By Bill Rowe

The windows you choose for your greenhouse will go a long way to determining if you have a successful greenhouse or not. Greenhouse windows contribute heavily to the energy management of your greenhouse. If you were to select the wrong material or use a window that is poorly constructed, then all the work you put into maintaining your greenhouse and the plants inside will be for nothing.

Be sure that you do not leave any gaps between the window frames. If the windows have gaps, they can release warm or cold air. You may end up with dead plants or crops if cold or freezing air comes in. Windows should be fitted carefully for this reason. Surely, this goes against the purpose of us building the greenhouse!

How To Select Greenhouse Windows

If you purchased a greenhouse kit then your windows should be included. This should also include the structures to support your greenhouse and all important building material with which you will build your greenhouse.

If you are looking for a larger structure, or one that can perhaps handle a heavier load or adverse conditions, then you may be receiving your windows from a greenhouse manufacturer. It is best to speak directly with a representative from the manufacturer, and whenever possible go to the company’s location and inspect the various models so that you select one that is suitable for your needs.

If you would like to get more savings, and are a do it yourself person, you have the option to go out and find your windows. This gives you freedom to stick to your own customization and design. Windows can be bought either new or recycled and you can shop from a supplier or check out salvage yards.

It is important that you have proper fit. Don’t always take for granted that the kit or prefabricated model you buy is perfect. You can make sure that your greenhouse windows and frames meet your criterion by inspecting each and every one of them.

Find out about growing plants in a greenhouse. Here is what you need to know about gas greenhouse heaters.

Growing vegetables in a cold greenhouse – particularly those vegetables traditionally grown in warmer climes such as peppers, chilli, tomatoes, melons and cucumbers is really easy. The extension of the growing season caused by the additional shelter from the cold greenhouse permits you to fully grow and ripen your fruit and vegetables. They are so much tastier than store bought varieties because you use them fresh, you know exactly what chemicals have – and have not- been used on them and you are helping the environment by not using air miles to aquire them. Especially if you practice organic greenhouse gardening techniques.

A heated greenhouse is great, but costs a great deal to fuel and also requires specialised ventilation systems to ensure a free flow of air and to ensure it does not everheat. A well situated cold greenhouse can provide a lot of sheler and aditional heat in early spring, allowing you to sow seed earlier and get your crops growing earlier. The shelter, and late summer sun will also extend the season into the early autumn. Whats more, if you double (or even triple) insulate it during the winter you should be able to overwinter plants which are marginally frost tender. You will get much more enjoyment from your greenhouse gardening

What to Grow in a cool Greenhouse

I have already mentioned the traditional crops grown during the summer in the cool greenhouse. However you can also use the cool greenhouse to produce high quality inexpensive fruit. Most fruit occupies little space in the greenhouse if grown against the wall or the roof. Some, however, like grape vines may exclude light during summer. This should not be a problem, since during summer you are often shading the greenhouse to keep it cooler.

Because of the additional early heat created in the cold greenhouse it is possible to get a number of very early quick catch crops such as radish and lettuce. The cold greenhouse is also good for raising plants from seed, for planting out later. However, bear in mind that there is no point in raising seeds too early since the light levels and heat in the ground outside will make it impossible to plant them out to early. The result will be vulnerable soft leggy plants that will be slow to establish.

Many of the herbs are from mediteranean countries, and these will thrive in the cool greenhouse.If these are grown in large pots, they can be placed near the kitchen door, for easy harvesting during the summer, and then kept growing overwinter in the cold greenhouse. giving you fresh herbs through the winter.

Many outdoor vegetables can be given an early start by raising small plants from seed in the greenhouse, and then planting out when large enough, and the weather is suitable. Leeks and Sweetcorn should both be grown in 3″ pots until their girth is the size of a pencil, then plant them out. They will grow much more strongly and you will have no holes in your beds.

Many flowering and foliage plants can be raised from seed in the cool greenhouse. Both bedding plants and indoor plants can be inexpensively produced this way. Store bought plants will cost you perhaps 100 times more. It is worth having a cold greenhouse just for this reason.

Owning and using a cold greenhouse is so satisfying that once you have tried one, you will never want to be without it.

