Greenhouse production offers a cost-efficient way to extend the growing season at both ends and to even grow some crops year-round. A good greenhouse is both part of and a supplement to your landscape. A lot of information is available on greenhouse growing, equipment, and supplies. This article presents a few basic considerations and is meant as a starting point. Following-up on some of the ideas provided here with your own research and experiments is recommended.

Most people think of greenhouses as solar meaning heated and lighted by the sun. Those that rely only on energy from the sun are passive systems. Solar greenhouses are insulated to collect and store energy from the sun for use at night and during cloudy weather. In areas such as the Pacific Northwest, however, most of the light in winter is diffuse and little direct light from the sun reaches the earth because of our cloudy climate. As a result, greenhouse production in these areas will likely require the use of supplementary light and/or heat. This type of greenhouse system is often referred to as an active system.

Greenhouses can be attached to a building (house, shed, barn) or freestanding. Most commercial greenhouses are freestanding. Whichever type you choose, the best placement is such that light is captured from all directions. For an attached greenhouse, the south side of a building will be the sunniest all year. The north side is not recommended. Another factor to consider in deciding where to locate a greenhouse is wind, especially one that is freestanding.

In the areas with long periods of short gray days during winter, solar heating can be unreliable. Electric lights and alternative heating sources (e.g., electric, gas or oil) can be used during the colder months to overcome this limitation. You may also want to install a backup heating system in case of power failure.

Some experts suggest that any greenhouse from simple hoop structures to glass conservatories which grow plants in the soil can produce vegetables without artificial heat. To achieve this, all you need is to do is add a second protective layer of translucent material inside the greenhouse. This twice tempered climate in your green- house is three zones warmer than where you live. USDA climate zones are based on a 10° F spread so this means the temperature inside a greenhouse could be 15-30° F warmer, a significant difference in the cool months of spring, autumn, and winter in many areas.

Ventilation is as important as heat. Lack of proper ventilation can result in too much heat or conditions that favor mildew and disease. So a completely sealed greenhouse is not ideal.

Greenhouse production offers a wide variety of plant choices, including those that may be grown year round and those that can be transplanted outside. Cold tolerant vegetables such as brassicas, lettuce, spinach, scallions, parsnips, beets, chard, radishes, and turnips are easily grown in a greenhouse throughout the off seasons.

Winter plants have to be planted before winter to overcome the limitation on growth caused by the cooler temperatures of winter lower levels of light. During the period of winter when there are less than 10 hours of daylight, newly sown seeds grow very slowly. Count on these crops for early spring harvest.

Warm weather crops like melons, peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes can be started early in the greenhouse for later transplanting outside or can be grown inside the greenhouse all the way to harvest. Such crops will not yield as well in winter but it is possible to get tomatoes in winter with added light and heat. For winter growth in the greenhouse look for varieties of plants grown in the South which are varieties adapted to short-day culture.

Other possibilities for greenhouse growing include herbs, specialty or delicate plants such as orchids, some types of mushrooms, bedding plants, bulbs, potted flowers and, of course, cut flowers. Organic vegetables are prime candidates for greenhouse growing. Cut flowers that can be grown successfully include bachelor’s button, calendula, carnation, chrysanthemum, gardenia, lupine, marigold, pincushion flower, poppy, snapdragon, stock, zinnias.

Whether you plant cold tolerant or heat loving plants, timing is key in greenhouse growing. Once you understand your greenhouse climate and light conditions you will be able to schedule plantings to maximize growth and harvest.

Disease is often best handled by practicing proper hygiene, cultivating strong, healthy plants which will be more resistant to disease and pests, and weeding out weak and sick ones. Diseases and pests can enter the greenhouse via insects, in soil, on plants, and on seeds so careful handling and monitoring can go a long way to prevent disease and pest infestation.

Prevention is very important in the greenhouse environment but diseases and pests will inevitably be a problem at one time or another. Pest management rather than eradication is a more realistic goal and is the basis of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Perhaps the most important aspect of IPM for greenhouses is monitoring and understanding the life cycle and behavior of pests. This information will help you develop the most effective control strategy, and enjoy the benefits of your greenhouse.

Hydroponic gardening is becoming increasingly popular among people who don’t have a backyard in which to grow plants. It is also a favorite pastime of year round gardeners who like to grow plants throughout the winter months, not just in the summer.

