So, you’re thinking about the future, and a greenhouse is definitely somewhere in your plans. It’s important to define exactly why. What should your greenhouse accomplish for you? In your vision, does your greenhouse supply a fresh series of nutritious sides, depending on the season? Or do you intend to fully provide meals from your own harvests? Are you focused on growing bulk crops in order to preserve and store for later in the year? Or are you going to immediately use what you harvest? Are you hoping to create a false environment within your greenhouse in order to grow out of season vegetables or fruits? Or will you change what you're growing, and when, to match the natural conditions and temperatures? Make a list of what your family eats now, each week. What is included in your main courses? What about your sides, snacks, special treats? How much of that can you, or would you want, to replace through your own means?
Temperature Control
Greenhouses are so powerful thanks to their expert skills at temperature regulation. In general, heat gets trapped inside via sunlight, and temperatures can rise much more quickly within the greenhouse than they do outside of it. During the coldest months, the sun alone may not be able to purely heat your greenhouse on its own. If you want to grow during the winter, this may be a problem worth solving. There are lots of ways to trap heat, or generate it, within your greenhouse. This can include heaters and thermometers hooked up to a generator, or an electric hookup if your greenhouse has access to power. There are also passive ways to heat your greenhouse which don’t rely on outside power or energy. These may be particularly valuable during an emergency, where power may be a rare or inaccessible resource.
However, maybe you live somewhere warm, where freezing temperatures aren’t such a concern. Despite this, a greenhouse is still an exceptional choice. The insulated interior of a greenhouse can maintain a higher level of moisture in the air, and careful ventilation choices can keep things cool. Ventilation can be done through installing filters and fans, or by installing roll-up walls. Shades or screens can also be employed to block sunlight during times of extreme heat.
Pest Control
As long as your greenhouse is closed-off and well insulated, it will be much harder for pesky critters to find their way within your greenhouse. However, there’s still ways for them to find their way in. New plants, equipment, or objects can come with their own infestations, and quickly take hold if placed within your greenhouse full of tasty plants. This risk can be reduced by carefully inspecting everything you bring into the greenhouse, or by creating a quarantine room/greenhouse on its own to house incoming plants. Ventilation systems can be equipped with screens in order to keep out bugs or other unwanted guests.
Storage
Where and how will you organize your plants? How big will your plants be, how many will you need? Will they need a trellis, room to grow outwards, a deep well for root-vegetables? Will they need to be picked up and moved around, or are they going to be in heavy, hard-to-move containers?
Types of Greenhouses
There are a wide array of greenhouse structures and designs to choose from, with each presenting their own pros and cons. These can range from small frames made to only cover a few vegetables to entire buildings that can serve as your own conservatory. Your limit only exists in terms of finances and available space. But there are many ways to maximize your current use of space, and to reuse or cut costs in order to afford the set-up of your dreams.
- Cold Frames: These are small, simple structures, used to be placed over germinating seeds or vulnerable young crops. A common and simple design for cold frames utilizes spare windows and 2 by 4’s as wooden frames. This creates a miniature greenhouse, providing warm, healthy temperatures for the plants underneath as the sun’s rays are trapped within the cold frame. This can encourage seeds to begin sprouting earlier than they would on their own and protects plants from freezing temperatures, hungry pests, or stomping feet. Cold frames are small enough to be manually opened and closed with the heating and cooling of the day. These are also exceptionally easy to DIY, with materials being affordable and easy to find. However, unless their size is expanded upon and designed further, it may be difficult to cover many plants at once, or to build a cold frame large enough to continuously protect large or vining plants.
- Hoop Houses: These are a kind of Quonset greenhouse, which sit on the ground in sunken semicircle. Each ‘hoop’ of the house creates an archway upon which translucent cover material can be placed. These are simple and incredibly cheap to build, and often can be found in pre-made kits across the internet. Additions may be difficult to make, as a standard hoop house has no internal support structure.
- Gothic Arch Roofs: These are square buildings at the base, with a rounded head leading up into a point. This style of roofing provides more headroom than other designs, meaning more room for you and your plants. The sloped sides of the pointed roof encourage ice, snow, and rain to simply slip off the sides, rather than build up and gather weight.
Gable Roofs: These are greenhouses with standard trusses used to support the roof structure. This is a heavier design and requires internal supports and beams in order to hold up the tresses and the above roof. However, this increased strength makes additions easy, and exposed tresses can provide a great way to hang plants, shelves, or irrigation and lighting systems.
