Best vegetables to grow in a greenhouse

It's worth noting that flowers can be grown in the greenhouse to attract pollinators. You can grow things like marigolds, chrysanthemums and French marigolds in pots or between crops.

While practically all vegetables can be grown in a greenhouse – provided you monitor temperatures in summer – you will have to be selective since greenhouses usually only offer a limited amount of space.

A greenhouse (or mini greenhouse) is particularly useful at the start of the growing season to get the first crops of the year going.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to start sowing the following veggies as early as February or March: lettuces, carrots, radishes, kohlrabi, cauliflower, turnips, cardoons, peas and broad beans. You can even try putting some potatoes in the ground for first early potatoes as long as you take care to mulch after planting.

However, the most cold-sensitive crops (like tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and melons) should still be started indoors since a greenhouse won't have warmed up quite enough yet.

At the end of March, you can direct sow a few courgette seeds in depressions making sure to cover them with a garden cloche or another type of protection.

In April, you can start to sow beans. While you can start mid-month in the south of the country, it's best to wait until the end of the month in other areas. You can start harvesting two months later. Your tomatoes should be ready to transplant in late April.

In May, you can sow cucumber seeds. This may also be the time to harvest your very first crops of the year such as lettuces, or radishes.

Finally, some crops are best started in the greenhouse and transplanted outdoors later on. There may be a couple of reasons for this:

1. The plants may not tolerate the heat of the coming months (e.g. cabbages, leeks and lettuces).

2. Or the crops will simply do just fine in the ground meaning you will make room in the greenhouse which can be used for heat-loving plants instead.

Some crops require a lot of warmth especially fruits like tomatoes, melons, aubergines, peppers and squashes.

Your plants won't get as much light in a greenhouse as they would outdoors and this varies depending on the type of greenhouse you have. To ensure your crops get as much light as possible, keep on top of pruning any plants that can or must be pruned such as tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines.

Remove base leaves, dried leaves and suckers from tomatoes as these will all reduce fruit production. Secure peppers to stakes to prevent them from falling and breaking their stems.

One of the biggest constraints of a greenhouse is lack of space. It's a good idea to keep tall-growing crops up high (such as tomatoes and cucumbers) by training them to grow around stakes or even around a wire hung from the ceiling of the greenhouse. This will free up space on the ground for low-growing crops.

Don't forget to air out the greenhouse in summer. Opening up your greenhouse on sunny days allows pollinators to enter.

In September, you can sow your final winter lettuces, cauliflower and spinach. You can also sow leeks for an early harvest in April.

Once the last of your tomatoes are harvested in around October to November, you can prioritise sowing rocket, spinach, lamb's lettuce and winter lettuces.

From November to December sow broad beans and peas; in the south of the country, you can even try to sow carrots to enjoy your first spring carrots next season.

It's advisable to cover seedlings and plants with horticultural fleece.

If you've planted vegetables in the greenhouse at the end of summer or in autumn, they will live out the winter indoors and you should have a few bits to keep you going through winter such as leeks, cabbages, beetroot, turnips and spinach.

Mulch is often required to keep your soil frost-free.

The table below is only applicable to greenhouse growing; sowing seeds or planting in the ground calls for a different timetable.

S = sow; P = plant; H = harvest

• Greenhouse buying guide

• How to secure your greenhouse

• How to overwinter your plants

• How to heat a greenhouse

• How to set up a polytunnel