It is a dark grey Pacific Northwest morning. The clouds are low and threatening rain. Outside on my patio, my SunPod Signature mini greenhouses are glowing with the light from T5 fluorescent grow lights. The light levels for this time of year are not naturally high enough for most plants to grow well. However, many plants will grow well with some protection and extra light.


I have trialed these T5 lights for a year now, in many conditions through the seasons. They are reliable in their operation and are easy to use.



Last spring, I planted oriental greens, lettuces and beets into containers and placed some inside a SunPod Signature mini greenhouse with T5 lights and some inside another SunPod without lights. The plants with lights grew faster and were greener and healthier than those without lights.
I did not need the lights in the summer, but I left them attached to the Pod and removed the connecting wires until September.

In my fall lettuce trials, the plants grown in the SunPod with lights were greener and grew later into the season than those plants grown without lights.

I was also able to grow Basil into December with the use of lights and heat mats. Basil is so cold sensitive that it will not typically do well in early spring or once the weather becomes cooler in the fall.



We have had an abundance of gourmet quality, unblemished herbs to add to our meals all winter. The evergreen and cold tolerant culinary herbs, such as oregano, rosemary, thyme and parsley did not go dormant inside my SunPod mini greenhouse with lights.
In the garden outside, the same varieties are dormant and will not produce enough new leaves for harvest until late spring.

Culinary herbs and flats of seedlings currently share the space inside the lit SunPod Signature mini greenhouses on my patio.



All year we have added fresh food, full of antioxidants and delicious flavour, to our family meals.

photos and content by Rachel Lloyd.