Hydroponic gardening offers many challenges. Yet there are numerous advantages to this gardening technique as well. Hydroponics can actually produce larger plants and fruit as well as greater overall yield. And you can achieve that with less effort than required for outdoor gardening.

Weeding, for example, is much less of an issue in the typical hydroponic setup. Because of the medium in which the plants grow, it’s difficult for weeds to take hold, and they’re easily eliminated when they do appear.

But it’s harder to manage the nutrient and water requirements. Light control is more important, and pH adjustment is critical. In a soil-based garden, many of these factors are self-regulating. However, when it comes to hydroponics, you need to pay more attention to these conditions.

Buying a kit is the easiest way to get going on a hydroponics garden. These kits are especially good for the beginner because you don’t have to figure out what you need and then buy all the items separately. They come complete with everything you need, from trays to tubing and air pumps to lights.

However, your plants will still require a lot of care. You need to feed the proper nutrients to your plants. You’ll have to set up a feeding system and monitor it regularly. You’ll have to set up a watering system.

Just like with your outdoor garden, you have to pay attention to pests and disease in a hydroponic setup. Constant moisture provides a fertile environment for bacteria, mildew and other harmful organisms. There will still be a variety of typical garden pests that you’ll have to monitor.

There are actually several media in which you can grow plants hydroponically. Some hydroponic gardeners prefer an all-water system. Here, plants grow in a tray filled with nutrient solution, and are supported by strings to keep them straight. Other gardeners enjoy working with media such as rockwool and perlite.

A convenient way to grow a hydroponic garden is in a greenhouse. It makes it much easier to monitor various growing conditions such as water, light and air.

Another option is using hydroponic grow boxes, which are also known as grow tents. These are enclosed environments that provide all the external conditions necessary for a healthy hydroponics garden. Ventilation and lighting systems are standard equipment. Grow boxes simplify the whole process of hydroponic gardening by providing an ideal environment for your plants.

There are many types of greenhouse to choose from. There is the low-cost (often heatless) pit greenhouse; the lean-to; the attached-to-the-dwelling greenhouse; and the free-standing greenhouse which often has a handsome exterior. The outside design, however, no matter how beautifully executed, is of minor significance when it comes to profits. In greenhouse growing, it’s the interior that counts.

Building your greenhouse can be a family project, or you can get professional help to erect all or part of it. A cement contractor built the foundation and walk for ours, and we did the rest ourselves. Your first profit-making greenhouse can cost you as little as £150, or it can run into hundreds and even thousands.

You can build with inexpensive second-hand materials from an old dismantled greenhouse, buy all new material, build a plastic greenhouse or construct your house with completely or partially prefabricated sections.

What to Grow
Your very first year of under-glass gardening (a term that now means under-plastic, too) can show a profit, even if you are not an expert gardener. Indeed, the plants that are easiest to grow may be the very ones to click in your neighbourhood. Wax begonias, ivy, marigolds, philodendron, petunias, coleus, and cacti can be real profit-makers. Today every city has supermarkets, dime stores, and roadside markets, and these are all potential outlets for such plants. In Minneapolis, some of the drugstores carry small plants, and there are cafes where you can buy a pretty pink begonia as well as a blue-plate luncheon.

Many new home owners know little about gardening but welcome colorful plants if they don’t cost very much, say 49 or 99p each. These may or may not be profitable enough for local florists, but suit to a T your kind of business.

Mail Order & The Internet
Your choice of profit-making plants may be dictated somewhat by your indoor gardening experience and the time you have spent as a hobby gardener or collector. As you gain experience your horizons will widen.

Many amateurs have learned through round robins (correspondence groups) what collector friends through the country are buying—or trying to buy. If you plan to go into the mail-order business, it would be a good idea to join one or more of these groups. They will give you some good leads. Some garden magazines and many of the plant societies sponsor round robins. Membership in plant society round robins is free with membership. The addresses of various plant societies will usually be found at the back of any magazine which sponsors round-robin groups.

If you enjoy growing uncommon or exotic plants—the so-called collectors’ items—and yours is a small community where sales for these would be limited, you can solve your dilemma by carrying on a mail-order business. Doing business through the mail is not difficult.

