Greenhouse Gardening in the UK: Best Tips for Growing Year-Round

When you think of greenhouse gardening, a controlled environment for growing plants beyond the natural growing season. Also known as glasshouse, it’s one of the smartest ways to extend your growing season in the UK’s unpredictable climate. Unlike open garden beds, a greenhouse lets you control heat, light, and airflow—key for growing tomatoes, flowers, and even herbs when the outside world is too cold or wet.

Not all greenhouses are the same. Where you place it matters. Facing your greenhouse, a structure with transparent walls and roof used to grow plants in controlled conditions south or southeast catches the most sunlight, especially in winter. A north-facing one? You’ll struggle. And if you’re in Scotland or Northern England, wind protection becomes just as important as sun. Then there’s the unheated greenhouse, a simple, cost-effective structure that relies on natural solar gain to keep plants alive through winter. It’s not fancy, but in the UK, it’s enough for hardy flowers like cyclamen, winter jasmine, and pansies. You don’t need a heater to get colour in December—you just need the right plants and good airflow.

Heat is a double-edged sword. tomatoes, a popular greenhouse crop that thrives in warmth but suffers in extreme heat love the sun, but when temperatures hit 30°C inside, they stop fruiting. Leaves curl, flowers drop, and the fruit tastes flat. That’s not a myth—it’s science. Opening vents, using shade cloth, or even just painting the glass white can make the difference between a bumper crop and a disappointment. And if you’re wondering whether to use a polytunnel instead? The British term for greenhouse is often "glasshouse," but polytunnels are cheaper and better for crops like strawberries or chillies that need more space than a rigid frame allows.

What you grow depends on what you control. If you’re new to this, start with flowers that survive frost. If you’re serious about food, tomatoes and peppers need attention to temperature and humidity. The posts below cover exactly that: which flowers bloom in an unheated greenhouse, why your greenhouse direction affects your harvest, how to stop tomatoes from overheating, and what the British actually call these structures. No fluff. Just real advice from gardeners who’ve been there.