The conditions in the propagation greenhouse largely determine whether the developing young plants will deliver good yields at harvest time. The maintenance effort is limited, growing your own is fun and you even save a lot of money compared to purchased plants.

Plantlets can be grown in the greenhouse as early as January

Gardening is a very close-to-nature hobby that also helps to provide yourself with naturally healthy fruit and vegetables almost all year round. A propagation greenhouse is almost indispensable for this, especially if you want to grow your own young plants from seeds. The gardening season begins with cultivation in the greenhouse so that the home garden is transformed into a blooming landscape in time with the first rays of spring sunshine already in the first two months of the year.

Propagation greenhouse in many sizes from mini to XXL

The range of prefabricated houses that the specialist garden trade offers for growers of young plants ranges from small plastic baskets with lids for window sills to mobile shelves with a glass roof for outdoors. Particularly creative hobby gardeners also use discarded glass cabinets from their old kitchen furniture for rearing or build their own greenhouse with a few leftovers. The size is based solely on the need for fresh fruit and vegetables, everything else just needs to be functional.

Basic equipment: potting soil, house and seeds

In principle, empty quark cups or milk cartons cut in half are enough to start with the first steps as a young plant breeder. If you don't have much gardening experience, you can get potting soil from garden retailers, otherwise a mixture of compost, topsoil and a little sand is the ideal breeding ground for growing your own young plants from seeds you have won yourself or bought.

What should go into the propagation greenhouse first?

Kohlrabi, cucumbers and tomatoes as well as radishes, peppers and lettuce can be sown as early as the end of January. If you do not want everything to be ready for harvest at the same time, we recommend sowing in several small quantities with breaks of one to two weeks. Most failures in homegrown plants come from overwatering the seeds that emerge after a few days. Depending on the location, it is enough, the plants and the soil moderately misted with a disused spray bottlewithout puddles forming in the ground. As a small orientation aid for the optimal sowing times, a brief summary:

Cultivation in the greenhouse from seed to harvest

Please note that our table only shows tried-and-tested guide values for some crops. If in doubt, you should refer to the instructions (printed on the seed packet).

seeds of Sowing January Sowing February days germination time days until harvest
romaine lettuce X 12 90
swedes X X 10 100
spinach X X 10 35
garden cress X X 3 12
summer leek X 20 170
seed onions X X 15 220
cauliflower X 15 175
broccoli X 8 100
Red cabbage X 15 160
Brussels sprouts X 15 250
garlic X 18 150

So that cultivation in the greenhouse runs optimally

  • The potting soil should be used when sowing well moistened but never completely soaked be, since the seedlings rot quite quickly at the roots.
  • The seedlings grow best at 18 to 24°C. They don't like going to the sauna in the blazing midday sun at all.
  • The propagation greenhouse should be in place until the first leaves become visible no excessive light intensity exposed, otherwise they will grow too quickly without a stable stalk being able to form.

tips

Better safe than sorry, this does not apply when growing young plants from seeds. That is, if there is one seed per plant, there need not be three. Otherwise, pricking out should be done after a week or two at the latest to remove the excess seedlings.

Category:

Garden design