If you are planning to start growing some plants indoors, whether you want to get a fast growing indoor plant or any other type, you are going to need to make sure that you have all the right indoor plant growing supplies.

Indoor Plant Growing Supplies: to Get You Started

If you are looking for indoor plant growing supplies, then there are a few basic supplies that you are going to need to get yourself started here. Remember, no matter what type of indoor garden you are planning there are certain indoor plant growing supplies that are going to be needed.

Surface protection is one of the first things that you are going to need to take care of when you are looking for indoor plant growing supplies. Using drop cloths or plastic trays under your garden pots and planters is a great idea, but there are other options as well, so just make sure that you choose the surface protection item that is going to work best for you.

Good soil is of course going to be needed if you are going to be growing plants indoors. You want to get a good quality, loose potting soil because this soil will contain all the nutrients that your houseplants are going to need to strive.

Another important item that you are going to have to get if you want to get indoor plant growing supplies is a container. You will need one container for each plant that you will be growing, and make sure that you take size into consideration here. Other than the actual plants themselves, the containers that you choose are going to have a significant impact on how the plants grow inside your home.

The clay pots tend to work especially well and so you are going to want to check out these before deciding on which containers you want to use.

Ventilation is important for your plants to grow healthy no matter what containers and plantsyou choose. The easiest way to deal with air flow for all plants is to make sure that you keep the plants near windows or oscillating fans, because the breeze that will be blowing on them is going to help provide them with the ventilation that they are going to need to strive.

These are all great tips on the different types of indoor plant growing equipment you are going to need to help your plants grow healthy indoors.

It is a given that gardening enthusiasts living in colder, northern climates need a greenhouse heat source enabling them to extend the growing season or even grow plants all year. Who wouldn’t want to be growing plants in a greenhouse year round!It is the preference of most greenhouse gardeners to use electric greenhouse heaters instead of paraffin heaters.

Electric heaters are very convenient and simple to use. You can program the desired termperature you wish to retain with thermostatic controls and then let the heater do its job. Some greenhouse gardeners go all out and install complete heat/AC systems to heat in the winter and cool in the summer for the ultimate in year round environment control. You want to build your own greenhouse, it only makes sense to enjoy it year round.

Factors to Consider when Choosing an Electric Greenhouse Heater

When choosing an electric greenhouse heater it is best to select one that not only has a fan, but a variable speed fan with an option that allows for blowing non-heated air. Unheated air being blown allows the gardener to simply keep the air circulated and refreshed in the greenhouse. It is important that your heater includes a fan so you can minimize cold spots and avoid fungus problems due to air that is stale.

The heating capacity needed for the electric greenhouse heater depends on the size of the greenhouse. It is pertinent you select a heater that is a proper size, since a heater that is too small for the size of the greenhouse may result in a heater that runs constantly, dangerously overheating and causing a fire. For most home greenhouses a 2,000-3,000watt electric heater is a good size, neither too small to adequately heat nor so large it creates possibilities for damaging the greenhouse plants.

Electric greenhouse heaters can be installed permanently or you can purchase portable models that are able to be removed from the greenhouse when not in use. Don’t have a power source near by? Learn about gas greenhouse heaters.

Whatever style of electric greenhouse heater you choose, be sure it is designed for greenhouse use to avoid water vs electricity issues.

Quite a few individuals are turning to newer portable garden greenhouses due to their good value. However space and budget are critical considerations if you plan to purchase a starter greenhouse, or even build your own. These things may help in the greenhouse decision-making process. When doing your planning, ensure your greenhouse will have access to all the essentials such as heat, air and water. After you do this preliminary planning, you can then decide the type of greenhouse that will fit your needs.

You have to decide if you want your greenhouse to stand by itself, or to be built onto another structure. The difference between an attached and free standing greenhouse is that you have direct access from inside the house on an attached, however you must physically leave the house to enter a free standing one. Another option is an indoor greenhouse, which is perfect if you do not have a lot of available space outdoors, or your region experiences very cold winters.