Without Heat
Heat is not essential for all kinds of greenhouse gardening. Although gloxinias, for instance, usually are grown in a well-heated house, a man has found out how to make a tidy profit from them without heat. In late February, he starts seedlings in his kitchen windows and in his basement under fluorescent lights. When the weather warms up in late April, he moves the seedlings to an unheated pit greenhouse. By August, when the local market is just right for selling gloxinias in flower, he has quantities—and florists clamor for them. Actually he could sell many more if he wanted to expand his little project.

Another friend makes money from an unheated greenhouse by using it as a potting shed and starter room for potted roses, daylilies, and iris. She also has a heated greenhouse—a glassed-in extension of the south portion of the basement—which she uses for starting seeds of tender plants. She has found that this is also the perfect place for a few potted orchid plants whose blooms are always in demand.

So, you’ve determined to farm nursery plants inside, but don’t want to go through all the trouble of constructing your interior greenhouse from scratch. Never fear. An ample variety of interior nursery kits are for sale from supermarkets, garden supply stores and online retailers.

Types of Interior Nursery Kits

Interior greenhouse kits run from a tiny herb garden that you can maintain on your table top to a kit able to turn your basement’s shelves into a hothouse. There is no average list of size classes and terms like “portable nursery”, “mini interior nursery”, “small greenhouse” and “orchid greenhouse” can bear a mixture of meanings reckoning on the druthers of the supplier. It is optimal to work out how much space you need and then seek to find a kit to match it. Probabilities are, someone will make one in precisely your size!

What’s In The Package?

The actual contents of an inside greenhouse kit vary, but typically the following will be included:

A base: this can range from a flowerpot-type structure in the small-scale kits to a set of up to 4 shelving units in the more voluminous ones. Planting mix or peat: some kits, recognized as aquaculture kits, do without this and permit the nurseryman to farm plants in substances like coconut fiber, sand, crushed rock or a liquid nutrient solution instead. A cover, normally made of the selfsame type of glazing material encountered in large greenhouses. Illuminating materials: given the absence of sun in a normal interior nursery, specialized fluorescent fixture lamps are required to provide the light and heat that would ordinarily be provided by the sunlight. Watering kit, ordinarily comprising of a spraying mechanism, timekeeper and reservoir for water or nutritive solution.

Basements: They’re Not Merely For Wastrel Children Any More

If you’re feeling truly ambitious, you could convert a piece of your basement into an indoor greenhouse. Hydroponic kits function especially good for this purpose, as they furnish all the light, H2O and nutrition needed to produce tropical and semitropical floras in what is likely the coldest, gloomiest place in your home. You can buy a cover for an present shelving unit that will enclose heat and moisture for your plants, or you can purchase the shelving as part of a kit, with the identical components as in the kits listed above. You will want to commit special attention to the ventilation and air circulation in your cellar to hold back the inflated humidness from rotting your wooden beams and joints. Also, make a point to confer with any family members who use the cellar, to make sure they don’t object to it being turned into a hothouse!

I’ve just heard that Unwins are offering a free packet of herb seeds with every seed order. Now is a great time to stock up on seeds as it’s just coming into planting season, particularly if you have a greenhouse. You can also start them off indoors on a windowsill.

Unwins have a great selection of seeds to choose from. Hurry over and grab your free herbs!

Before you do anything—even before you start dreaming about building a greenhouse—check with your city engineer or building inspector. It is important to know what the building regulations are as to greenhouse placement and construction. In some residential areas, construction of any kind of commercial structure is prohibited. Find out everything about all relevant laws—and don’t consider yourself “too smart” to need a lawyer.

To build a workable greenhouse, you will need a construction plan. Then you can consider ways and means. There are several ways to go about building. You can draw up a contract with a manufacturer of greenhouses to supply all the materials, all the heating and cooling equipment, and the masonry. You can even get him to find you a builder to erect the structure, and also a plumber for the water and heating installations. Or you can purchase the material you need (new or used), and have some local labor come in and build your greenhouse. Or you can do it yourself, perhaps with some help from your family.

If you prefer the prefabricated units, you can erect a greenhouse with little or no extra help. You can glaze it with regulation glass panes, Fiberglas, or plastic. Ready and able to supply all this are innumerable firms. As you plan your greenhouse, there are further decisions you will have to make.

