Growing Fruit in Greenhouses

Did you know you could successfully grow all kinds of fruit in a greenhouse? Most gardeners know that they can grow strawberries and tomatoes in a greenhouse, but did you know you could also successfully grow melons, grapes, peaches, lemons, nectarines, and citrus fruits too?

There are several varieties of grapes that can be grown in a greenhouse environment including Black Hamburgh and Buckland Sweetwater. They are ideal grapes for growing in cooler conditions. Gardeners need to pay particular attention to giving the vines open, free-draining soil and to prevent waterlogged soils. They will need to support young plants, as they are first becoming established. Side-shoots that are produced in the summer will need to be pruned in the following winter by cutting them back to their last bud (spur pruning). A good quality fertilizer and sufficient water that reaches to all of the roots are essential for good quality grapes.

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Peaches and nectarines can be grown successfully in both the cool greenhouse and the heated greenhouse. The Humboldt and the Pine Apple nectarine varieties fit the cold greenhouse. The Peregrine grows great in a greenhouse as well as the Hale's Early variety as long as there is another variety close by for pollination.

Peaches and nectarines grown in a greenhouse will tend to have compact root systems so they will need to be watered frequently during their growing season and fed once the tree is established. You will need to transfer pollen from flower to flower using a small fine brush. You will need to do this manual pollination everyday during the flowering period. The humidity of the greenhouse should be raised during the flowering season. When the fruits are about the size of walnuts you may need to thin them to about two fruits per foot of branch.

Citrus fruits such as lemons, oranges and tangerines can all be grown successfully in the greenhouse environment.

Growing any kind of fruit in the greenhouse is challenging as conditions must be just right and pests and disease can be problems that need conquering but it can be done. Take heart though as there are several books on greenhouse gardening that cover growing fruits in greenhouses including: Greenhouse Gardening: Step by Step to Growing Success (Crowood Gardening Guide) by Jonathan Edwards (Paperback - Aug 1, 1996), Growing Fruit (RHS Encyclopedia of Practical Gardening) by Harry Baker (Paperback - Mar 1, 2001) - Illustrated, and Grow fruit in your greenhouse: Grapes, peaches, nectarines, figs and others by George E Whitehead (Unknown Binding - 1970).

Growing Fruit in Greenhouses

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Laura Quintile is Website Owner and editor at Organic Gardens Green. Her background is with lifestyle topics including: Gardening, Keeping Fit, Staying Healthy and Pets.

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