Building a Greenhouse 1 – Getting Started
Discover How to Start And Manage Your Own Greenhouse
How Does A Greenhouse Capture Heat?
A greenhouse uses a special kind of glass that acts as a medium which selectively filters spectral frequencies. That’s a fancy way of saying it filters light
from the sun.
The glass of a greenhouse traps energy within the greenhouse and the heat in turn provides heat for the plants and the ground inside the greenhouse. It also warms the air near the ground, preventing it from rising and leaving the confines of the structure.
If you open a small window near the roof of a greenhouse, the temperature drops significantly. This is the auto vent automatic cooling system. An auto vent is simply a device used by greenhouses that maintain a range of temperatures inside. This is how greenhouses trap electromagnetic radiation yet prevents it from becoming an oven and baking your plants.
The idea of a greenhouse goes back to the days of the Romans, who were the first people to create a structure to protect plants. Using heated pits, they put up slabs of rock to form primitive greenhouses. The term “glasshouse,” which is the correct name of this structure, was adopted sometime in the 17th and 18th centuries.
At that time, however, the error was in believing that heat was more important than light for plants to thrive. Structures were being built to exclude the entry of light, but by the time the glass tax of 1845 was abolished, the design of greenhouses started to change.
Builders realized then that a curved roof instead of a flat one allowed higher concentrations of the sun’s rays, and that by using iron instead of wood, the greenhouse could be structurally reinforced and made capable of absorbing more light.
Types Of Greenhouses
After you decide that you want to build a greenhouse, you have to decide next what type to build. This should not be a difficult one to address, provided you know what kinds of plants you want to grow. You need to answer some questions, such as:
What will my greenhouse be principally used for?
Do I want a large or small greenhouse?
Will the greenhouse be the main attraction of my garden?
Is my garden exposed to strong winds?
Are there young children or wild animals in the area?
Factors such as cost and space will determine the type of greenhouse you build. If you live in a windy area, it may be worth spending the extra money for a solid and sturdy greenhouse. If you live near a large hardware store or a nursery, or even a do-it-yourself home center, go and look at some models for ideas. The customer service representative should be able to provide you with valuable information before you make a final decision.
So as not to mislead you, while there may be different types of greenhouse designs, we’re still talking about the same greenhouse concept. You get to decide which type you want it to be. For example, if temperature is the main factor for the plant varieties you want to grow, then there are three types in terms of temperature control. There are also different types of greenhouses based on structural design. We’ll start with temperature control factors.
For temperature control purposes, the three types of greenhouses are a hot greenhouse, a warm greenhouse, a cool greenhouse.
Later articles will discuss the difference in building a greenhouse of each type.
WHY Build a Greenhouse?
Greenhouse gardening can seem a little old fashioned these days. It is so easy to jump in the car and drive to the supermarket where we can find every kind of fruit and vegetables flown in from all over the world. You want fresh strawberries in winter? No problem, there they are on the shelf. May be you need some green beans for dinner. Pick up a little plastic wrapped tray that were growing three days ago in Kenya.
But these are the very reasons for moving to greenhouse gardening. Driving and flying burn up increasingly scarce fossil fuels and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. More and more people are waking up to the dangers of global warming.
Fresh fruit and vegetables have never been easier to buy than they are today. We live in an age of convenience and immediate gratification. A greenhouse seems to entail just too much work and the gratification is postponed for too long. Greenhouses seem pointless until we begin to think about the wider picture and the kind of world our children and grandchildren will inherit.
Getting into greenhouse gardening can be an ecologically and socially responsible choice. You will be eating fruit and vegetables that have grown in your own backyard. They have not been flown half way round the planet to get to your plate. What’s more you did not have to drive to get them. You took a short walk and got some healthy exercise every day when you walked out to the greenhouse to check on them.
We have got used to those convenient little packages in the supermarket. We like the idea of having our vegetables ready prepared and washed. But we have also got used to poor taste. The fruit and vegetables we buy in the supermarket have lost most of their natural sugars that give them their flavor. Even the varieties are chosen for their shelf life rather than their flavor.
When you experience home grown fruit and vegetables fresh from the greenhouse you will enter another quality of flavor. A fresh picked tomato explodes in your mouth with flavor. Growing your own in the greenhouse means that you can select varieties that have the best flavor.
A whole range of unusual varieties exist that are rarely grown commercially are available to you with a greenhouse. With your own greenhouse you can explore these lesser known varieties of familiar fruit and vegetables. You can even become really adventurous and try the kinds of fruit and vegetables that you only get in specialist stores.
A greenhouse opens the world to you rather than bringing it to you at great cost to the planet and everyone on it. Your carbon footprint will be smaller but your horizons will be wider.
“But I don’t have time.” I hear you say and it is true we are all short of time. But a little time spent in the greenhouse has enormous personal benefits. It is incredibly therapeutic to go into the greenhouse after a hard day and just work quietly for an hour or so. Spending time with growing things is a recognized antidote to depression and anxiety. A greenhouse is a tranquilizer with no side effects except a healthier diet.
If you have kids, what better way to spend some quality time with them than in the greenhouse. It gives you and them unpressured time to talk. You are engaged in a joint task. A greenhouse can become a bonding experience for the family.
There is the added benefit that working with you in the greenhouse gives them the kind of practical hands on lesson that is seldom provided in school. They are learning about how things grow. Each session in the greenhouse is a biology lesson in itself. They are learning about the plants and about the insects that feed on them and pollinate them.
They, and you, will learn a lot about organic chemistry when you mix your plant foods, insecticides and other chemicals. You will undoubtedly learn a lot about electronics and handling basic tools as you get the control systems of your greenhouse working and rig up plant supports and irrigation pipes.
A child who finds academic lessons a difficult will often shine at tasks they can learn by experience. Plants are very forgiving and even children who suffer with problems of concentration can experience the satisfaction of achievement growing a few simple crops in the greenhouse.
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