Where to Place Your Greenhouse
You must decide upon a site, and this involves several considerations. You want a location where you can work conveniently and where there is maximum sunlight. Even though you may plan to start with only shade-loving plants, you will probably find that other kinds are profitable, too, and so eventually you will want to be able to grow light-loving plants. You can always apply shading to make a house darker, but you can’t make the sun come around to a greenhouse that has been unwisely located in a shaded place. Fluorescent and incandescent lighting can be used to raise light intensities in winter and on dark days, and this is a very practical means of utilizing small problem or special-purpose areas (as discussed later). But you certainly don’t want artificial lighting to be your primary light source—not while sunlight is free!
Therefore, you want a location with a south-eastern or southern exposure, and the land should be well-drained. Then, for the sake of customers, you need a location which is easily found, and where parking will be easy.

If your eventual aim is expansion—that is, having a series of greenhouses—plan that series from the very start. Make your first house fit in—on paper—with those you will build later, so as to form a complete unit. Many greenhouse operations start on a small scale but soon need to expand, so select an adequate site at the start.

What Type of Greenhouse?
There is a type of greenhouse to meet every preference, every gardening need, every budget. I have seen sun porches and chicken houses converted into greenhouses; greenhouses built as second-story units over garages; free-standing or detached greenhouses; step-into pit houses, and many kinds of attached-to-dwelling ones. There are heated, partially heated, and unheated greenhouses, each successfully designed to suit someone’s gardening-for-profit plan.

Greenhouse designs are numerous but types fall into these main divisions: span, lean-to, uneven or partial span, and the pit house, which may be any of these types but with a greater portion of the walls below ground level. If you have plenty of room—real acreage or a large lot—the free-standing span house may be best for you. This type, if properly placed, receives maximum sunlight throughout the day in every season.

A lean-to, as the name suggests, is erected against the side of another building. The partial span or uneven type has a greater distance from eaves to gable on one side of the house than on the other. In the north, the low winter sun comes directly through such a roof for maximum light. And in the summer, when the sun is high, this greenhouse draws light reflection from both sides.

The cost of pit-house construction is low. Many growers use pit houses only during early spring and into fall. They are left idle during the coldest months of the year to avoid a heating bill. Other growers operate a pit house economically by having it dug off the basement and served by the household heating system. This arrangement affords ample space for potting, household tools, and other necessary equipment. Although curved eaves make a handsome greenhouse, there are no special advantages in them.

For the serious hydroponics gardener, a greenhouse can be a good investment. Hydroponic gardeners frequently begin by setting up a homemade hydroponics system in an unused area of their home. However, it’s a lot easier to manage all the conditions necessary for a thriving garden if it’s located in a greenhouse. It’s a lot easier to manage lighting conditions, air movement and temperature.

Growing your hydroponic garden indoors just isn’t as ideal as using a greenhouse. A hydroponic greenhouse allows for better lighting and watering system setup. There aren’t too many people who want to let their hydroponic garden take over the house.

You need a lot of room in order to install the irrigation and lighting systems that are needed for hydroponic gardening. With a greenhouse these systems can be placed exactly where you need them. This is important in hydroponics, because regulation of water and light are more essential than in a regular garden.

One of the most important advantages of growing your hydroponic garden in a greenhouse is the ability to control the light. Hydroponically grown plants need lots of light in order to thrive. At the same time, it’s important they don’t get too much direct sunlight since it will lead to excessive algae buildup.

In a greenhouse, sunlight is filtered and dispersed as a matter of course. You can even control the amount and angle of the light by using shades and shutters. Another advantage is that you’ll use less energy because you don’t have to keep grow lights on at all hours.

You’ll also find that your nutrient delivery system is simpler to install and maintain if you have a greenhouse. Of course this is highly important to the health of your hydroponic plants. If your plants aren’t growing in soil, the pH levels are much more inclined to vary as well. Because water is always present, levels of alkaline and acid can vary dramatically. A greenhouse setup makes it easy to implement a system of automated pH control, so you’re not constantly checking the numbers.

Even in wintertime your plants can stay warm in a greenhouse. Even in cold weather, a well built greenhouse will keep the temperature at an acceptable level without having to turn on the heaters. If you reside in an area that gets cold but has plenty of sun, this is especially relevant.

As well, you can easily install vents and fans that prevent the greenhouse from becoming overheated. Remember, temperature control for hydroponically grown plants is critical.

Many greenhouses are available in ready made kits, but you can also build one of your own. They are available in a range of models and sizes. There are also models that will accommodate an addition if your garden expands sometime in the future. These are good reasons to think about getting a greenhouse for your hydroponic garden.

