keith ;-) wrote:
Does anyone grow climbing plants over a wire frame for shading the
greenhouse in summer.Deciduous so allowing sun light in winter.
I am putting a timber frame around the greenhouse to attach my shade
cloth,then thought of plants!Once established would be pretty much low
maintenance,probably cutting back here & there + saving on shade cloth when
the plants are covering the greenhouse .
Haven't thought about which climbers as yet.
Any thoughts on this appreciated!


Hops... Humulus lupulus. Grows fast, really fast. To 20 feet, or
more, by the end of the season. Perennial. Dies back to the ground in
the winter (at least around here...). Most bugs don't like it. You
could (if desired) 'dual crop' your greenhouse. Orchids all year round,
and sell the hops to the local microbrewery in the late summer.

If you do wish to use the hops for their god given purpose (beer), you
would want to invest in rooted cuttings of varieties that are popular in
your area. If you just want shade, you can get seed grown plants. I
don't think there is really that much of a difference in price, at least
at the number of plants you would need.

There are numerous books on growing hops, and a lot of information in
the internet.

Second option - grapes (Vitus vinifera). Eating or juicing varieties,
rather than wine grapes. Unless you are really insane, of course. Wine
grapes are fun, but you will find better adapted grapes that aren't wine
varieties. Third option, espaliered fruit (apples look nice). You may
as well get some sort of food out of the deal, if you are going to spend
time pruning anyway.

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

LittlefrogFarm - Growing the plants Rob likes. )