I have just heard a rough description for the rest of my winter in NW PA and what they feel the summer and fall will be like. For me, overall I need to prepare my gardens for cool weather. With a zone 5 growing zone and a short growing season, this is not the news I was hoping for.

photo credit: net_efekt

You can check your possible spring through fall season at the Farmer’s Almanac. And keep in mind, this is a rough guide that may or may not be accurate. Surprise storms and how close you are to one of the sections borders can affect your growing climate results.

If you live in the Lower Lakes  area the Farmer’s almanac is calling for average snow until march, a warmer than usual April and May, a cooler than normal summer and a warmer September and October. The area will also have below average rainfall.

For me this means I will do my gardens in the greenhouse again. Our summers have been so unpredictable lately that I am beginning to think year round growing is the way to go. It has certain benefits and there are several mini greenhouses or sun rooms that are very reasonable or that you can make by yourself.

As soon as he weather improves and I can figure out how to create you tube and videos I will make a video on how to make a reasonably inexpensive greenhouse.

But until then here are three reasons why year round greenhouse growing has its benefits.

• More control over the climate. You can start plants earlier and grow them later in the season.
• You may have a larger variety of plants you will be able to grow
• Control over small animals like ground hogs and rabbits.

And here are a few concerns.

• Cost of a greenhouse for both the building and and heating.
• Space for the greenhouse
• Learning how to grow under glass

Gardening under glass is quite easy once you make a few adjustments. But overall, the main concern when gardening is to have fun!

Technorati Tags: Climate Control, gardening under glass, greenhouse gardening, greenhouses

I plan on doing a lot more indoor gardening this year. One reason is home grown food is healthier and my produce will have no chemicals and the other reason is our summer was pretty much non-existent and my garden was reduces in size to deal with the weather.

photo credit: Handolio

So I am not burned out on gardening this year and there are areas I want to experiment in. One area is small space gardening techniques, growing a variety of plants in a small space to see exactly what I can successfully grow.

Another area is hydroponic gardening.

When I first read about hydroponic gardening I was put off on this style of gardening. The list of chemical made me think the food would be toxic! But as I read more these are chemicals in the soil and are needed to grow. We also need these chemicals in our systems to be healthy.

So this winter I will be experimenting in different styles on hydroponic gardening. Vertical gardening, growing walls and greenhouse hydroponic will all be in the plan.

photo credit: _foam

So if you are a pro in hydroponic gardening join in and offer suggestions.

And if you are a novice, like me, be prepared for an adventure.

In the next few weeks you will see a lot of articles by guest writers who know about this topic than I do. And hopefully in the late winter and spring I will have a wonderful garden to show off.

Technorati Tags: gardening experiments, greenhouse gardening, healthy gardening, hydroponic gardening, indoor gardening, small space gardening