As autumn turns to winter, there are still plenty of plants you can grow. Your greenhouse will provide a sheltered spot to bring on flower and vegetable seedlings, giving you joy over the coldest months and a head start in spring.
Greenhouse vegetables to grow in November
Have you ever wondered, ‘Can I plant carrots in November in a greenhouse?’ You can try, though you might not have great success! Instead, here are our top picks for delicious vegetables to sow in your greenhouse in late autumn.
Microgreens and salad
Homegrown salad feels like the ultimate luxury in the depths of winter. And the good news is, it’s one of the quickest and easiest things to grow during the coldest months of the year. Leaves like spinach, mustard and mizuna can all be sown in your greenhouse for delicious winter pickings. Leave them to grow or harvest them as microgreens. When the first leaves emerge, they’re at their most fresh and flavourful.
How to grow
Microgreens and salads can be grown in seed trays or repurposed vegetable trays. Fill the tray with compost and firm it down lightly. Use your finger to make shallow drills and sprinkle a line of seeds into each.
Care tips
Pop the trays in the greenhouse and make sure the compost doesn’t dry out. Use a watering can with a fine rose, so the seeds don’t wash away.
When to harvest
Microgreens will be ready to pick within a couple of weeks. Leave them longer if you prefer, for a more traditional salad mix. For a constant supply of leaves, re-sow every week throughout the season.
Onions and shallots
Veg-plot staples and kitchen stalwarts. Flavour-packed onions and sweet shallots are easy to grow at home and autumn-planting varieties can be started off in the greenhouse in November. Go for ‘Senshyu’ or ‘Snowball’ (both white onions), ‘Electric’ (a red variety) or try ‘Longor’ or ‘Griselle’ if you fancy growing reliable shallots.
How to grow
Most onions and shallots are grown as sets rather than from seed and this will give your crops a head start through winter.
While sets can be planted outdoors from September to November, you can also start them off in a greenhouse to stop them from rotting in cold, wet ground. Once they’re established and the weather improves, they can be transplanted outdoors.
Fill small plant pots with multi-purpose compost and plant one onion or shallot in each, before watering them in.
Care tips
Keep your pots in a sunny spot and ensure the soil stays moist. Transplant the plants outdoors in spring.
When to harvest
Your onions and shallots should be ready to harvest and enjoy in early summer.
Peas
First early varieties like ‘Kelvedon Wonder’, ‘Douce Provence’ and ‘Meteor’ can be sown in autumn. Grow these hardy peas in covered trays to keep slugs and mice at bay. Either harvest the young shoots to add variety to fresh salads or overwinter them for a flush of delicious peas in early spring.
How to grow
Fill tall, slim pots or root trainers with compost and sow two or three peas to each, covering them with compost and giving them a generous soak. Given the winter weather, they’ll grow more slowly than other varieties but should be ready to plant out in March.
Care tips
Keep the compost damp and pinch out the tops of your burgeoning pea plants as they get established. This will give you bushier plants with more peas.
When to harvest
Your peas should be ready to harvest in May, if sown in November.
Flowers to grow in November in your greenhouse
What to grow in a greenhouse in November when it comes to flowers? Here are our favourite species that can be sown indoors in late autumn, ready to bloom in spring.
Sweet peas
Autumn-sown sweet peas are a cottage-garden favourite and will fill your flower beds with colour and scent from June onwards. Choose from rich purples, pale pastels, dreamy whites or vivid reds, pinks and blues.
How to grow
Soak your sweet pea seeds for 24 hours before sowing in root trainers or long pots. Fill pots with multi-purpose compost and water them before sowing two seas in each, a couple of centimetres under the surface. In autumn, sweet peas will germinate in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame. Just keep them netted, so the mice don’t eat them before the leaves appear!
Care tips
Don’t water the pots again until seedlings appear, which usually happens within a couple of weeks. When the plants have a few pairs of leaves, pinch out the tops so they put energy into side growth, rather than growing long and leggy before the spring. Pot the seedlings up before they become rootbound. In early spring, wait for a mild week and plant them outdoors.
When to harvest
The earliest sweetpeas appear in May or June. Keep picking and deadheading regularly to keep them blooming for months.
Tulips
For dazzling displays of tulips in springs, plant bulbs now. For a naturalistic look, scatter them through beds and borders and plant them where they land. You can also grow them in rows in your cut flower bed, or bury them in pots to colour up your patio.
How to grow
How to plant tulips in the ground
Use a trowel or bulb planter to make a hole in the ground around three times the depth of a tulip bulb, and drop a bulb in with the pointed head up. Cover it back up with soil and water it in.
Tulips look best planted en masse. If you’re planting lots in the same area, dig a larger trench, add a thin layer of grit and place your bulbs on top, 5 - 15cm apart. When you’re ready, cover them back up with a soil and gravel mix, and water them in.
How to plant tulip bulbs in pots
Choose a pot with drainage holes in the bottom and move it to where you’d like it to stay - once it’s full of compost it could be heavy to move! Add gravel to the bottom to prevent waterlogging and fill the pot with compost, 10-15cm from the top. Place your tulip bulbs on the surface, pointed up end, and cover with more compost, firming it down lightly, before watering in.
To add interest, plant more than one variety of tulip in the same pot. Plant the earliest flowering variety deeper than the later ones, for a successional display.
Care tips
Net your tulips until the leaves appear, to save them from being dug up by squirrels, and water them in a dry spell. Dig up any flowers with ‘tulip fire’ (shrivelled or discoloured foliage) and throw the bulbs in the bin (rather than on the compost heap) so the disease doesn’t spread.
Rhino Greenhouse tips: Garden jobs for November
What to do in your greenhouse in November other than sowing seeds? This is a great time to start planning your garden for the following year. Start the prep by carrying out a few jobs on your greenhouse:
- Clean up your gardening tools and wash out your plant pots and seed trays to keep pests and diseases at bay.
- Bring in tender plants and herbs like parsley and chives.
- Install heaters or insulation to ensure your greenhouse stays frost-free and your plants and seedlings are warm over winter.
Looking for more November gardening tips and tricks? Discover Ellen Mary’s pearls of wisdom.