Seven projects for a winter greenhouse

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A variety of sempervivums planted together in a shallow terracotta pot with shingle topping

Keep busy with our seven projects for a winter greenhouse, below.

Plant up an evergreen pot

Grown under cover these vibrant and spicily fragrant small-flowered cyclamen generally stay healthy and flower for longer. Team with hardy ferns, we used Polystichum polyblepharum, and dwarf late-winter or early-spring bulbs. Allow the cyclamen to go dormant in spring and start them off again in summer.

Cyclamen, fern and iris container — Deep-pink cyclamen in a terracotta planter with fern and ivy

Tidy up pelargoniums

In mild parts of the UK, pelargoniums can cope in an unheated greenhouse, but on frosty nights wrap them in a double layer of fleece. In colder areas, give them a little heat to keep frost at bay. Water only sparingly and tidy up any dead leaves and shoots.

Harvest winter salads

Move hardy salads into the greenhouse for leafy pickings through to spring. Plant salad plugs into large containers or trays – a depth of 15cm is enough for hardy lettuces, cut-and-come-again salad mixes, mizuna, rocket, land cress, lamb’s lettuce and pak choi.

Grow your own lemons

Glossy-leaved, aromatic citrus plants will give your greenhouse the air of a small orangery. Lemons are tough plants and can withstand temperatures down to freezing, but they tend to stop growing below 10°C and won’t produce flowers or set fruit while their roots are inactive. Stop feeding at low temperatures and water carefully, allowing the surface to dry out in between.

Create a sempervivum pot

Plant houseleeks (sempervivum) in a shallow bowl of gritty compost and top with shingle. You can then move this outdoors over summer.

Create sempervivum pot — A variety of sempervivums planted together in a shallow terracotta pot with shingle topping

Pick fresh herbs

Bring pots of rosemary, sage and thyme under glass for better quality pickings, especially in cold, wet regions. Bay trees also prefer shelter from cold, drying winds. Mint will give fresh pickings indoors if potted up in autumn, but it needs warmth to keep growing all winter. Pot up some parsley, if your outdoor crop tends to get frosted, and marjoram will stay green for longer under glass.

Get ahead with beans

Broad beans will get off to a good start over winter and the earliest batches are less likely to suffer from black bean aphids. Direct sow hardy varieties outside during November, then sow under glass in pots, trays or modules from December to February. Once the pots are filled with roots, stand them outside in daytime to harden off, then plant out in March.

Free mint plants
Root cuttings can be taken from mint in winter. Remove a creeping rhizome from a mint plant, then cut into sections 3-5cm long – each should contain at least one 'joint'. Lay out horizontally in a compost-filled shallot pot or tray, cover with compost, water, then leave in the greenhouse to grow.