Simon Brody - Greenhouse Gardening: Secrets of Building a Perfect Greenhouse, Tips for Growing Vegetables and Flowers All Year Round!

Greenhouse Gardening

Secrets of Building a Perfect Greenhouse, Tips for Growing Vegetables and Flowers All Year Round!

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W hen someone says they have a greenhouse, it simply means that they are using some sort of structure to grow plants indoors. The modern greenhouse usually consists of a building with some sort of transparent ceiling that allows sunlight to freely pour into the structure but at the same time blocks this light from easily escaping; thus creating a greenhouse effect to keep your plants warm all year long. The use of an indoors greenhouse for vegetable production has been in use for a long time now. In fact one of the first major greenhouse projects on record was enacted by the Roman Emperor Tiberius.

Apparently Emperor Tiberius was tired of not being able to have his favorite veggie; the cucumber, during the wintertime. So what did he do? Well, this cucumber craving sovereign ordered his subjects to construct him an elaborate greenhouse in order to keep those cucumbers coming! Yes, greenhouses have been all the rage for a very long time. Finicky emperors aside however, greenhouse use has received a massive increase around the world in much more recent times do to the implementation of Polyethylene film that could be used to more efficiently generate warmth.

Polyethylene film was revolutionary in part because of how cheap and easy to obtain the material is. Found at just about any hardware store, this stuff can be implemented fairly easily, but on the downside, polyethylene film deteriorates rather rapidly, and is particularly susceptible to damage from Ultra Violet light. One of the great benefits of this material though is the fact that the sheets that it comes in are fairly wide, allowing for more light transmission and allowing for greater overall structural support.

In the typical polyethylene based greenhouse environment a double layer of 6 mil on the outside and then an inner layer of 2 mil on the inside is used to help conserve heat and reduce excess water condensation. The inner layer and outer layer should also be separated by about 2 inches with a fan placed in between the two so that what is termed an insulating, dead space can be created. But whatever material you choose for your greenhouse, one thing is certain, you should make sure that the place you install the greenhouse is on a level, clean, low traffic area that is angled in a way that it can take the most advantage of the sun.

People choose to operate greenhouses for a wide variety of reasons. They do so in order to raise plants for use during the winter time, or to hold over their garden plants to be utilized as a parent plant for the next growing season, or even just as a means to experiment with specific plant types under a controlled environment. But beyond anything else people choose to go green because it is such a rewarding and enriching experience. Being able to lessen your footprint and make the world a better place is exactly what it means to go green!

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N o matter what kind of greenhouse structure you are building the first thing that you are going to have to do is make sure that your building site is in a sound location. And when I say sound location I am referring to having a construction that can best take advantage of sunlight, has good water drainage and run-off and one that is generally easy to access. So making sure that your site is unobstructed and on solid, level land is a must. You also must have an efficient water supply before you begin, in order for your operation to be successful.

Now that you have a firm foundation to lay your greenhouse construction can begin. When of the easiest starter greenhouses (and in many ways most efficient) is the tried and true hoop greenhouse. The structure basically consists of plastic thrown over a series of hoop frames fastened to the ground. This method has been popular with greenhouse enthusiasts for a long time and works generally well in just about any terrain.

No matter what size of a hoop house you end up with your frame will always begin with a four sided ground frame constructed from rot-resistant lumber. For a larger hoop house you can employ 2x6 boards, but for our example we are going to stick to 2x4s for a more moderately sized structure. If the lumber you are using happens to be longer than the sides of your frames, not to worry; this can be modified as well. Just take some 24 inch battens and use them to splice the joints together. In doing this 10x3 inch wood screws that are hot dipped and galvanized will do wonders for the job.

Once your frame is in place the next thing you will need to do is make measurements from one corner to another. A key thing to remember here of course; is that if your measurements are correct your corners should always come to 90 degrees. And now that your ground frame is in place, secure it by placing some wooden stakes down into the ground just outside the corners of the frame. Putting stakes around each corner do a great job of stabilizing the frame during the construction process.

Now that your frame is stabilized you are going to work to lay down the ground pipes. The best material to use for ground pipes are the standard PVC pipes that you can find at any local hardware or department store. For this kind of construction the typical length that you will need will be about 22 inches long. You are going to drive this pipes into the ground just like you did the stakes, except this time the pipes will be placed on the inside of each corner of the frame.