Fresh homegrown vegetables during the cold winter months might seem impossible, but it’s not. Set up a small greenhouse next to your garage or house and you’re halfway home to having crunchy cucumbers, tangy tomatoes and fresh lettuces for your salads.

Choose vegetables that don’t up a lot of space, taste considerably better homegrown than store bought and you like. Squash isn’t a good choice because they are space hogs. Tomatoes are a good choice because they can be tied to a support to keep them neat and tidy and store-bought tomatoes don’t taste nearly as good as homegrown. Lettuce works well because it can be harvested when only 4 inches tall.

Fill the peat pots with new potting soil. Mix in slow release fertilizer as the package directs. Water thoroughly. Place the seeds on top of the soil, two per pot and cover with 1/4 inch of soil. Press down lightly and mist the top.

Place the pots under the grow lights in the greenhouse to get them started. When they have sprouted and are about 4-inches tall thin to the strongest seedlings.

Transplant to the 1-gallon pot when the seedlings are 6-inches tall. Replace under the grow lights. Move the grow lights up as the plant grows. Outside vegetables need eight hours of sunlight. If the day is cloudy and sun isn’t reaching inside the greenhouse keep the grow lights on longer.

Check the plants for bugs. Mist them off or use a non toxic home and garden spray meant for vegetables.

Fertilize with half strength water soluble fertilizer every two weeks or every fourth watering.

Harvest lettuce or leafy greens like spinach when the leaves are 4-inches long by cutting individual leaves off with the scissors. Trim from the outside. The plant will consider to grow and produce.

Brush the flowers of vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers with a soft brush so you move the pollen from one flower to another to fertilize them. Another alternative is to use a commercial blossom set product.

From seed treatment to fertilizers to insecticides to plant growth regulators, there are a number of crop protection methods applied to increase the agriculture productivity and keep the crop away from the risk of damages and diseases. These all above mentioned systems are essential for the proper growth of the crop. This is because; crops are vulnerable items that are potential to attacks by the rodents, birds, rough weather and a number of other damages and things. That is why; numerous protective measures are applied to save them against diseases and other problems. As above mentioned there are a number of systems applied for the crop protection, seed treatment is also one of these systems.

With the early stage of the plants, the seed treatment is started so that they can grow easily. Apart from keeping seed protected from disease, seed treatment also ensures uniform emergence of seedling and helps in increasing germination. This type of crop protection method also keeps the seed protected from seasonal diseases and harasses of pests, thus results in higher productivity. Interestingly, the seed treatment is also effective against a broad spectrum of problems including seed decay, soil pathogens and seedling diseases. This type of crop protection system is considered as one of the convenient, cost-effective and environmental friendly approaches that not only help in crop protection, but also increase the productivity of crops to a great level.

In addition to seed treatment, another crop protection system is foliar fertilizers. They are widely used to develop the crop within the exact time. Foliar feeding is the also considered as the recent introduction to the crop protection methods. These types of fertilizers are directly applied through the leaves to speed up crop growth as well as for a number of other factors such as cure deficiencies and strengthen damaged and weak plants and crops. Interestingly, these fertilizers can also be collaborated with macro or trace fertilizers to harmonize the nutrition factors. In this type of crop protection system, different types of chemicals such as potassium humate, potassium nitrate, and Map mono-ammonium phosphate are used in the form of spray, powder and crystal.