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I'm in eastern Chittenden county and this winter I'm going to give winter greenhouse gardening a go. It's a geodesic greenhouse with a 14 foot diameter. I THINK I can over come cold with heaters. Expensive, I know, but I've wanted to try this for years. What else am I up against? I was sure to get cold hearty seeds. How will light, or lack thereof, impact my efforts? Any other variables I'm missing? If you've ever given this hardcore winter greenthumbin' a go, I'd love to hear your feedback. I'm doing (or trying to do) Tomatoes, Broc, Cauliflower, Carrots, Lettuce, Peppers maybe.
Pollination is an issue. You'll need to hand pollinate or introduce some kind of insect pollinators. If your soil contains the eggs of pests you won't have the balance of predators of those pests you might outdoors. I've had quite a few issues with spider mites and various gnats with indoor plants.
With grey days you will have an issue with plants like tomatoes. They like heat and light. I have done tomatoes during the winter, but we did with hydroponics and grow lights. Not cheap!
Tomatoes and peppers are warm weather crops that I wouldn't bother with. Light will be a BIG issue. The best I ever did in Vermont for winter greens was sprouts and some lettuce grown within about 10" of a dual 4' florescent fixture. My guess is that you will spend more on heating than if you grew indoors, where any electric light would go towards reducing your heating cost as well. Greenhouses of just about any type have no appreciable insulation, and the wide variation between nighttime temps and a rare sunny warm day would send most plants into shock. Carrots might work, but I fail to see the point, as carrots grown in summer can keep until about February anyway.
If you're going to spend the money to heat a greenhouse, you might as well grow indoor with grow lights.
If you are determine to do a greenhouse, it would be a good idea to trench the earth so much of the greenhouse is below surface level. The design is called a "pitt greenhouse." Being below surface level takes advantage of the constant temperatures underground for cold climates. It's probably too late in the year to build one, but definitely worth consideration for next winter.
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