Benches and Shelves
Benches and shelves are other greenhouse requisites. Benches can be built of redwood, cypress, or asbestos with slatted or solid surfaces. Some growers set their plants directly on the bench. In my benches I use galvanized tray-inserts holding a 2-inch layer of pea rock on which I set the potted plants. Some growers construct a wooden tray for the bench and put soil in this tray so that plants can be grown directly in the bench. You may prefer to place sand in the tray and plunge pots into the sand. If the sand is kept moist, it provides extra humidity and keeps pots cool. Shelves can be of glass or wood. You can purchase ready-made ones, or start out by making a few of your own and adding more as your operation expands.

Greenhouse Walk
For a walk between the benches, use a cement slab, flagstone, wooden slats, pebbles, or gravel. My walk is a cement slab, and I find it satisfactory since it is easy to wash down.

Potting Bench and Storage Cabinets
You must decide on some form of potting bench, and it will be easier if you allow room for it in your original plans. If you cannot bear to give up greenhouse space for working instead of growing, and if your greenhouse is attached to your house,
you can probably do as I have. The greenhouse door opens into our utility room, in which I have a cabinet with a 5/2-foot base. The counter of this cabinet is used for potting, the shelves hold pots and potting equipment. In the greenhouse annex (between the utility room and the greenhouse proper), I have another cabinet for supplies such as fungicides, insecticides, labels, and fertilizers. Some growers use a garage area for potting and storing materials. This works out fine if your garage is heated or you live in one of the warmer areas; otherwise, it may prove impractical since much potting must be done in winter.

If your greenhouse does not have room for a potting bench, the basement of your home may offer a convenient area. In any case, make the potting bench as strong as possible for it is destined for hard usage. Transite makes an excellent table top; or you can construct a top of ¾-, 1-, or 2-inch lumber. Actually, even if you expect to be dumping a bushel or two of soil on the counter at a time, the ¾-inch top will serve you well.

About Electricity
Be sure to include enough electrical outlets in your greenhouse. You may need extra lights, soil cables, or emergency heating, and it is provoking—and possibly dangerous—to have to run an extension cord to an outlet in your house to get adequate power or light. In the small greenhouse the cost of electricity can usually be held to a minimum. By operating without growing lights (artificial lighting units) and soil cables you will have only the cost of a light or two for working after dark. If you install fluorescent lights, you can figure this additional operating cost —varying with the locality—at approximately 1/4 cent per hour for two 40-watt tubes. A 100-watt incandescent bulb burns at about 1/3 cent per hour.

Propagating Cases
You can convert one end of your growing bench into a propagating case by installing an electric soil cable. And in this area you can raise any plants requiring bottom heat for growth. To create the “case,” place a piece of glass over the planting; or you can have a glass frame made to fit over the cuttings. A plastic propagating case would also be good.

About Water
Include hot as well as cold water in the plumbing plans for your greenhouse. A mixing faucet will make it possible for you to draw water of proper temperature at any time for your plants.

There is no need to pipe softened water into your greenhouse, unless you want it for hand-washing. Most types of artificially softened water should not be used on plants. While it may do them no immediate harm, it may gradually weaken cell structure and lead to plant collapse.

Copper piping is satisfactory for use in the greenhouse. I have some in mine, and it has never caused any “copper poisoning.” Experts at the University of Minnesota assure me that water passing through copper pipes is perfectly safe to use on all types of plants.

Where to Get Soil
Unless you have planned this greenhouse for a long time and have a supply of good soil ready, the soil required for your first year’s planting may have to be included in your budget. More than just plain garden soil is needed for potting most greenhouse-grown plants. Garden or field loam can make up as much as a third of the mixture, but it should be enriched with another third of organic material. Vermiculite or sand is the other third. With an established compost pile or a heap of leaf-mold, you will find it necessary to purchase only such organics as sphagnum moss, peatmoss, or peat. Sphagnum moss wholesales at a few dollars a bale plus shipping charges; granulated peatmoss and horticultural peat. Leafmold is priced at cheaply per bushel . Special potting materials such as osmunda fiber (an old-time medium for orchids ) can cost a fair amount, shredded wood and bark, used increasingly of late in orchid culture, is (or was) priced very reasonably.

Greenhouse gardening is a pastime that has numerous benefits. The same benefits can be had as you would enjoy from conventional gardening outside. But there are a few significant differences and advantages.

