You have been busy Lori - your incident with your heater reminds me that it is always in the back of my mind that - what if - the power goes off during the night for hours or the heater malfunctions and we loose our entire GH plants :( - glad you were able to (potentially) save your plants - we would love to see some photos when you get time!

Speaking of April weather - we were reminded over the weekend why we love our GH so much in this zone! It was snowy and cold outside but the GH plants appear happy and enjoyed 60 degree temps with our space heater. On a side note: our contractor is planting 13ea additional 10-12' Spruce Trees this week (weather permitting) and we purchased an additional 100ea - 1" trunk diameter - Quakes for our yard - YEAH - we love trees!! Spruce and Quakes do best in this climate - who's going to argue with Mother Nature - it is going to be a busy spring for us too!!

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This is by far one of my favorite threads ever! I have seen so many great photos of different greenhouses, different ideas on how to start seedlings in the cold, innovative ways to utilize different types of greenhouses from those who own them and love them. I am so inspired! Thank you so much for all the photos and your endless enthusiasm. My greenhouse is still on paper, waiting for warmer conditions and my contractor's schedule. Keep the great photos coming. It is so helpful to see what others are doing. Thank you all!

These tomato plants are occupying not only the greenhouse but also my mind, as in waking at night and thinking about better ways to grow them. They have been moved here and there and then back here again. I did get brutal and kill some of them. It was hard to do but it had to be done. There were just too many and no one I know was ready for tomatoes in April. I am learning a lot in the process and I am sure that changing to raised beds this fall will be a good move.
I do find myself inspecting each plant several times a day looking for suckers to prune and just enjoying the atmosphere and aroma in the GH. I have planted the outside garden, probably also overplanted it, so when the weeds start coming up I'll get distracted by them and leave the poor tomatoes alone.
Meanwhile, I'm having a lot of fun for an old lady. Cukes are growing and melons are started, I might just be dreaming but I will have my 4 yr. old grandson on the island for the summer and that's really what all this is about for me. That and hopefully growing my own canning tomatoes!

Laurie

haha - I can relate to getting brutal - I feel like you and have a hard time throwing plants out after I have given away all that will be taken. They either make it to the compost heap or the steers get a treat - they will eat most anything out of the GH and they come running like a stampede when I call them for GH treats. That sounds fun living on an island - it is fun to hear how you are spoiling your plants!

I hope GW members will forgive me for posting a photo of possible interest - entirely not about GH tomatoes - I know it is a little odd to post this photo - But while we were waiting for our tomatoes to grow our cat - Muffy - had a litter of kittens on Easter morning. She loves spending time in our GH with us so here is a diversion from gardening for a moment to share these cute new little kitties!

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OK, I gotta admit this. I got a glimpse of the baby kittens and I was afraid you were ribbing me for saying that pulling tomato plants makes me feel like killing puppies. Glad that wasn't the case!

These kittens are so cute, I don't even like cats (I'm kinda scared of them actually), but these guys are loveable. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

We are being treated to some warm weather. I spent some time in the GH today and the fan was running a lot. I have it set for about 75 degrees. I'm wondering if I will need shade for it this summer. This is all new to me so I don't know. We live right on the saltwater so we have cool breeze off the water most of the time, I never dreamed it might get too warm. I'm wondering what the optimum temperature for tomatoes is? Will I need to worry about it getting too warm for them?

Also, I got a moisture meter from amazon.com. I'm hoping I can trust it, it is telling me my tomatoes don't need water and my peppers are WAY too wet. I'm trying to figure out when you trust the meter vs. your instincts. The tomatoes look pretty dry but I'm going to resist watering them.

The basil is just going crazy no matter what I do to it. I have told everyone on the island to come and get basil. So why have I planted more starts? Probably cause I'm a beginner with this greenhouse thing and I can't help myself.

I love this new hobby.

Awwww, kittens! We just adore kitties around here, so thanks for sharing. That would be fun to have a litter at home so you can play with them all! Congratulations on the little ones - that's exciting and totally worthy of posting here. :)

YEAH ! - tomatoes setting on both the Brandy Boy and Better Boy plants. Our Mortgage Lifter and Big Zach have not yet set fruit but look to be not far behind. The Sweet 100 will be the first to ripen - all a welcome site in Zone 3 at this time of year!

