Advantages of a Garden Greenhouse

PLUS Some Important TIPS…

A cool old greenhouse

The contained environment of a greenhouse offers specific benefits to the home gardener. One of the primary advantages of a garden greenhouse is that the growing season can be extended, either by starting plants earlier in the spring or by being able to prolong the harvest in the fall.

In the more temperate climates, you may be able to grow certain vegetable crops right through the winter. Leaf crops and cool weather plants are good candidates. In warmer zones, year-round tomatoes may be an option. A greenhouse can also help to overwinter plants that wouldn’t otherwise fair well in a more open exposure.

In addition to a greenhouse holding heat, they also tend to be a more humid environment. This can be a blessing in that less watering is required. On the other hand, increased humidity can also be a curse as diseases (such as mildew) can flourish in the damper air conditions.

It is also worth noting that insects i.e. aphids, mealy bugs & mites can propagate very quickly in this contained environment. Therefore, it is wise to catch any infections or infestations early as they are easier to manage. Waiting too long can mean disaster.

Suitable precautions include installing a ventilation system. For example, fans that circulate the air can help to avoid stagnation, obviously. Also, to moderate the internal temperature, louvered vents in the roof may be necessary to prevent the environment from getting too warm.

Greenhouse - addition to a building

On the flip side, in colder climates, a heating system is advisable as the greenhouse by itself may not be capable of sustaining enough heat for tender plant materials to winter over. That said, a greenhouse would be a nice place to escape from the house.

One thing I’ve always wanted to do is to have a greenhouse connected, in a sense, to the house. I imagine it as an extension of the home. Perhaps the photo to the left is a bit extravagant but, wouldn’t it be a great place to hangout?

Following are a couple of videos that added a little more insight.

The Benefits of a Greenhouse

The Benefits of Greenhouses

Greenhouse

Source: Wikipedia

V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute

A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse) is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings. A miniature greenhouse is known as a cold frame.

A greenhouse is a structure with different types of covering materials, such as a glass or plastic roof and frequently glass or plastic walls; it heats up because incoming visible solar radiation (for which the glass is transparent) from the sun is absorbed by plants, soil, and other things inside the building. Air warmed by the heat from hot interior surfaces is retained in the building by the roof and wall. In addition, the warmed structures and plants inside the greenhouse re-radiate some of their thermal energy in the infrared spectrum, to which glass is partly opaque, so some of this energy is also trapped inside the glasshouse. However, this latter process is a minor player compared with the former (convective) process. Thus, the primary heating mechanism of a greenhouse is convection. This can be demonstrated by opening a small window near the roof of a greenhouse: the temperature drops considerably. This principle is the basis of the autovent automatic cooling system. Thus, the glass used for a greenhouse works as a barrier to air flow, and its effect is to trap energy within the greenhouse. The air that is warmed near the ground is prevented from rising indefinitely and flowing away.

Eden project

Although heat loss due to thermal conduction through the glass and other building materials occurs, net energy increases (and therefore temperature) inside the greenhouse.

Greenhouses can be divided into glass greenhouses and plastic greenhouses. Plastics mostly used are PEfilm and multiwall sheet in PC or PMMA. Commercial glass greenhouses are often high-tech production facilities for vegetables or flowers. The glass greenhouses are filled with equipment such as screening installations, heating, cooling, lighting, and may be automatically controlled by a computer.

Source

In conclusion, I hope that I have articulated the advantages of a greenhouse, as well as some precautions. Perhaps, you would like to have a greenhouse. The fact that you’re reading this is a clue. Following are several resources below.

Amazon.com/Greenhouses

Build Your Own Backyard Greenhouse