds underneath the shelving, at least on one side. Interesting what you say about hellebores, do you grow yours in pots or are you referring to little seedlings? I started off some last September and had almost 200 of them by March. However, I had them inside the house and was moving them around every day following the sun. They did surprisingly well. This year am going to get some doubles seed. Maggiepie - New Brunswick, Zone "4b"   Maciver  Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 07:09 pm EST :    Sounds like you're figuring out your local climate. As I mentioned, we are at least as concerned with all the winter rain as the cold here. I also have many hundreds of hellebores, I am playing around with them as I have time, almost all in containers under a rain sheltering poly roof...no added heat. This year's seeds are just now starting to sprout in their ziplocs, so I'll have to start sprinkling them onto the surface of seed pots to get them up enough to transplant. Doubles are interesting...not always an improvement but I have a few nice ones. I really like the picotees and other patterned flowers, along with semi-doubles which I guess are just intriguing coz they're different! Some are in bloom almost any month of the year here...tho a real hard frost will burn those bits well back until Feb/March when the main show happens. Maciver - British Columbia, Zone "7"

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