How to prepare your greenhouse for spring planting

The snow has melted, the garden has dried up a little – it’s time to start preparing for spring planting. An important task of every summer resident-gardener is to prepare a greenhouse, because it is here that early plants will be planted first. Our tips site tells you how to prepare your greenhouse for spring planting..

We are sure that thanks to the detailed instructions of the portal, you have carefully prepared the greenhouse for winter. In this case, you will have a lot less work in the spring, but still there is a lot to be done. First of all, you need to inspect the greenhouse – after a snowy winter, damage is quite likely.

Under the weight of the snow, the polycarbonate covering could burst or bend, damage to the glazing is not uncommon. And the frame itself could well break in some places, bend, crack. In such cases, repairs, reinforcement of the greenhouse base, replacement of polycarbonate, film or glass are required. Slots in frames and transoms can be sealed with sealant, and small damage to the film can be sealed with tape.

The next step is cleaning. You carry out general cleaning of the house in the spring, so it is simply necessary for the greenhouse. We understand that in the fall you have already washed polycarbonate or glass, washed, dried and hid the film. But over the winter they all got dusty, dirty, and everything needs to be done anew to provide plants with normal access to sunlight. We remove garbage from the greenhouse, remove all unnecessary.

I wash glasses and polycarbonate inside and out, we recommend adding a little copper sulphate (100 grams per 10 liters of water) or bleach (300 grams for the same amount of water) to the soap solution. This will disinfect the surfaces. Work with gloves. Many summer residents simply use a solution of laundry soap, without any additives, it also disinfects surfaces well.

Important! Polycarbonate is washed with soft sponges and brushes, without abrasive agents, so as not to scratch.

The greenhouse frame is also washed, preferably with water and vinegar. After such a thorough cleaning, the greenhouse should be left open to ventilate and dry..

Before you start arranging the beds, you need to prepare the soil. This is a very important point! Firstly, pests could remain in the soil since autumn, which you then have to fight with, and secondly, the soil in the greenhouse is depleted quickly, you need to improve its quality before planting.

The cardinal method is to completely remove the top layer of soil to a depth of 20-25 centimeters. That is, to dig up and take out all the soil from the greenhouse, so that later to fill it up with a new, more fertile one and without pests. In a small greenhouse, this method, of course, can be used, although it is quite time consuming. But in larger greenhouses it is already impractical, too much work.

Such simple methods are used:

• Thermal. The soil is simply spilled with hot water, almost boiling water. It will simultaneously kill harmful microorganisms and warm up the soil, which is important for early planting of vegetables and herbs..
• Chemical. Use smoke chamois checkers, copper sulfate, phytosporin, bayleton, fitoverm, and other ready-made preparations that are diluted with water, according to the instructions on the package. They act well, but many summer residents try to do without chemistry.
• Biological. Most acceptable and effective. Such preparations as “Fitop-floras-S”, “Emochka-Bokashi” and others are used. Apply them according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

To improve the quality of the soil in the greenhouse, experts advise sowing siderates in it in the fall. In winter, winter oats and rye are sown. If you haven’t, it doesn’t matter, there are other methods. Of course, the easiest way is to use ready-made fertilizers, but many gardeners prefer to simply dig up the soil, adding compost, humus, peat harvested since last year. Such natural fertilizer as sapropel has proven itself excellently. Bring it into the ground and it will be almost completely renewed, and for several years ahead.

Now we move on to arranging the beds, paths or updating them. By the way, if you use raised beds made of boards, slate, and other materials, such a frame also had to be disinfected first!

We wrote in detail about what should be in the greenhouse for convenient and fruitful work. That’s all, now you can wait a little until the soil temperature rises to the required + 17 ° C during the day and at least + 5 ° C at night to start planting cucumbers-tomatoes.