How to Create Your Own Greenhouse At Home

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!

Incredible Ways Gardening Can Improve Health and Benefit the Environment

Human health and the state of our planet are connected. To be healthy you need clean air, water, and soil. For the environment to be in such good shape, you need to be in good health to help it heal from centuries of abuse. Elevate your gardening routine with the right attire. Explore our selection of Garden Clothes—perfect for a comfortable and stylish outdoor experience.

One of the activities that can improve both is gardening. If every human being on the planet planted one tree, it would eliminate a lot of carbon emissions from the atmosphere, believes climate activist Greta Thunberg. She has a good point, considering that trees use carbon for photosynthesis and release oxygen into the air. Moreover, they barely cost anything and can pretty much take care of themselves.

Imagine how much good gardening can do for you and the environment if planting only one tree can turn into something this big. So, let’s discuss ways gardening can improve health and benefit the environment, both at once or one at a time.

 

1. It’s a workout

Gardening can burn as much as 330 calories in an hour, based on CDC. Today, when one of the biggest health problems in the world is obesity, this is a good way to maintain or lose weight. Basically, the more work you do in your garden, you may burn more calories. 

Also, it can lower the body mass index or BMI that is directly connected to being overweight or obese. While according to a 2013 study, men lost more in BMI than women, the results are still an important indicator that gardening can help you control your weight.  

 

2. It can relieve you of stress

If you want to take control over your stress, a Dutch study suggests you do gardening. The study included two groups of participants, both exposed to the same stressor. Afterward, one group was instructed to read quietly and the other to garden. The tests showed that the group doing gardening had lower levels of stress hormone — cortisol than the other group.   

Gardening helps you stay in the present and calm down by doing various tasks, like planting and digging. This is a great way to take your mind off the things that bring you stress and even come up with solutions on how to resolve the troublesome issues. 

 

3. It can improve your diet

Growing your own food allows you to control what kind of ingredients you use. If you follow organic farming, you will eat chemical-free produce and also be kind to the environment. 

In addition, you will pay more attention to your diet by including more vegetables, fruits, and herbs into the meals. This means more vitamins and minerals, as well as fewer bad habits, such as eating processed food and trans fats. The more people do this, there will be less demand for products cultivated by practices that harm the environment, like mono cropping. 

 

4. It brightens up your mood

If you suffer from anxiety or depression, gardening should be part of your therapy. Tending to your garden increases serotonin and dopamine levels in your body making you feel happier and satisfied. However, using glyphosate-based herbicides is bad both for your mood and the environment. 

Even if you wear products made from plants sprayed with glyphosate, such as cotton, you can feel the bad effect on your mood. Besides lowering dopamine and serotonin, this chemical affects wildlife on the cellular level. Some scientists believe that it is responsible for disrupting gut bacteria in many animals, like bees. 

 

5. It’s good for your heart

Swedish study found that gardening can reduce the risk of stroke or heart attack since it is a form of moderate exercise. This is because it offers an appropriate amount of physical activity and stress relief, both effects are known to improve heart health. Moreover, using homemade pesticides may lower the risk of heart disease, as well as keep the environment clean.  

 

6. It’s beneficial for the brain

Based on a 2019 Korean study, 20 minutes of active gardening can stimulate nerve growth that may improve memory. This means that people who suffer from dementia may experience improvement after gardening. 

Greencare programs in Norway and Netherlands are based on horticultural therapy where dementia patients work in the gardens for several hours during the day. Social interaction and cognitive function during gardening may allow people who suffer from memory problems to relax, stay active, and improve their quality of life.

 

7. It teaches you to reuse waste

You probably heard of composting as a good way to give your plants the nutrients they need to grow. But this is also a sustainable practice that will help you recycle your food and natural waste instead of throwing it away. 

Put used tea bags, coffee grounds, banana peels, grass clippings, dead foliage, and other suitable waste into the composting bin. Since it takes three to nine months to produce compost, you should start making it in time for the fall preparation of the soil. Thanks to composting, you may turn into a zero-waste household.   

 

8. It reminds you to conserve water

A garden needs water or your plants would wither and die. However, even though Earth has more water than land, we can use only 1% of it. This is why water is a precious resource that needs conservation and careful use, especially during drought seasons. One of the ways to do that is through rainwater harvest from the roof into the barrels. 

Also, install a sweeper hose which is designed to sip water into the soil and reduce wastage. Placing a timer on your irrigation system will make sure you only spend the amounts your plants need, as well as not to forget to water them.

 

9. It helps lower carbon levels

Plants need carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to perform photosynthesis. As a result of this process, they release oxygen into the atmosphere. So, the more plants we have on the planet, the better are our chances to eliminate these harmful amounts of carbon from the air and stop global warming. 

This also means you will have more fresh air on your property, especially if you plant trees. Maple, spruce, and Douglas fir give the most oxygen, but you won’t make mistakes by planting oak or aspen. 

The bottom line

There is a strong connection between your health and the health of the entire planet. If air is polluted, waters contaminated, and soil barren, humans may be next in line for extinction. Gardening may not be the only way to improve health and benefit the environment, but it’s a good start to make a difference. 

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About The Author

Nina Simons is a lifestyle blogger and an avid traveler passionate about interior design and creative DIY projects.

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