Greenhouse Gardener's Companion, Revised and Expanded Edition: Growing Food & Flowers in Your Greenhouse or Sunspace Paperback – Illustrated, April 1, 2000

Actually the title says it all. I wish I had time to read lots of booksabout greenhouse gardening but I don't. An experienced gardener, I'm new to greenhouse gardening and struck gold when I bought this book. It isn't dumbed down and is fast and fun to read.The book doesn't begin at square one but does explain the important differences between gardening in an outsidegarden and a greenhouse. One example; the reason fans are needed during the day (while photo synthesis is taking place) is to prevent a CO2 deficient envelope from surrounding the leaves. Also, explaination ofhow to pollinate in an environment with no birds or insects is helpful.Varieties of vegetables and flowers are discussed and why certain ones arebetter suited. Trouble shooting and "when things go wrong" chapters aregood. Also, I learned more than I thought was possible about light and the different qualities of light plants need. Again, advice on when aless expensive alternative will work was very welcome.I'm so happy I bought this book BEFORE our greenhouse is complete becausethe chapters on design and environment have given me a master plan for the space we have. Also, throughout the book are money saving ideas andwords of warning from experience. This author knows his subject inside out, is very good at communicating and doesn't use 100 words when 50 will do. Buy the book-you won't be disappointed!

Last year I didn't even know anyone who owned a greenhouse and now I have a successful one. This is so much fun! I have Romaine lettuce, spinach, onions and garlic as well as an assortment of tomatoes and squash, and it's January! It was so nice to go into my greenhouse during the record-breaking Oklahoma Christmas Day Blizzard of 2009 and visit my vegetables, who took it in stride.One think I love about this book is, it handles the problem I am facing TODAY. I just look in the index and find what I need. Before I installed the greenhouse, I learned what I needed to know (I hoped). Lots of information about the materials and how to select the right ones for your greenhouse. I learned about lighting, air circulation, and heating.When I was ready to start growing from seeds, I found what I needed to know, everything from ordering, sowing, etc. I learned about greenhouse thermometers, heaters, and fans. Amazingly, almost all of my seeds sprouted and now the plants are growing. When my squash bloomed and needed artificial pollination, in January when there were no bees handy, I looked in the index and even found pictures of how to pollinate squash, exactly what I needed. Now my hand-pollinated squash and cucumbers have edible fruit.I particularly benefited from the light and temperature requirements, specific for each plant variety. I found out which ones required more light, and I place them in the greenhouse accordingly.This is a very handy book. It won't be one I will lend to others or give away. This one is a keeper!

This book is my new favorite book. The book is well organized. You can find what you are looking for quickly. Each plant is described, it's uses, how and when and where to plant. Only then does it add a little bit about growing it in a greenhouse. This book is a great resource for any gardener, greenhouse or no. The only topic it does not consistently address is companion planting.

This is a great book for basic information on greenhouse gardening but I would have preferred more information on general bedding lay-outs and less information on using barrels of water to generate more solar heat. Since I live in the desert that information seemed fairly redundant for my needs and was quite extensively covered in the book. The materials used in the book are very affordable as are suggestions for maximizing your growing space and creating the most productive garden possible. It also covered some areas in standard outdoor gardening, but again, I was interested in the greenhouse specifics and think that a future book focusing on only greenhouse methods with more versatility for desert coverage as well would be even more beneficial. Good book in general and well written!

I almost did not buy the "Companion" because it is a bit expensive as eBooks go, but I am really glad I did. It does a great job of explaining how greenhouses really work and how to get the most from them. My father worked in commercial greenhouses much of his life and I learned a lot about them growing up (especially the wonderful smells of growing things in the dead of winter) but just thumbing through this book I learned tricks and concepts that were head slapping in how obvious they are but had never even crossed my mind. The book is huge and covers just about every kind of home greenhouse. While I often regret paying $0.99 for eBooks, I definitely do not regret taking the chance and buying this nearly $20 book. Really worth every penny for me and I heartily recommend it.

After borrowing several books from my local Library; I finally found what I was looking for. I have a new 10' x 17' greenhouse. I did not know what I needed to make it work correctly. I learned a lot by just reading this wonderful book. It has detail information on how to run a GH and what's needed to start growing veggies and flowers. My GH got very hot; 130 degrees, just with the winter sunshine. I purchased a shade cloth to prevent the high temperature. It has a chapter with detail information about a large selection of flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs to learn about each one and know what works best.Whatever question I've had this book has the answer.