Do you enjoy gardening and wish you could have a greenhouse? Well, it’s easier than you think, and you don’t need tons of space to build one. You can create your own greenhouse at home and take advantage of getting a jumpstart on spring. Our experts have some recommendations on do-it-yourself greenhouses that are budget-friendly, low cost and do a beautiful job of letting the sunlight shine in and warming the plants and air inside.
Cold Frame Greenhouse
Greenhouses come in a variety of forms, but one of the simplest to create is the cold frame greenhouse.
This type of greenhouse is designed as a clear, insulated outdoor structure that will protect your plants. According to gardening pros, vegetables, small fruit, and cut flowers do especially well in a cold frame structure and can boost your crop yield and profitability by up to 50%.
Some folks make their own greenhouses from salvaged windows and lumber, but that can get complicated and take a lot of time to construct.
A cold frame greenhouse is an excellent unit that you build with structural steel tubing into a hoop house design. You can purchase this material from farm supply shops.
These units are available in a variety of sizes. One of the smaller kits features dimensions of 8’W x 8’5″H x 24’L.
These kits are easy to assemble as there is zero drilling or welding and include ground posts and purlins. A baseboard is recommended for this type of greenhouse.
Greenhouse Cover Essentials
The greenhouse you create at home will only be as effective as its cover. For instance, a greenhouse not only offers shelter for your plants and excellent see-through convenience but it’s designed to evenly diffuse light, block the UVA/UVB rays and protect your plants from burning with the added benefit that your plants will need less water. The proper cover material will also provide waterproofing and UV protection, and it’s long-lasting for about three to five years.
Tarps made of polyethylene do very well in the elements and are cheaper than putting up glass panes and are also lighter in load-bearing weight.
A cover made of polyethylene has another advantage over most others as it allows you to maintain the ideal humidity levels inside your greenhouse. No moisture will go in or out, and you can keep the greenhouse going year-round. This type of cover offers a superb layer of protection against temperature changes.
D.I.Y. Greenhouse Guides
There are plenty of greenhouse designs you can find in books, magazines, and online.
Check out social platforms such as YouTube.com to see how gardening experts create their backyard greenhouses. Many of these videos provide terrific, step-by-step demonstrations and the materials you will need.
You don’t have to make an elaborate or pricey greenhouse for the structure to do its job.
Maybe you would prefer a low tunnel, hoop-style greenhouse for a raised garden bed for growing your vegetables and flowers. You can build a unit with something as simple as PVC pipes, which are easy to bend. You can use floating row covers or greenhouse polyethylene to build hoop houses and greenhouse tunnels over garden beds that are perfect for your backyard space.
Portable greenhouses are yet another design to consider. You’re not committed or restricted to one space, and these units come in many styles and sizes with easy-to-assemble and disassemble materials. You can even fit a portable greenhouse on a small balcony, for example.
You have many great options that will fit your budget and deliver a greenhouse that functions and looks attractive.
Gardening is a wonderful hobby no matter what you’re planting from seed or crops you’re hoping to shelter from the elements. A greenhouse is a stable environment and can help you extend the growing season and keep the annoying pests at bay. If you love growing your own food year-round, then strawberries thrive in a garden greenhouse along with veggies such as cucumbers, summer squash, beans, and peppers. Talk about healthy and nutritious! Do some research, and take your time. There is a perfect greenhouse at home that you can build. Have fun, and get growing!