Using a polyhouse for growing produce year-round | Garden Inspiration | Gardening Australia

Описание: Sophie shows you a low-cost alternative for growing produce all year round. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
Who needs a commercial greenhouse with thermostatically controlled heating and cooling. Instead, Sophie has created something that has proved effective in protecting crops from temperature extremes.

Her polyhouse is “working wonders” allowing her to grow all sorts of produce regardless of the weather conditions.

Sophie can grow warm season crops like tomatoes throughout a frosty Adelaide winter, and subtropical plants like ginger and galangal throughout the year.

Here are some tips for creating a polyhouse without the additional energy requirements. It’s all about controlling the temperature and providing protection from the elements all year round.

Sophie’s greenhouse has a plastic roof with glass windows on the east, north and west facing sides.

Windows or doors that can be opened to help regulate temperature and increase airflow and help reduce fungal diseases such as powdery mildew.

The ceiling is lined with thermal fabric that acts like a blanket to keep the warmth inside.

If frost is predicted Sophie leaves the thermal fabric open during the day to allow as much warmth in as possible, then she pulls across the fabric at night to keep the warmth in and protect the plants from the damaging effects of the frost.

The thermal fabric an also be used in summer to reflect the sun’s rays to shade the plants.

If your polyhouse is in a colder climate such as Tasmania, Sophie recommends incorporating some thermal mass such as brick raised beds or paving to help trap the heat and radiate it out for longer.

In her Adelaide Hills set up Sophie has low gabion walls around the perimeter shaded by vertically growing vegetables in the warmer months to stop them heating up. Those veggies also stop the sun from hitting the glass.

Size doesn’t matter, you can try this at home on a smaller scale than Sophies.
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