Starting a Greenhouse can be as useful and practical as it is fun. No matter what climate you’re in or what you like to grow, a greenhouse is your friend. You can completely manipulate the climate inside your greenhouse and grow anything you’d like. You can also turn your greenhouse space into a small sanctuary of gardening bliss. Your greenhouse may be a very simple construct, with just enough room for a few plants. Or, you could build a massive structure, complete with potting benches, tool racks, and chair sit to relax in. Whatever the design, there are some very excellent reasons to start your own greenhouse.
Start a Greenhouse for a Longer Growing Season
If you live in a colder climate, a greenhouse is an excellent option. Greenhouse conditions can trap heat from the sun inside an enclosed space. If that still isn’t warm or bright enough, you can supplement this season with grow lights and greenhouse heaters.
You may choose to start your plants early in a greenhouse and put them back inside in fall to keep them from going dormant. Or grow them there all year to give them the warmest climate and best growing conditions possible. This is especially valuable if you love gardening but late thaws and early frosts prevent you from growing some plants.
Protection
Starting a greenhouse doesn’t mean pests cannot get inside. However, it does provide significant protection from insects, rodents, and other animals. A bug infestation is possible in a greenhouse, but it’s much less likely. If one occurs, it can be dealt with swiftly with organic pesticide. And it’s not likely to return right away as can often happen in an outdoor garden. Plus, you don’t have to worry about bigger animals, like rabbits or deer, snacking on your crops.
Starting a Greenhouse Offers a Controlled Climate
Regardless of what your typical weather is like, it’s entirely possible that your area can be hit with a sudden storm, winds, heavy rains, or a drought. Many areas have unpredictable weather patterns, while others have mild conditions. But no matter where you live, mother nature can go wild. Starting a greenhouse can protect your plants from any form of nature’s whims. The greenhouse will trap warmth and heat. But if conditions aren’t what you’d like, you can control the atmosphere. You can use cooling fans, greenhouse heaters, irrigation, and humidifiers as needed. A greenhouse provides you with a space that can be as tropical or as temperate as you’d like it to be.
Save on Groceries by Starting a Greenhouse
If you’re looking to save on groceries and produce, building a greenhouse can be a great investment. The initial cost of setting up a greenhouse can vary greatly, depending on the size and complexity of your setup. However, over time, a home-grown garden can help offset the costs of building and maintaining your greenhouse. Whether you’re interested in raising fruits, vegetables, or herbs, investing in a greenhouse is a great way to enjoy fresh, locally-grown produce all year long.
Fresher Vegetables
You may have shopped what you thought was good produce, only to get home and realize it wasn’t. Your strawberries were rotten, or your lettuce wasn’t crisp, for example. Growing your own vegetable garden means your vegetables will always be farm to table fresh. That doesn’t just mean that your veggies will be crunchier or will taste better, it also means that they will be more nutritious. The longer produce is exposed to sun and heat, the more nutrients they lose. The freshest veggies always contain the most vitamins and nutrients and are the healthiest possible.
Starting a Greenhouse Offers Knowledge and Control
Knowing how your produce was grown, be it organic soil or non-GMO seeds, is an incredibly important factor for many people. When you grow all of your own fruits and veggies you have complete control over their growing conditions and you’ll rest easy knowing exactly what you’re putting into the bodies of your family and yourself. You control the pesticides, the seeds, the soil quality, and the water sources. You won’t have to speculate or worry that you’re consuming something dangerous when you grow your own produce within a private greenhouse.
Space to Expand
For any indoor gardener who has started an herb garden on their kitchen windowsill, you know that once you start growing your own produce it can be difficult to stop with just a few plants. You start with a couple small pots of dill, thyme, and basil but then you find you want to grow your own lettuce, and then fresh tomatoes drift into your mind. A greenhouse is the perfect expansion of any indoor garden and you can easily rotate your plants from windowsill to greenhouse and back again, depending on your mood, the weather, or what you’ll be using most frequently when cooking.
Gardening Sanctuary
Any guy who has a man-cave or woman who has a she-shed knows the value of creating a sacred space. For those couples who bond over gardening together, you should know that an incredible sanctuary can be created in the space where you share your passion. No matter who you garden with or how you do it, a greenhouse can become an isolated world where there is nothing but you and your plants. You can use it as your workshop to make a mess, let dirt fly wherever it likes, and prune or repot until your heart’s content. Your greenhouse is your space to do what you like with your garden and enjoy it in any way you see fit.
Starting a greenhouse can cost money at first. And, as the size and complexity of your greenhouse grows, so does that cost. You’ll also need to invest time into setting it up and then afterwards, caring for all your plants. You’ll need to maintain the atmosphere and ensure your plants are receiving enough moisture. Plus, you’ll want to keep any eye out for insects or other pests disturbing your garden. There is work that goes into a greenhouse, but the benefits are rewarding enough to make the effort worth it. Your plants will thrive in a greenhouse, providing beautiful blooms or fresh fruit and vegetables all year round.
