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Possessing a greenhouse in your garden provides you with numerous options to grow vegetables and herbs at any time of the year, controlling your environment regardless of the season. A greenhouse is a perfect option for individuals who live in areas that experience extreme weather seasons, ensuring that your vegetables and plants do not become negatively affected.
Materials
A greenhouse requires solar radiation and light to pass through the ceilings and walls of the construction, protecting your vegetables and plants from pests and negative elements. When purchasing a greenhouse, a larger construction may consist of glass walls. However, if you aim to build a greenhouse yourself, polycarbonate sheets are equally as good and provide easy material to construct.
Sizes
Greenhouses come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, offering a suitable choice for your outdoor space regardless of the space you have available. Small greenhouses can be constructed to be as small as a closet, whereas larger greenhouses can provide a space of up to 50 square feet or more. The size of your greenhouse will depend on the outdoor space which you have available in addition to the purpose of building a greenhouse and what you want to grow inside of your greenhouse.
Building Your Greenhouse
Constructing a greenhouse yourself can be done in one of two ways; you could purchase a kit that should contain everything you will require to build your greenhouse, or you could download an online plan or access video tutorials and construct a greenhouse from scratch. The first step to take is to decide what your greenhouse will grow and how much space you will need.
You should decide whether you will be growing microgreens and smaller varieties of herbs or whether you wish to grow larger plants, which will require a larger space. You should additionally decide what your budget will be, ensuring that the construction of your greenhouse will be affordable.
Further consideration should be the location of your potential greenhouse as you will need to find the best position in the sunlight which your garden has to offer. A south-facing location for your greenhouse is the best possible position due to prolonged sunlight.
Furthermore, ensure that there will be no other structures close to the greenhouse, which may ultimately cast a shadow on your greenhouse and prevent your vegetables and plants from growing to their full capacity. If possible, find a location where your garden attracts morning sunlight as your crops will respond better to morning sunlight than to afternoon sunlight.
Drainage is also important when positioning the location of your greenhouse as you should prevent puddles of water forming along the sides of the structure. If possible, raise the greenhouse slightly during construction and slope the ground surrounding the greenhouse to ensure a good level of drainage. Power is a vital consideration if you are thinking about building a larger greenhouse as 120V, or 240V, of power, may be required to power the fans required for ventilation.
Whether you decide to build your greenhouse from scratch using an online plan or a video tutorial, or whether you purchase a full greenhouse kit, ask a friend or family member to help you with the construction and assembly. Building your greenhouse can become a lengthy project, but you must ensure that you construct the greenhouse safely and securely.