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This post was edited by Hudson...WY on Sat, May 10, 14 at 19:28

Oh that looks so amazing! Can't you just taste those BLT's already? I was celebrating my own little zone 3 victory this week when I noticed that my lettuce is up under the row cover on my raised bed. We had 3" wet snow last week but new growth is still going on!

I'm totally wowed by your tomatoes Hudson! And very inspired, I have to say. Your plants are amazing for the first part of May. I'm taking notes on your tomato varieties for next year. I got mine started in the middle of March after we got our greenhouse built, your pictures make me want to start earlier next year. I'm wondering, will your tomatoes keep producing through fall or is there a reason to stagger them.? You said you would start some later, Is that for market? I am just looking for maximum production for canning tomatoes.
I realize this first year is a learning year for me, I am just trying to learn as much as I can.
I thnk I also need to look at the varieties of seed I chose this year, I chose 4 types, maybe I should have tried more and grown fewer of each. I know I will learn a lot this year, I'm just in a hurry to learn as fast as possible. This forum helps that happen.

Still working on the moisture issue. I haven't watered my peppers for several weeks, I think I watered the newly made soil too much before planting the peppers.

Your plants make me drool, they are beautiflu! Please keep posting pictures, you inspire me.

I am envious!

Hi Laurie - thanks for the compliments - be sure to let us see your GH plants as they grow! We are staggering our tomatoes this year to experiment with options to see what works best - it seems we change things every year in an effort to optimize our GH. I thought maybe if I stagger them I would not have to tend as many during the cold months and spend as much money (which isn't that much) on the electric bill and still have some early tomatoes. My wife has a hard time holding me back because I can't wait to get things planted in the GH when it is still winter but nice and warm during the day in the GH! So this year I exercised some patients and staggered the planting. They are all planted now though. The plants keep producing in the fall until the freezing temps stop them. We don't market any produce - just grow for ourselves, kids and neighbors.

You'll figure out what works best for you - as you mentioned - after just one year - you will have a whole lot better idea of how you want to utilize your GH. This forum has helped a lot too in learning from members rather than taking an entire year to figure it out myself - but some things you just have to experiment to figure it out.

Lori - what are the tomato plants looking like? I think yours are in a cold frame? Are they setting fruit yet?

I will be taking them out of the greenhouse this weekend and planting them in the garden. The forecast finally looks like it won't drop below 40F after friday night.

They've got flowers but that is about all. I do think they are root bound and need to get their feet into bigger real estate.

We stopped at a nursery in zone5 yesterday - I saw this Cherokee Purple - grafted tomato plant and couldn't resist giving it a try - so it is today in our GH.

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Our GH is in full swing now - even though we woke up to snow this morning - the GH plants seem very happy! This is a fun time of year !!

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The Brandy Boy are very prolific and hardy - they have already almost reached our hanging baskets !!

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First ripe tomatoes of the year..........ummmmmmm good

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Yeah! Congratulations! It seems like this is the earliest yet, is that true? Which variety is ripe already? Kudos to your awesome greenhouse efforts!

Hi Karin - The variety this year is Sweet 100's - they do awesome in our climate and GH. Last year we were a bit earlier (May 17th) than this year - but I am OK with that - I think waiting a couple of weeks this year reduced some worry and stress of the plants freezing - and the plants are doing great. How is your GH coming along this year - are you having a good year?

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Holy Cow! I have a lot to learn here. Hudson, you live in Wyoming and you are eating ripe tomatoes! Wow, I 'm impressed.

My tomatoes aren't doing that well. They were growing great guns and then they just kind of slowed down and they don't have good color. I didn't realize how sick they looked until yesterday when I realized I have a Sungold in the greenhouse and one in the garden. The plant in the garden is sturdy and bright green. The plant in the GH (like all the others) is a lighter shade of green and has really slowed down in growth.
I finally gave them a dose of TomatoTone fertilizer. I had read that they shouldn't need much if you have good soil. We mixed our own soil from good ingredients so I didn't think they needed it. But they need something. I just took some pictures.
I'll attach them.

