GARDENING: Keeping greenhouses bright and also warm

So, let's resolve to grasp the opportunities they offer and grow those delicious veggies, have a mini herb garden, plant the long-promised fruit

bearers and sow for colour throughout the borders. If this column can offer any ideas or guidance along the way, then I`ll be a happy fellow!

A friend down the lane has clearly been thinking of the pleasure gleaned from his precious plot and of the additions he can make to enhance future experiences. This is what we could all be doing, bearing in mind how our gardens came to the rescue in the year of need.

George is big on growing vegetables, show onions especially, and likes to have the seed saved from a large, well-shaped strain to hand early. However, he`s in the same position as those of us who have an unheated or partially heated greenhouse. In the throes of winter, seedlings and young plants need modest warmth and good light conditions to encourage sturdy development.

Lining the greenhouse with an insulating material helps but can reduce light intensity. The addition of a mobile heat source; oil, gas, coal, is the route taken by many because it will create a reasonable growing environment. Then there is electricity which presents more options with controlled warmth and lights. So, he's determined to improve matters by creating a growing box with a soil-warming cable that provides the warmth to bring on his onions. Once it's up and running he will no doubt discover the potential for general propagation and greater enjoyment.

One luxury in my otherwise cold greenhouse is a one metre square propagating box. It is connected via an armoured underground cable running from the garage and was installed by a qualified electrician. It has become a necessary concession to cost over time but repays a hundred-fold by way of raising our own plants. First seeds are sown in February so we`re into March and nature`s increase in temperature and light just as young plants require both. A combination of overnight fleece blanket covering and early afternoon closing of greenhouse vents, helps us perform a balancing act that by and large sees fledgling plants on their way.

Thankfully, a lack of outdoor space or state of the art growing facilities need not be a barrier to getting a few early treats edible or ornamental under way. Gardening containers come in all shapes and sizes, and they are your starting point. A window box or hanging basket can be a home to hardy winter herbs - rosemary, sage, and thyme spring to mind. Winter heathers, Erica

carnea varieties in pink, white and red, currently illuminate our garden and stone troughs. Alternatively try colourful dwarf shrubs and spring bedding plants, some of which are performing now despite the calendar month.

Get the best from some containers by planning relevant plants for each season. For example, in a deep container, dwarf narcissi can be permanent residents, popping up annually to accompany spring bedding. They remain during the May/June divide when summer plants are introduced, and benefit from the refreshing organic blood, fish and bone feed offered.

Remaining containers can become permanent hosts. Thumb through various catalogues or go online and you`ll discover a whole range of dwarf bush and tree fruits specially developed for confined spaces. The idea of a mini orchard on your patio that allows the picking of apples and pears, raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries, and currants, can become a reality. Itching to get started on early treats, I`ve just borrowed some straw from the horse's bed, stuffed it into a huge pot and inverted it over the rhubarb patch. We`ve also dug up, trimmed, and potted a few strawberry plants that stand on the unheated greenhouse staging. Given the relative shelter and warmth, new growth will soon appear, and ripe fruits are pencilled in for early June. Last week the max/min thermometer recorded minus 2 Celsius yet we`re still picking fresh leaf lettuce `Salad Bowl` from a crop in the border!