A greenhouse can be a garden's greatest asset: its nucleus and powerhouse. There are many ways of using a greenhouse and a gardener can adopt one or all of them. In spring, you can start all kinds of young plants from seed; raise tender perennials to fill gaps in the garden; give young vegetable plants like beans and sweetcorn a head start; sow early lettuce while the soil is too sticky to work outdoors. During spring and summer, you can raise greenhouse crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines and chillis. You'll be able to overwinter tender plants such as bananas and cannas. And the greenhouse can be a showcase full of beautiful, unusual and exotic plants. Trained at Kew and for many years Glasshouse Supervisor at the RHS Garden at Wisley, Anne Swithinbank is the expert on greenhouse gardening, and in this book she comprehensively describes the techniques that will allow you to greatly expand the growing capabilities of your garden.

About the Author

Anne Swithinbank is one of Britain's best-known gardeners, broadcasters and garden writers. Trained at Kew and formerly Glasshouse Supervisor at the RHS Garden at Wisley, she has presented many popular gardening programmes, including the Channel 4 series Bloom, Gardens of the Caribbean and BBC Gardeners' World. She is a regular panellist on Gardeners' Question Time on Radio 4. A prolific gardening correspondent for a number of national magazines and newspapers, she has also written several books.

Reviews

fantastic ... a joy to read, and the best book for up to date growing methods of greenhouse crops and house plants Belfast Newsletter ... the tone is light and genuinely informative. Everything you need is there - rearing flowers and vegetables for outdoors, growing flowers and vegetables under glass, progation, composts and so on Times [Anne Swithinbank]'s knowledge of growing house and conservatory plants is encyclopaedic ... the photographs support the text by underlining this is a real person's greenhouse, one that any of us could emulate Gardens Illustrated