I think I have just hit the learning curve of greenhouse tomatoes. I think the first thing I want to do is to get them out of containers and make half of the greenhouse a raised bed. There is just something that doesn't jive for me to be raising vegetables in containers that aren't connected to the earth. I'm thinking I will bring soil from my garden in for at least half of the mix. And then maybe dump all those soil ingredients from the tomato pots in and till it up. Treat it just like I do the outside garden, add compost, maple leaves, good organic fertilizer and mix it all up with a shovel or little tiller.

Also, most of the first roma tomatoes had BER. If the next clusters have it I will get rid of the plants and use the space for something else. I am trying to water more often to stop the BER.

I finally got one picture to load, that is a sungold inside the GH.

Here is one outside

And one of the other tomatoes, Pozzzano, Clermon and Arbason.

On a happier note, I harvested three big pots of basil and put pesto in the freezer. I'll use that space to grow something fun for my grandson.

Hi Laurie - I have not been successful trying to grow tomatoes in containers (really haven't given it a honest go) - so I can't give you any advice there. I am pretty sure there are a lot of threads on container gardening in this forum though (you can do a search). If you plant directly in the soil - keep the GH between 60 - 80 degrees - water & fertilizer correctly - keep away the bugs - you should see success !! We stopped trying to grow Roma tomatoes because of BER - we tried 4 different varieties and decided they don't like Wyoming (at least not our GH).

I agree - your outside tomato plant looks much better - maybe you should grow all of your tomatoes outside there on your island? Tomatoes would never grow outside in this climate!

Except for flowers - we don't like to garden in containers - and we don't have to because we have a lot of space for our yard, garden and GH - it appears you have space too. Hang in there - our first GH year wasn't that great - there is a definite learning curve that can only come from experience. Your flowers look awesome & your other tomatoes/plants look like they are coming along fine. Our soil lacks iron so we mix iron with our fertilizer to supplement. I'd say you are doing great for your first GH year! We lost most of our plants to mildew our first year because I was watering to dang much - not to mention the bugs!

This post was edited by Hudson...WY on Fri, Jun 6, 14 at 2:57

Hudson, The outside tomatoes look fine right now but come September and October when they are full of green ones and the weather gets cold and wet, I hope I will be happy I still have tomatoes ripening in the GH.
Where I live, not many people put tomatoes in the garden, it's kind of asking for frustration. And lots of green tomatoes. We have been blessed with a warm spring so mine are doing fine outside now. We could also have rain for the next month, who knows. I'm north of Seattle.

The funny part about the inside tomatoes that look so pale to me is that they have lots of fruit. So far. I only had two round tomatoes with BER. I had about 25 romas. I'm watching the second clusters that set, so far so good. If they develop it, those plants are gone.

I just don't understand why the inside tomatoes are looking so much weaker and yellow than the outside ones.
It must be about confining them to containers and then not getting something right. If they are in the earth with a better variety of soil amendments on the menu and a more naturally regulated level of moisture, I think they will do better. Maybe they need worms and microbes and bacteria and all that good stuff.
Laurie

So our next decision is what to build the walls of the inside beds with. Then I can start filling them up and planting for fall.

Hi Laurie and Hudson - it's nice to see tomato reports from you guys!

Laurie, I have tried to grow tomatoes in pots, even nice big pots, and never had any luck. I can't say exactly why, but the results are clear. I think you'll be a lot happier with beds inside your greenhouse. Ours are made of the Trex decking type stuff and they've held up fine but the boards are flexible and haven't held their shape too well, so they are bowed a bit. No big deal though.

BER is such a pain. My main goal for tomatoes is to make sauce and BER afflicts all the Roma-type tomatoes. So this year I sought out some varieties that are reported to be resistant. We'll see. But I can say for sure that the early fruit get BER and then the later fruit don't. So you don't need to take out the plants necessarily. Then again, plants in containers seem much more susceptible to BER so maybe that point in moot in this case.

Our GH is off to a good start. I was gone last week and came home to big happy tomato plants and one has already set fruit. Today I'll start training and pruning them. Everything in our garden is late this year because I have not been as earnest in getting things going. But we're catching up now and I am feeling less bad about being behind the ball.

We're having a really good crop of lettuce and other greens. I've got that routine down very well and we like the relatively instant gratification of eating what we plant within a couple of weeks.

Here's a picture that is 2 weeks old that shows the 'hanging salad bar' of greens and basil, and the little tomato plants in the bed below.