Greenhouse gardening is very similar to outdoor gardening with a few exceptions. Controlling the greenhouse temperature is an important consideration. You must also diligently tend to the plants. Of course, it doesn’t rain in a greenhouse. Therefore, you must make sure your plants get the appropriate amount of water for their survival.

With a greenhouse, it’s possible to grow plants in cold seasons or climates. You can use your indoor greenhouse as a storage facility for certain types of plants over the winter. During the winter, you can plant seeds and watch them grow into seedlings that can be planted in the ground come the spring. Many people with a greenhouse are able to enjoy fresh vegetables and flowers throughout the cold winter months.

Greenhouse gardening is not only useful for growing vegetables. As well, it’s perfect for decorative flowers and plants. Greenhouses are well suited to store parent plants that will be useful next spring. They can provide protection to your plants from the elements, including potentially damaging wind and rain. Most seedlings need shelter from the elements at their young age and a greenhouse is one of the most sheltered places a plant can be.

A greenhouse also means that you’ll have an ongoing supply of plants throughout the year. You can propagate and cultivate new varieties of plants that may appeal to you. Greenhouse gardening allows you to tend your plants without any worries about the elements that may beat down on them. For delicate plants that can’t handle the cold weather, the climate control that is available in a greenhouse is perfect.

Proper location of your garden greenhouse is essential. One of the keys to successful gardening in a greenhouse is having the right sun exposure. This is critical to the wellbeing of the plants you are planning to grow in your greenhouse. Other things to consider are the structures and trees near the greenhouse site. Do they cast shadows on the greenhouse or will growing trees eventually do so?

In order to reduce the heat created by the sun’s rays, you must pay attention to proper ventilation. You should place a thermometer in a shaded area within the greenhouse. You need to continually keep an eye on the temperature, particularly when it’s warm and sunny outside. You may need to ventilate the greenhouse when necessary to avoid wilting of your plants due to excessive heat.

Greenhouse gardening is not only productive, it’s also relaxing. Gardening has been shown to help ease stress and improve health. It can also result in tasty or beautiful harvests that will bring you much pleasure.

You are not alone if you are thinking about purchasing a greenhouse. Many people think about it this time of year but not everyone is ready for the commitment in time and money that it will take to have a successful greenhouse experience. Some folks take the cheap way out only to pay for it over time so you do need to answer some questions before you decide to buy.

The first question is; does size matter? When it comes to buying a green house the answer is yes. The size you buy will depend on several factors including the space you have available for a greenhouse; what you intend on growing in your greenhouse and whether you are using the greenhouse as a season extender or year-round grow house.

Sometimes the space you have available is not necessarily a great space for a greenhouse. If your greenhouse will sit under the shade all day then you will not get the sunlight you need for optimum growing time. If the green house has a combination of sun and shade it can be a good greenhouse but not always a great greenhouse. In most climates you will want a space that has sunlight most, if not all day long.

If you are looking to use a greenhouse as a season extender, just about any kind and size will do. Of course this will depend on how many plants you are either starting on the front end on extending on the back end. Since you will not be growing plants in the dead of winter, or the heat of summer, your heating and cooling requirements will be at a minimum.

If you are over-wintering plants in a greenhouse you will need one that has decent insulation properties since you will need to keep the temperature about 30 F above the outside temperature for the extended time. If you are in a mild climate, you can get away with one of the inexpensive greenhouses like the Rion Silverline or Greenline Greenhouse.

This changes as you move north into the colder climates. Once you get into regions that reach 0 F, you will need a very good insulated greenhouse to hold in the heat. If you decide to forgo this recommendation and purchase a cheaper greenhouse, you will be paying for it later in very high heating bills. It makes more since to buy the right unit up front and get the right greenhouse for your area. You will be much happier in the long run.

If you are looking to grow food in your greenhouse then you will need a very tightly sealed and very well insulated greenhouse. You will be highly disappointed (especially in the northern regions) with anything else in a greenhouse and will be paying large heating bills if you dont have a greenhouse that is well insulated and retains heat from your heat source. The Conservatory Series by Solexx and the Rion Green Giant Greenhouses are worth looking at for this purpose.

When purchasing your greenhouse, dont make the most common mistakes of not buying a greenhouse big enough for the job or not getting or building a greenhouse that is well insulated for your climate. By asking yourself a few simple questions, accessing what you want a green house for and the space you have that makes since, you can make sure your greenhouse experience is both fun and fulfilling from the start!