“I’m lucky enough to have a couple of greenhouses at home and as part of my job as Head Gardener at West Dean Gardens in West Sussex, I am responsible for 13 large, Victorian glass houses, and a plant collection that includes tropical plants, ferns, orchids, cacti, apricots, peaches, nectarines, figs, and kiwis, as well as aubergines, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and chillies.”

“The difference is that my greenhouse is my own at home, as yours will be too, to grow plants that you love, to tend them at your own pace and to make the space your happy place. These structures shouldn’t become dumping grounds or storage facilities in the winter; the potential for you to grow plants in them at this time of year, or to overwinter plants in them, is far too great to ignore.”

“Like my greenhouses at home, the environment that you create in your greenhouse space is yours and yours alone. Make it your sanctuary, a place where you can listen to the radio or podcasts and while you tend to your plants, or simply spend time relaxing, surrounded by foliage, flowers, and fruit.”

Tom Brown’s ‘The Greenhouse Book’ won the Peter Seabrook Practical Garden Book of the Year at the Garden Media Guild awards 2025.