I understand your situation better after your explanation Laurie and ditto what Karen said. I used 2x6 redwood for our GH beds and that seems to work OK too - I did not line it with anything - but I did put a stain on it before filling it with soil.

Your plants look great Karin! Please keep us posted on the new variety of sauce tomatoes and BER. Your lettuce makes us jealous too - because we are getting into GH flowers - we ran out of room for lettuce and decided to build a lettuce bar outside the GH in a waste high bed with legs and with a lid along our wood rail fence - we didn't get it done and have been lettuce deprived :( this spring. To many projects going on!!

I gave away our extra tomato starts to neighbors with GH's a month or so ago and word got out that we grow super charged tomato starts - haha - so another GH neighbor asked if I would give her a couple of starts. I didn't have any left so I told her I would try to get her a couple of starts from suckers like I had read about on this forum - so I took two smaller suckers (square containers) and two larger suckers (round containers) off of our Brandy Boy's and stuck them in our potting soil a week ago. The first photo (where they look good) was just after I stuck them in our potting soil - the second photo (where they look almost dead) is how they look today. I think they might make it though by gosh - they are starting to perk up a little - we'll see.

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Today was terrible weather, cold and wet, and thus a nice time to work in the greenhouse. I got all my tomato plants trimmed down to 2-3 stems per plant and tied to strings. They are all setting fruit and growing like gangbusters. We have all new dirt in the GH this year so I expect the plants will get bushier than usual thanks to the plentiful nutrients.

I pulled one plant out that was showing signs of disease: wilty upper leaves and blackish coloring on those same leaves. Last year we had disease problems for the first time ever so I am being more vigilant this year. I have a replacement to go in the empty spot. Outside, I pulled one pepper plant with the same symptoms. Fingers crossed we don't have problems again this year, but I intend to stay on top of it.

Anyway, life is good at the moment and all is happy in the greenhouse. The kitties agreed, it is the coziest spot around on a chilly day like today.

More pics

My custom lettuce blend. All my favorites, yum!
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Sweet Baby Girl
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Pearl
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Inga checks to see if it's still raining.
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Six packs of buttercrunch lettuce are waiting to be planted outside. The middle berth for tomatoes is empty because I took out an ailing plant.
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Happy plants!
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Hi Karin - thanks for the update and pics! Your GH is looking great - you are such a perfectionist - it is always fun to see photos of your GH! All of your plants do look healthy and taking off. What is the spacing on your tomato plants? We spaced our plants 36" apart this year instead of our normal 24" and are allowing 3-4 stems instead of 2 to see how they will compare in production and fruit size. It is a bit early but it seems we have more vine and less tomatoes so far - but I may be too critical because I prefer pruning the suckers and am having a hard time leaving more of them to grow - other GW posters have convinced me to leave more suckers but I am very skeptical with indeterminate varieties but just have to compare - how many time have I been wrong before! - haha

Your custom lettuce blend makes me want to go fix a salad - I have got to get going on our salad bed! Are you growing Super Sauce hybrid this year - interested to see the outcome - please give us udates/photos on your sauce tomatoes?

Pearl and Inga look very content - pretty cats!

Our Brandy Boy are starting to ripen - Cherokee Purple not far behind.

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This post was edited by Hudson...WY on Mon, Jun 16, 14 at 19:45

I tried the Super Sauce tomato last year and was terribly disappointed in both the germination rate (2 out of 10 seeds) and the spindly, weak stems on those 2. Read reviews on SS and seems that quite a few people had the same problems. Have either of you tried Big Mama? I have good luck with them and they are a good sauce tomato. But the one I really like the best is Health Kick. They are about 4 ozs and I have no problem with them at all. Can't ever remember having a BER problem with either of them. The pointed end ones in the picture are Big Mama.

Mary

This post was edited by gmatx on Tue, Jun 17, 14 at 20:05

Hi Mary - Big Mama looks to be a good option - the fruit in your photo look awesome. The Big Mama is an indeterminate plant - which is of interest to me for the GH - is it prolific? The Health Kick is a determinate variety - so not as interested for the GH because of vertical space - the fruit looks good though.

I also tried SS last year but didn't give it a fair trial as the tomato start didn't arrive from Burpee until the middle of June and it was planted in a shady spot - It did not have BER with the fruit that ripened on that plant - but I was also disappointed in the frail plant structure/stems for such large fruit. I may try it again if Karin has good results - but only from seed so I can get an early start.