The classic barn-type greenhouse is the most common of the many different kinds of greenhouses available. Pre-fabricated greenhouses are a great choice that quite a few individuals opt for, as they are quick to set up and let you get gardening right away. However if you are serious about greenhouse gardening, you must consider building a permanent structure as it will be more durable over the long term. There are a few alternatives available to the pricey glass greenhouses you see on TV and in advertising. You will find that most of the pre-fabricated greenhouses are constructed of an aluminum frame and polycarbonate panels.

Building the biggest greenhouse you can afford and that will fit into the space you have available is the recommendation of those who love to garden in their greenhouse. Even though some are hesitant in doing this, a lot of them wind up enlarging their small greenhouse, which makes it more expensive in the long run. Many folks think it is unnecessary to have a large greenhouse, because they can’t imagine how they’re ever going to fill it up. But once folks start gardening, they’re likely to start growing so many plants that they won’t have room for them all.

Selecting plants that you’re familiar with can be an important decision to make when creating a garden greenhouse. You’ll be wasting your time if you are not committed to caring for the plants. Another thing to remember is that you must gather information about permits, requirements, and licensing in your area. This means you can spend your time tending to your plants instead of worrying about zoning concerns.

Gardening in a cold greenhouse is something that every gardener in temperate weather regions should try. A cold greenhouse will not only extend the growing season, but will also increase the range of plants you can grow. A heated greenhouse, whilst extending the range even further, is not really very environmentally friendly since it uses power for the heating. It can also be expensive to run.

Cold Greenhouse Gardening is very similar to gardening outdors. With a couple of differences.One of these exception is that you are in control of the amount of water plants get. For this you need a watering system and this can be as complex or as simple as you wish. At its simplest, a watering can or hosepipe can be used. However, if you go away regularly (or even once of twice during summer) you will want something a bit more complex which will allow you to water your plants whilst you are away. It is worth considering a good watering system when you are designing your own diy greenhouse

There are a number of automatic watering systems for amateur gardeners on the market, performing in a similar fashion. The two most common types of greenhouse watering systems are the overall sprinkler and the drip feed system. Both of which can be fed from a timer.

The Spray System for Watering.

There are a number of manufacturers who make this system. Several suppliers make individual parts which you put together to get exactly what you want. This system works very well and is easy to fit. The downside to this system is that since the water is not directed at individual plants, it can be wasteful of water.It tends to be an all or nothing system, in which the whole area receives the same amount of water during the timed sessions, and individual plants may be overwatered.. More importantly, it can lead to uneven watering on tomatoes which causes the bottom of your tomatoes to go black and hard making them inedible.

The drip watering system.

Once again there are a number of suppliers of these systems. {A typical system consists of a water reservoir which feeds through increasingly smaller pipes until it reaches your plant where you have a small valve which allows you to control how often a drip goes onto you plant}. This means that you can vary the amount of water from plant to plant depending on their individual requirements. If you are going away for some time, you can either add more reservoirs to the system or get a friend or neighbour to fill the reservoir as necessary. So you just  need to tell them to keep the tanks full, and not worry about individual plants
This is a very straightforward system. It doesn’t suffer from mains water pressure changes, and there are no fancy controllers to go wrong. The initial setting up can take some time and patience. It can become your permanent watering system, once set up, so you need never worry about keping your plants watered. It will save you a chore every day and will only need filling up once a week or so. Since it onlu places just the right amount of water for each plant, the system is good for water conservation.

As you tend to go away for your holidays in the midst of the fastest part of the growing season (and the hottest), then an automatic watering system become necessary.  One of the most significant greenhouse gardening tips is to install an auto watering system You no longer need to depend upon friends and neighbours to tend your precious plants. If they forget just a single day, your plants caould be irrevocably damaged. Both the above systems discussed  can be relied upon to do the job well and eficiently and are well worth the time needed to set them up and the cost of purchasing them. A greenhouse watering system will provide good value for a long time provided it is looked after.

I have gained so much pleasure from my greenhouse, that I would heartily recommend that every gardener should have one. Even if you feel that the cost of heating a Greenhouse or indeed the cost of green house kits is too prohibitive, a cold greenhouse is still very useful indeed. By a cold greenhouse, we usually mean a greenhouse that id not artificaially heated during the winter.. Also, other than by using shading and ventilation it is not artificially cooled in the high summer.

