A garden in winter: Greenhouses provide abundance year-round

By Paula M. Christensen, Journal correspondent | Wednesday, March 28, 2007

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As I sit at my computer, I’m watching a squirrel bounce around my backyard looking for last fall’s stored nuts, and looking puzzled as it comes up with empty paws.

I am reminded of my seasonal growing friends and neighbors, and how their canned fruits and vegetables are becoming depleted as the winter months drag on.

I, on the other hand, have a continuous supply of fresh garlic, rosemary, parsley, thyme, lettuce, chives, tomatoes, carrots, artichokes and a Golden Berry (a variety of Goose Berry hybridized for greenhouse growing) which tastes a little like a pineapple, just to name a few.

I am lucky enough to be encircled by fresh produce and fruit and don’t have to spend time canning as I am continually surrounded by the fruits of my labor. I even have geraniums (in bloom), carnations (which taste spicy), snapdragons, petunias and an amaryllis that is getting ready to burst its bud.

Gone are the days of waiting until summer to taste my first tomato of the season, as well as coming home empty handed if I couldn’t find my beloved Walla Walla onions in the produce section of the local grocery store.

My one zucchini plant produced up until the middle of January when it had finally completed its growing cycle, and I am now planning what I want to plant in its place.

I have learned over the years that a family of two only needs two tomato plants as they (the plants) will try to out produce each other during the winter months, and have formed new friendships over a bag of extra produce during the winter.

Fresh cantaloupe and cucumbers are also a wonderful way to break the ice when we’ve had way more than the two of us could possibly eat.

I remember when I still gardened seasonally that I always felt a sense of urgency as August approached, because I knew that it was just a matter of time before there would be “frost on the pumpkin” and the garden would be put to rest until next spring.

I would languish over seed catalogs as they began arriving in late December and would make a list and check it twice for new and exciting seeds to try my hand at growing the next season.

Now, though, gardening during the winter months is the best time to garden. For starters, my greenhouse can get up to a balmy 70 degrees on a warm winter day and there is just something about the smell of fresh soil that does my heart good; not to mention what a greenhouse all lit up at night does for the visual sense — especially when the days are short and the trees are bare.

And the orange tree that I mentioned in last month’s article: it has 23 (pencil-eraser size) fruits racing to see who can grow up first.

Paula M. Christensen is the manager of Grapevine Hobby Greenhouses in Rapid City. She has more than 30 years experience in agriculture. She has worked in commercial greenhouses and has been gardening in her own greenhouse for eight years. Send questions or comments to bill@grapevinehobby.com or call 342-1307.