I haven't tried Super Sauce. My go-to sauce tomato was Super Marzano which was great for the first 2-3 years but then BER was getting worse each year. I don't understand why.

This year for sauce tomatoes I am trying
- Ernie's Plump (heirloom, really delicious, did well for me last year)
- Granadero
- Yaqui

These are specifically described as being resistant to BER so we'll see. I also planted Sweet Baby Girl cherry tomato and Matina which is a super tasty salad-sized tomato that I've had great luck with.

Hudson, my tomato plants are spaced 24 - 32 inches apart, depending on what they are sharing the bed with. I'm usually pretty disciplined at keeping 2-3 main stems for the first half of the season. But often by August they get ahead of me and things can get a little jungle-like.

For salads, I have had amazing luck using regular ol' window boxes. So there's no need to construct anything special. I keep the boxes in the GH during the spring and fall, and put them on the front porch where they are partly shaded during the summer. Each box is harvestable for about 3 weeks, so you have to keep starting new ones. But it works great!

Hudson, the Big Mama is a good producing tomato. Their skins slip easily after scalding - if you choose to skin them before making sauces with them. You really should try a few Health Kick just to taste them and see how they work as a paste tomato for you. I think their taste is nearly as good as some of the sandwich/slicer tomatoes that are highly rated.

I always enjoy seeing pictures of your ghse.

Mary

The first ripe tomato in our GH - every year Brandy Boy is the first variety out of the 5 varieties we grow to ripen - a beautiful site!
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This post was edited by Hudson...WY on Tue, Jul 22, 14 at 9:35

Gorgeous, congratulations!

Thanks Karin - It is awesome to be eating fresh tomatoes out of the GH again! The rest of our varieties are coming along fine:

Brandy Boy is as prolific as always!

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Big Zac Hybrid appears to be a pleasant surprise for us - it appears to be doing very well in our GH so far - shows great signs of being hardy, prolific and good sized!

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Cherokee Purple is consistant with last year and may become a regular - average production but constant performance - at least again this year.

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Mortgage Lifter is doing well but we have some concerns about the plant in our GH - it does seem to love our GH and is very slow to grow with somewhat frail stems - it may surprise us though.

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Better Boy and Sweet 100 are doing as well as always. It is fun to try different varieties every year, compare and find the varieties that like our GH the best!!

On average, how many tomato plants do you guys grow in a given season to produce what you need for sauces, salsa, etc? I envision many plants but in the photos of the starter plants it looks more like 8-10. What other veggies do you keep to the GH instead of outside beds, and why? Again, I am fact finding in anticipation of my GH which will become a reality in less than a month. We are having a banner growing season here in northern wisconsin with regular rains and nice warm temps. So with vigorous healthy plants out in the raised beds I am contemplating the relative merits of growing things inside vs outside. Just wondering which things you have found to do better inside? Also, anyone utilizing the extended season to grow watermelons or other long season melons in the GH? Thanks for letting me pick your brains! I appreciate being able to work off of your experiences.

Hi Littlepond - you will figure it out shortly - based on what you like to grow and how much room you have in the GH. We grow about 25 tomato plants (we like to give tomatoes to family & friends too - it is hard to grow tomatoes in WYoming!), cucumbers, corn some years, this year we are trying sweet potatoes just to see how they will do and flowers. We plant all of the cold crop veggies - lettuce, radishes, onions, spinach etc etc outside and cover other plants like beans, squash, potatoes etc. when needed. There just isn't enough room in the GH and we can't grow tomatoes outside - so they get priority in the GH.

We tried growing squash in the GH but it takes over everywhere and can be easily grown outside in hoop tunnels.

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Cucumbers grow well in the GH - better than they do in tunnels so we always grow them in the GH.

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We grow a large outside garden where we plant most of our veggies.

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We have to cover much of the garden in the spring and/or the fall.

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And we have 5ea - 16' x 6' - 12" high raised beds where we grow asparagus, strawberries, lettuce, radish, onions, beets, spinach etc.

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The GH is expensive premium space and you will use the space for the plants that are most important to you - IMO. For us - it is tomatoes, cucumbers, flowers and an area that we experiment with different items like corn, sweet potatoes, pole beans etc. - hope that helps.

