Growing Dome Gardening Advice
Practical Growing Dome gardening advice covers everything that doesn't fit neatly into a single topic: tips, lessons learned, troubleshooting, things owners wish they'd known sooner, and the kind of accumulated wisdom that turns a new dome into a thriving one. This category brings together writing from owners and from our team on the gardening side of dome ownership, covering first-year decisions through long-term care. Explore broad practical content for dome owners at every stage, from first-time gardeners to longtime dome veterans refining their craft.
How to Grow Fruit Trees in a Greenhouse
April 17, 2021
Fruit trees can be a healthy addition to most dome greenhouse gardens above zone 3. They provide fresh fruit and shade in the summer with the bonus of attracting pollinators when flowering. Understanding a plant’s natural environment (tropical, subtropical, or temperate to continental) and how to stimulate it will help you grow a wide variety of plants from fruit trees to shrubs, which will give you more confidence in your dome gardening adventure.
Dome Greenhouse Planting Guide
September 16, 2020
Every Growing Dome greenhouse has micro-climates. Each micro-climate provides different optimal growing areas for different types of plants. Growing the right plants in the right location will help to ensure your gardening success. The zones vary depending on the size of your dome, your raised bed design, and your vent and fan locations. Generally speaking, they correspond with the North, East, South, and West sides of your dome.
Growing Dome Greenhouse Planting Schedule
September 15, 2020
Learn how to time the planting of your seasonal crops with our Growing Dome Planting Schedule.
How to Get Rid of Aphids Naturally
August 14, 2020
Aphids are tiny soft shell bugs that usually attach themselves to the underside of leaves. They can spread disease and damage plants, mostly by weakening plants or trees. Aphids do not often kill plants unless they are very young sprouts. Aphids suck the sap from the plant and refine it into honey. There are many different reasons aphids develop, but luckily there are also plenty of ways to get rid of aphids.
How to Grow Sorrel Successfully
May 28, 2020
Sorrel is a small edible green plant from the Polygonaceae family, which also includes buckwheat and rhubarb. The French translation of sour (“sorrel”) is spot-on.
Off The Vine
April 1, 2020
Optimize micronutrients by eating fruits and vegetables immediately after harvest. There are so many benefits to eating vegetables fresh from the earth. Taste, nutritional value and saving trips to the grocery store. Food travels hundreds, if not thousands, of miles before it makes it to the grocery store shelves and loses critical nutrients along the way.
Revitalize Your Garden with Calendula: How to Grow and Harvest Calendula
April 1, 2020
Calendula is a versatile and low maintenance plant that can add beauty and utility to any greenhouse or outdoor garden. This plant is not only attractive to pollinators, but it also has numerous medicinal and culinary uses. From its high flavonoid content to its ability to attract beneficial insects and act as a trap crop, calendula is an excellent addition to any garden. In this blog post, we will explore how to grow calendula, companion planting options, and how to harvest and use this incredible plant.
Cleaning Greenhouse Panels
April 1, 2020
Winter or early Spring is a great time to clean your panels as vegetation is generally reduced, allowing easy access to the polycarbonate surfaces. According to Claudia Stover, long-time Growing Spaces dome owner and greenhouse gardening teacher, not only does regular cleaning of the polycarbonate panels increase the sanitation of the greenhouse but “keeping the dome panels clear of pollen and plant debris also helps reduce disease and pest pressure on your plants.”
The Best Floating Pond Planters
February 5, 2020
Floating Island Plants for Your Pond Maintaining a healthy above ground pond in our domes depends on numerous factors. One of the most common questions we are asked pertains to controlling the algae growth in the pond garden. Floating pond planters are a perfect way to keep the algae away and add beauty! Why do…
Organic Pest Management In A Growing Dome
May 24, 2019
Blog for incorporating organic pest management into your Growing Dome Greenhouse routine.
