Greenhouse gardening is one of the top 5 ways to garden. I absolutely love how well a greenhouse can grow a vast variety of plants. Greenhouse gardening is easy for the beginning gardener and pure joy for the experienced gardener. Here I will breakdown greenhouse gardening so you don‘t leave here feeling like you need to search the internet for hours to get information that someone could have simply put in one place.
Greenhouses come in every size you can think of, from commercial growing to indoor greenhouse growing right in your home.
If you have decided that you would prefer to grow your plants in a greenhouse you’ll first want to decide how big or small you want your greenhouse to be as well as what the greenhouse can do to make it easier for you to grow your plants.
I started with a greenhouse that is 10x9x10 feet which is 10 feet tall, 9 feet long, and 10 feet wide. I purchased my greenhouse from amazon and it was relatively easy to put together and created a greenhouse effect as soon as it was fully set-up. I was overjoyed at the climate change right from the very beginning.
Unfortunately I did not do all my research before purchasing and ran into some problems last summer starting in mid-July. When choosing a greenhouse its important to know how much light is filtered through the greenhouse as some plants are extremely sensitive to hot light conditions. For example I had to cover my greenhouse with black weed suppressant fabric in order to keep my zucchini and cucumber plants from overheating and dehydration. Although this was a cheap alternative that both helped with to much light and cooling the greenhouse as the climate shifted to fall and we got more rain and wind the fabric kept blowing off my greenhouse.
I would recommend not to overcrowd your greenhouse and make sure you have plants that grow well together or around each other, if you are not careful you will be fighting pests and fighting for more room with plants that grow on or similar to vines. Last year was my first time growing in a greenhouse and I have learned so much from the MANY mistakes I made last year.
So once you know what size you want your green house to be and whether it will be compatible with full sun and hot temps now, your ready to move on to your next item on your greenhouse check-list.
Greenhouse checklist
Size
type (light, temp, ventalation, cooling, heating etc)
plants that thrive in a greenhouse environment
set-up conditions
garden type
materials
essential monitoring
scheduleIf your growing a container garden in your greenhouse you should opt for a greenhouse with shelving that way you don‘t have to continuously bend over to tend to your pots. If your looking for a larger greenhouse you’ll need to invest in something with shelves or a table. Leaving your containers on the flat grown can prevent proper airflow to the bottom of your pots.
Pros: Smaller contained and climate controlled growing environment, more comfortable while gardening outdoors, grow more plants to put in other places, extended flowering & harvesting
Cons: essential cost, plants outgrowing pots, choosing wrong or unstable greenhouse, set-up, maintenance, lighting
if your growing in raised garden beds in your greenhouse I recommend getting a greenhouse large enough to fit your beds inside or have prebuilt beds that come with your greenhouse. Be sure you have enough room that you can get to every part of your bed.
Growing your plants in the in-ground while also in a greenhouse I recommend an open floor greenhouse, once your beds are sectioned off its best to have the remaining ground covered as a type of flooring there are several ways to achieve this.
Hydroponic greenhouse growing is recommended for more experienced gardeners who first, are successful in growing any plant hydroponically before making a decision about hydro growing in your greenhouse.
Amazon.com is always my first go to when ordering my garden products unless I feel its better to go to an actual manufacturer website. If your an amazon prime customer the shipping time is the addictive part.
Anyone can have a greenhouse it doesn’t have to be outside and it doesn’t have to be huge. From patio’s to farmland you can find your greenhouse and at an affordable Price too!
The greatest part about having a greenhouse is, it being YOUR space, that you created, with plants that you grew from seed or nurtured from purchase booboo do you!
Now that I’ve touched on some essential topics and the great experience of having a greenhouse I also have to mention it is not easy running a full-time greenhouse, it can become a lot of work especially if your good at it. One thing I didn’t do last year was research which plants can be planted together and which plants grew best around each other I had yellow sticky mat paper which would turn black from the amount of flying bugs inside my greenhouse a problem I was fighting for months and a problem that was completely avoidable had I simply taken the time to write some things down on paper.
This year I’m definitely taking advantage of both a grow journal and my plant list that lets me know which plants can grow together and those that don‘t. You can get away with some plants but ultimately save yourself some time and effort and remember which plants do well together before you plant them.
Part 2 of this post will cover various greenhouse set-ups that you can mirror on your own from fairly easy to intermediate. If your looking for hydroponic set-ups I suggest reading strictly on growing hydroponics for a more in-depth guide. Tips and products best suited for a multitude of greenhouse environments. Don’t forget to scribe to my blog so you never miss a post and keep your garden knowledge growing.