This post was edited by Hudson...WY on Sat, Jun 28, 14 at 1:17

I'll echo what Hudson says. The GH is the spot for long-season plants that you really love. It's also the place for quick-growing shoulder season plants like lettuce and basil.

In our GH the indoor tomatoes are biased toward sauce types, plus one cherry tomato. Also 'Diva' cucumbers which live up to their name but I would never be without them and they will not grow outside here.

I think melons would work but you'd want to trellis them upward to save space.

Similar to Hudson but on a much less-grand scale, we used covered beds for our outdoor crops, plus we have two outdoor beds with a warm microclimate.

My best advice is to try a bunch of things and keep careful notes. Over time, you'll hone in on what works for you. Exciting that your new greenhouse will happen soon!

Hudson, I am humbled and endlessly impressed by your greenhouse plants and extensive outdoor gardens. You could feed half a town! The work you put into your gardens is evident in the healthy plants and lack of weeds. It all looks so organized. Wow.

And Karin, I appreciate your insight and words of wisdom. I accept that my first few years of growing in my GH will be a huge learning experience. I expect to be picking everyones' brains over my mistakes and blunders regularly!

I am taking notes and gathering ideas. Hopefully they will pay off. Hardly sleeping in anticipation of the start of my Gh construction. Thanks to you both-

Thanks Littlepond - it was such a beautiful night tonight - I had to share -

Our raised beds as they look today and a panorama shot of the rainbow tonight.

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We have at least one ripe tomato now from all the varieties we planted except Big Zac - which may be another couple of weeks out. I forgot that I had planted the Bicolor Version of Mortgage Lifter until the fruit started to ripen. We have a colorful assortment of tomatoes this year - all of the varieties appear to like our GH.

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Just saw your amazing photos, Hudson. Beautiful, peaceful, in such a lovely setting. Thank you for sharing. So cool that your peonies are just budding and you are already feasting on fresh tomatoes from the greenhouse. I am setting a personal goal to achieve that next year!

Hi Littlepond - Speaking of Peonies - we placed our fall order today. We are ordering some new colors like "Green Halo" for example - we are excited to get them planted - Peonies are a favorite and such a beautiful plant!

Attached is a photo of todays harvest - we have a colorful selection this year - Big Zac finally ripened. I think our the night time temps on our GH are too cold here in Wyoming for Big Zac. The fruit ripens at about 12 oz - it has a wonderful taste though! We re-named it Little Zac - haha.

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Hudson, you have a truly beautiful property and gardens! You have designed everything so well and it must be a joy to work in your greenhouse and gardens. Nice rainbow shot! It's certainly well worth the long cold winters to live in such a lovely spot.

You must produce a lot of extra food -- can you preserve it all for yourselves, or do you also sell produce? Or give away to friends or donate to food shelves etc? I love growing things, but beyond freezing, I really dislike processing for canning or doing pressure canning, so sometimes things go to waste because I can't force myself to get my small kitchen set up for canning. A friend built a special "canning kitchen" in their basement when they designed their house. Stocked with re-purposed used industrial grade restaurant stainless sinks and countertops, storage shelves, lots of workspace and two (used) refridgerators. It even has it's own entrance from outside to prevent tracking garden dirt in the house. I wish I had one.

Total envy. My plants are outside, 8 ft tall and producing romas the size of two cherry tomatoes end to end . I will NOT post a pic of this shameful crop. They get lots of water, sunshine etc and I have been rewarded with midget romas. Still tasty but certainly not up to snuff. Next year I will use seeds from a store bought roma so I at least know what I can expect.

ddsack - The canning kitchen sounds awesome - great idea - no we don't have one but wished we had while our kids were growing up and my wife was doing all that canning. We mostly freeze produce now that we are empty nesters. We have children that live on city lots and don't have the space to grow much - what we don't eat/freeze goes to them or neighbors. None goes to waste and we enjoy growing extra. My wife makes a great salsa every year - I look forward to that! Thanks for the compliments on our place - we do love living here!

Don't give up Lori - I haven't shown you photos of our failures - and there have been a lot of them! We have never been able to grow a decent Roma Tomato - for example - I hate to admit that we have moved on and decided Romas do not like our GH - there are lots of tomato varieties that do!

