A Look Inside My Vegetable Greenhouse
It's always so great to start off the new year eating healthy, delicious, organic greens.
My large half-acre outdoor vegetable garden is cleared, cleaned and put to bed for the winter season, but I'm fortunate to have lots of wonderful vegetables thriving indoors, in a special greenhouse located behind my Equipment Barn.
Here are some photos of what we have growing, enjoy.
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- This entire greenhouse is almost all glass. Most of the energy comes from the sun through giant windows, which can be programmed to open for ventilation or cooling when needed. This photo was taken this week just before a night of heavy rains.
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- We built 16 of these wooden garden boxes to fit the entire length and width of the space. Raised bed gardening allows good drainage, prevents soil compaction, and provides protection for those plants that may otherwise get trampled.
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- The beds are well-marked to indicate watering instructions.
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- These reminders are also laminated, so they don’t get wet during watering sessions – a helpful and time saving tip.
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- This structure uses minimal artificial heat, where many cold hardy crops, such as root vegetables and brassicas, can be grown and harvested through the winter months. I also installed grow lights specially designed to substitute natural sunlight, stimulating photosynthesis, and provide the right color spectrum for thriving plants.
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- This house is also equipped with fans for proper air circulation when needed.
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- Cilantro, Coriandrum sativum, is also known commonly as coriander or Chinese parsley. Coriander is actually the dried seed of cilantro. Cilantro is a popular micro-green garnish that complements meat, fish, poultry, noodle dishes, and soups. Everyone here at the farm loves the cilantro, but some don’t. Do you know… some even say it tastes like soap? For those, the issue is genetic. These people have a variation in a group of olfactory-receptor genes that allows them to strongly perceive the soapy-flavored aldehydes in cilantro leaves. Among those who strongly dislike cilantro – the late Chef Julia Child.
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- All my plants are grown organically and have no chemical taste at all. This is the celery – also great for my daily green juice. Celery is part of the Apiaceae family, which includes carrots, parsnips, parsley, and celeriac.
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- Here’s our parsley. Parsley is a flowering plant native to the Mediterranean. It derives its name from the Greek word meaning “rock celery.”
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- This parsley has round, curly leaves. In general, it is less robust in taste than the flat-leaf varieties.
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- This is our bed of arugula. Arugula leaves, also known as rocket or roquette, are tender and bite-sized with a tangy flavor. All our vegetables are planted at different times as part of succession planting, a practice of seeding crops at intervals of seven to 21 days in order to maintain a consistent supply of harvestable produce throughout the season. I am a big fan of succession planting. This dramatically increases a garden’s yield, while also improving produce quality.
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- The radish is an edible root vegetable of the Brassicaceae family. Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, and mostly eaten raw as a crunchy salad vegetable.
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- Radish greens are the edible tops of the radish plant, and are commonly eaten as a vegetable in Korea and China.
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- These are the leaves of beets. Beets are sweet and tender – and one of the healthiest foods. Beets contain a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains, which provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and detoxification support.
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- And these are the bold red beet stalks. Beetroot stalks are edible and can be eaten raw or cooked.
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- These are the leaves of turnips. The vegetables are not ready yet, but when harvesting, I always gently remove the surrounding earth first to see if the vegetables are big enough. If not, I push the soil back into place. Turnips are smooth flat, round and white vegetables that mature early and are best harvested young – when they are up to two inches in diameter. The flavor is sweet and fruity, and the texture is crisp and tender. Both the root and the leaves of the turnip are edible. The leaves have a taste similar to mustard greens but with a less intense spicy flavor.
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- Lettuce always grows so well in this greenhouse. These need to grow a little bit more before harvesting. It’s a real treat to have lettuce like this all year long.
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- I always grow lots of varieties of lettuce, so I can share them with my daughter and her children.
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- One cannot miss the gorgeous Swiss chard stalk colors. They are so vibrant with stems of yellow, red, rose, gold, and white. Chard has very nutritious leaves making it a popular addition to healthful diets.
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- The most common method for picking is to cut off the outer leaves about two inches above the ground while they are young, tender, and about eight to 12 inches long.
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- In the next bed, our kale. Kale is related to cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, and Brussels sprouts. There are many different types of kale – the leaves can be green or purple in color, and have either smooth or curly shapes.
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- I use spinach for my daily green juice. Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, and a good source of manganese, magnesium, iron and vitamin B2.
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- Basil, also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae. It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide – in sauces and soups, on pizza and pasta, in salads, sandwiches, and a host of other dishes.
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- I am so pleased with my vegetable greenhouse and how productive it is every year. We’re looking forward to a winter filled with bountiful harvests.
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