Beneficial Insects
August 29, 2017
Gardening in a Growing Dome is rewarding. Upon entering the Growing Dome, we inflate our lungs with clean, fresh air, instantly melting away any fears or worries we had moments before. In this sanctuary we feed the fish, smell the blossoms, snack on some healthy treats along the way, and nourish the soil. Sowing seeds…
Secrets of Year Round Gardening Revealed
August 4, 2016
Why Growing Dome® Gardening is Unique and Easy. Gardening in a Growing Dome is different. It’s different in a good way. It’s easy. It is not like growing outside, and compared to growing in a regular greenhouse, they are as different as night and day. Plants do grow easily in the Growing Dome. However, to…
Frogs In Your Greenhouse
June 24, 2016
Both frogs and toads are beneficial to the garden because they feed on many pests. A single frog can eat over 100 insects in one night. Attracting and keeping frogs and toads in your garden will help moderate pest populations without the need for chemical or natural pesticides.
Winter Gardening: Growing Spaces
January 8, 2016
Claudia Stover, a Growing Dome® owner of 10 years, had a visit this past weekend from Growing Spaces® owners, Puja and Udgar Parsons. I’m pretty sure I counted almost 20 varieties of plant foods that she has growing, and thriving, in her Growing Dome right now, in early January. You probably caught that the outside…
Organic Pest Control: Thrips
October 16, 2015
How to control thrips organically in your Growing Dome
How to Control Aphids in your Greenhouse
February 25, 2015
Aphid Control: Why Aphids Suck
Growing Dome Greenhouse Temperature Monitoring
January 26, 2015
Just over a week ago, Pagosa Springs received some much needed snow. Overnight, more than a foot of wet snow blanketed trees and mountains surrounding our little town. It’s unusual for Colorado to receive such wet, heavy snow, and much of the town actually shut down for a snow day! Although county employees and teachers…
Greenhouse Mold – Why Does it Happen and How to Avoid It?
December 16, 2014
Mold and mildew are both types of fungi that grow best in warm, humid environments. Most fungi reproduce and spread via spores. Spores emerge from fruiting bodies of fungi and are most commonly dispersed via breeze or transported by water. Much like plant seeds, spores can survive environmental conditions that aren’t conducive to fungi growth,…
Maximizing Food Production in a Growing Dome
October 28, 2014
The Growing Spaces team has started a new project here at our Pagosa Springs office, and we want you to join us in our pursuit! As the warm growing season came to a close here in the Rocky Mountains, the Growing Spaces team started to plan a winter garden for the 15′ Growing Dome greenhouse…
How to Start and Transplant Vegetables
October 10, 2014
Learn which vegetables transplant best in a Growing Dome, how time stacking boosts yield, and when to direct sow to avoid gaps, shock, and wasted effort.
The Greenhouse Pond Gets a Makeover
August 12, 2014
This new 33′ Growing Dome owner in Cody, WY got very creative with her greenhouse pond that comes as a part of the Growing Dome kit. She had a local artist, Mike Kopriva, paint the tank with a gorgeous underwater scene. If you follow the painting from left to right, you see that it starts…
Replenish Your Garden’s Footprint
February 15, 2013
Let’s start out by first acknowledging that gardening is an inherently Earth-friendly activity. The basic acts of turning the soil, sowing seeds, watering, and nurturing the plants literally consists of acting in a loving, gentle and kind way toward the Earth. Gardening is also eco-friendly in less direct but as conspicuous ways. The most obvious…
Homemade Organic Pest Control Sprays
October 24, 2012
On October 8th we hosted an “Ask the Gardening Experts” Interactive Workshop attended by over 50 students and presented by 5 panelists. It was an information packed day that offered many solutions for problems gardeners face. We will be releasing the full class on video for the public to purchase. Until then we wanted to…
Dealing with the Pests in Your Life
November 22, 2011
When the summer sun provides a daily flush of fresh produce we are lulled into a happy, comfortable state. Then the daylight begins to escape us and the warmth dissipates. In the last month or so you may very well be asking yourself, “Why are the spider mites, aphids, and white flies having a heyday…