We picked a box of Better Boys today - still producing !

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I just found this thread and am so impressed! I'm hoping you seasoned greenhouse gardeners can give me some advice. I just bought a Solar Gem greenhouse early this year, 8x12. My main goal was to grow tomatoes (my favorites) as well as some Asian veges, which need the heat that we don't usually get in the Seattle/Tacoma area. The greenhouse is unheated and will remain that way, so I don't have the luxury of starting plants as early as you guys do.

DH built 2 raised beds, so they are each 3x12, and about 18" high. The top of the greenhouse is 8ft, so with the sloping sides and the depth of the beds, I really didn't plan well for all the growth. I planted 7 tomatoes on one side, and various other plants, i.e. lettuce, snow peas, long beans, Chinese okra, on the other. I used "sturdy" tomato cages. and did no initial pruning. Of course, all the tomato plants put out massive vines that bent/leaned over the tops of the cages and into my walking path. I pruned to control the jungle of foliage and to increase air circulation. DH put up bigger metal poles/stakes to try to keep the growth pushed back. It worked ok until the plants continued to grow, lol. There was more growth falling over the sides of the cages versus upwards.

Some of the plants put out tons of tomatoes, which are still ripening, others not so much. I don't know if it's due to the variety of the tomato versus crowded conditions, lack of pruning, or a combination of the above. We've had great weather so that's been good (lots of days over 80 which is unusual for here). And of course I overplanted even more by sticking eggplant and peppers in the same bed as the tomatoes, which is another story!

So what do I do for next year? DH has come up with ideas but won't share because he likes to surprise me. Hudson, I read a post you placed on the tomato forum about pruning tomatoes down to 2 major vines, and then to 4 or 6 off of those (I think that's what you said). And I'd like to know more about how you're using the cattle panels, if that's even feasible in my little GH. Thanks to everyone for any advice!

Thanks Cindy - Welcome to the GH world - I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!! I have some ideas for you but they have developed from our experience/interests in the GH and may not apply to you - sure you are aware of that.

We have not had success growing determinate tomato varieties in our GH - we ended up with a mess of foliage - wasted air space and not many tomatoes! This is the best photo I could find to illustrate my point - the tomatoes behind the Zucchini are Celebrity determinate variety - they did not grow higher because they are determinate and they had great foliage but did not produce much fruit!! IMO - Indeterminate tomato varieties do much better than determinate in a GH!

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Now here is the same GH space (looking the opposite direction) with Indeterminate tomato plants. Indeterminate grow as high as you let them or until the frost kills them. You can take advantage of air space and increase your harvest.

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The same thing can be accomplished on the side walls of the GH by installing panels vertical in the center of your raised beds parallel to your GH side walls and even roof - if you have the room - shown here

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We like to use cattle or hog panels - prune the suckers as the plant grows and train the stems in the direction/spacing we want to maximize space. The plant loves to grow up the panel and it is so easy to tie the plant as it grows. The panel is easy to cut with bolt cutters and is very sturdy - supports the plant very well!

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This system seems to work well in our GH. We came up with the idea based on OUR GH needs and something else may work much better in your GH - but we hope this may give you - if nothing else - ideas for your specific needs. Please let us know if you need more info - I am working on a photo that shows you how we actually prune the plant for our GH needs and will post it soon.

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"Hudson, I read a post you placed on the tomato forum about pruning tomatoes down to 2 major vines, and then to 4 or 6 off of those (I think that's what you said). And I'd like to know more about how you're using the cattle panels, if that's even feasible in my little GH. Thanks to everyone for any advice!"

Cindy - Here are a couple of photos of how we prune the suckers on our GH tomato plants. I stripped the foliage and tomatoes so you could see exactly how it looks. In the center beds we run the cattle panel to the soil because we have access to both sides. On the side beds we use string until the roof begins to slope - that is where we start the cattle panels - hope this helps!

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The end to a complete cycle of GH tomatoes! Mother nature closed our GH for tomatoes on November 12th. That's awesome to have fresh tomatoes in Zone3 the middle of November in Wyoming - and - without heating the GH. Now that I have the GH cleaned up - it's time to get out the seed catalogs over the coming months and make changes for even a better year in 2015!!

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