A cold greenhouse will save you money and enlarge the number of plants that you can grow successfully. Greenhouse gardening need not be expensive. Even without the use of artificial heating it will protect tender plants from the wind and you can extend the growing season because of the heat that is stored from the early and late summer sunshine.Therefore plants will grow for a longer season if grown in a cold greenhouse than if grown outdoors; and you will be able to reliably successfully grow semi tropical fruit and vegetables such as melon and peppers, not to mention tomatoes and cucumbers.

Instead of going out and buying bedding plants, you can easily germinate and raise seeds in the cold greenhouse in large enough numbers that you will have plenty to sell or share with friends and neighbours.

Taking cuttings and raising them is often easier in the greenhouse, although many cuttings are better raised outdors in shaltered areas, as greenhouses do tend to become rather warm in the summer.

Sweet corn seed needs warmth to germinate (as do many other seed including tomatoes) so sowing them in a cold greenhouse helps no end. You effectively extend the growing season by getting started with the seed sowing that bit earlier. And remember, The sugar in sweet corn starts to change to starch as soon as it is harvested, so the sooner it is cooked the better. You can (and if you are a keen gardener probably have) raised seeds on your window sills. Your seedlings become very leggy, and always bending towards the light unless you are continually rotating them. Because the light comes from all round them in a greenhouse, this does not happen.

So if you haven’t tried a Greenhouse, it will pay its own way in a short time and will increase your sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in gardening. So build a greenhouse now.

There is nothing to beat gardening as a hobby. You get all the exercise you need, and can tear up the health club card. By digging the ground, weeding and pruning, there is always something needing to be done. For stress relief, you can’t do much better. Gardening in the fresh air keeps you healthy, makes you look younger, and extends your life.

Whats more gardening can be a hobby for anyone. If you are confined to a wheelchair, then raised beds will let you grow and tend plants. Highly scented, or brightly coloured plants can make it an enjoyable jobby for those with fading eyesight. Gardening with a greenhouse will only improve matters.

There is nothing as satisfying as eating a tomato or carrot which you have grown from seed. Think about the satisfaction of sinking your teeth into an apple picked from a tree that you have raised from a cutting. Whilst you can do all this without a greenhouse, it is so much better with your own greenhouse. You will get even more satisfaction by building your own greenhouse

A greenhouse gives you a controlled environment, which should be free from pests and deseases. Making it much easier to raise plants from seed. It also permits you to grow exotic plants, melons and grapes that would normally not survive in cooler climates. With some planning, it will give you vegetables throughout the year.

The most important aspect of greenhouse gardening is to keep the house free of pests and diseases. Seeing your fresh produce decimated by pests or growing mold just days before you wanted to harvest it can be a really heartbreaking experience. Prevention is always better than cure and there are some things which will help to prevent most greenhouse problems.

Keeping everything clean is your first line of defense. If you see damaged plant material, such as a leaf with a dirty white or grey mould; pick it off immediately and burn it. Don’t allow your tools to spread diseases to other plants. Always dip secateurs and other tools in disinfectant after using them on diseased plants. Sounds simple, but many people forget this and worry that the mould is indemic.

Good ventilation will help prevent a great many of the problems. A higher humidity will also help with attacks of red spider mites although this could cause other problems. There are also parasiitic mites which you can also introduce which will cure this problem.

It is always a mistake to quickly add heavy chemical controls to solve pests and diseases. The residue will last long after you have  cropped the infected plants and could cause illness. Organic and Biological controls are generally to be favoured. Many cures are totally safe to use, such as yellow sticky cards hung in the greenhouse to catch flying pests that are greatly attracted to them. A less messy way of curing white fly, however is to introduce biological control in the form of a parasitic wasp.

Don’t let all this talk of pests and diseases put you off greenhouse gardening. Most people who have greenhouses experience very little in the way of problems, and those they do have are minor enough to be easily cured with very little intervention.
Unless you are aiming at achieving absolut maximum crops, you can usually just accept a few loses to pests and disease, and just live with the pests naturally.