If you've ever asked yourself, what is a greenhouse? but never fully
understood the benefits of greenhouse gardening or the function of the
structure, then this is the right place for you.
Those of us interested in vegetable gardening year-round will most likely
need to employ a greenhouse (or a garden tunnel of some sort) to support our
efforts, but we need to know if it's worthwhile to make such an investment.
Let's start off simple.
Here we'll answer the basic questions that most beginners will have:
- What are
greenhouses?
- How can a
greenhouse benefit me?
- Is a
greenhouse a worthwhile investment for me?
If you're serious about vegetable gardening, and you'd like to boost your
vegetable production, then a greenhouse deserves your serious consideration.
Greenhouses don't have to be expensive, elaborate or large, so you have a range
of choices.
They can be stand-alone, temporary, or incorporated into the design of your
home. It's all up to you and your needs and interests. The answer to what is
a greenhouse? largely depends on what you want it to be.
Keep in mind that a greenhouse isn't for everyone, but it might just be
perfect for your situation, so they're worth your time to investigate. Let's
establish a good foundation of understanding so we can appreciate whether a
greenhouse is right for you and your vegetable gardening interests.
What is a Greenhouse - the basics
A greenhouse is a structure designed to capture light from the sun to
convert it to heat. This enables you to extend the growing season. In other
words, you can start earlier than normal and wrap up later than normal.
The design of a greenhouse also offers your plants a level of protection
from the elements that can't easily be provided when you grow in
traditional open garden beds.
If you asked a horticultural professional what is a greenhouse? you'd
probably get an answer that describes a permanent structure with water,
electricity, and a form of added heat. This is perhaps a more traditional view
of a greenhouse, but I choose to define it more loosely.
I suggest that a greenhouse is simply a structure
that is designed to protect plants and capture sunlight to enhance the heat
energy afforded to your plants. It can be permanent or temporary, or even mobile
if you wish.
What is a Greenhouse - the benefits
Let's examine the main benefits of a greenhouse. This will help further
define the nature and purpose of the structure.
The primary benefit of a greenhouse is that it allows you to grow plants
outside of their normal growing season. Heat is intensified by letting in
light from the sun, and the greenhouse captures this light energy in the form
of heat. Think of your closed up car on a sunny day (regardless of outside
temperature) and you've got the idea.
A closely related benefit is that the greenhouse intensifies warmth
for vegetables that like it hot. It's an opportunity to provide your vegetables
with what they want for a much longer period. Think of squash, tomatoes, and
peppers. They love a warm environment, so a greenhouse works very well for
them.
With intensified warmth comes increased yields. I have experienced
greenhouse vegetable production that easily doubled my yield from what I was
experiencing outdoors. That's impressive!
The next most important benefit of a greenhouse is protection for your
plants. Here is what a greenhouse provides protection from:
- sun (oddly
enough)
- rain
- hail
- wind
- critters
(insects and mammals)
- pets
Another benefit of greenhouse gardening is that it offers a controlled
environment (heating, cooling, moisture) for your vegetable gardening
efforts. It isn't nearly as controlled as one might experience inside your
home, but it can be close.
One of the little-appreciated benefits of greenhouse gardening is year-round vegetable gardening without additional heat. No kidding! You can grow
vegetables (at least harvest them) year-round without adding any heat to the
greenhouse.
So, the next time someone asks you what is a greenhouse? you can
simply say that it's a handy year-round supplier of fresh produce. And, it's as
close as your backdoor.
Greenhouses also provide you with a dedicated space for vegetable
gardening much like a shop or sewing room. It allows you to have tools and
resources at the ready to support your vegetable gardening efforts. We keep
hand tools, organic fertilizers, plant identification tags, plant ties,
irrigation accessories and harvesting tools and containers all inside the
greenhouse. This makes planting, growing, pruning and harvesting very
convenient.
Although not the primary purpose of a greenhouse, you can create a special retreat
that offers tranquility and warmth during the winter months. The sunshine
and warmth can be very intense in the winter, and I find it a good remedy for
the winter blues. The walkways in my greenhouses are lined with sand for
comfort and easy cleanup of debris, and they remind me of a beach, so barefoot
is how you'll find me in the greenhouse when I want to relax and enjoy the
warmth and sunshine.
With a suitably large greenhouse, you can create additional usable living
space for you and your family and quests. Every square inch of space inside
a greenhouse need not be dedicated to growing plants. You can also have a place
to relax and enjoy the environment of vegetation and protection from the
elements.
How about an area with concrete paving blocks and a patio table and chairs?
Wouldn't that be a nice addition to a large greenhouse?
If your greenhouse is attached to the house, you can create a simple heat
capture system for your home by recirculating air between the greenhouse
and the home. With a smaller home and a larger greenhouse, you might be able to
heat the entire living area of the home during the day using just the excess
energy captured by the greenhouse.
Talk about a solar powered home! In areas with a high percentage of sun year
round, you'd need very little supplemental heat. Hello sunshine and goodbye
heating bill.
When considering the question what is a
greenhouse?, it's essential to consider the range of benefits that such a
structure could provide for you. This will be key to making the determination
of whether a greenhouse is a worthwhile investment.
What is a Greenhouse - an investment
I'll not get into a cost-benefit discussion here, at least not to the extent
that we start discussing case studies that document return on investment, but I
still want to give you an idea of what types of things you might consider
before making an investment in a greenhouse.
When I'm asked what is a greenhouse?, I always explain that it's an investment;
an investment in:
- my food
supply
- good
health from fresh and high quality produce
- the resale
value of my home
- my future
as a frugal and self-sufficient individual
- my quality
of life
Greenhouses can be small and portable, large and permanent, homemade,
professionally designed and constructed, temporary, and just about anything in
between. They can be completely manually operated, or fully automatic.
Residential models can be as inexpensive as $150 and as pricey as $30,000 or
more. It's all up to you and what it will take to meet your needs and support
your interests in vegetable gardening.
The things to consider when determining the value of a greenhouse include:
- full-time
(year round) or part-time (seasonal) use
- durability
and longevity of materials
- offset of
produce costs
- avoidance
of higher priced organic foods
- maximized
nutritional value
- commercial
enterprise potential
- potential
to grow food to offset commercial animal food
- joy of
having a garden retreat
- offset of
home heating costs
- satisfaction
and security of knowing you're feeding yourself
If you take the annual savings from the items noted above and assign a
dollar value, then this can be considered in light of the annualized costs
(total cost to construct, operate and maintain, divided by expected years of
life) of the structure to provide a rough return on investment.
Remember that costs will vary depending on what materials you have chosen to
use. Glazing replacement will likely be a major recurring cost, followed by
electrical consumption associated with vents, exhaust fans and lights.
Also, note that some of the considerations above are intangible. For
example, how many dollars do you assign to the satisfaction of knowing that
you're feeding yourself? For some this will be high, for others it might be
insignificant.
In light of recent food contamination, the much higher price of vegetables
in the store, the considerably higher price for organic produce, and the
knowledge that commercially grown food has significantly diminished nutritional
value, you might assign a fairly high value to food nutrition and security.
Here is an information-filled site that provides good discussion about the
diminished food value and hazards of commercially processed foods, and the
politics of our food supply. It's an interesting read to say the least.
So, when folks ask me what is a greenhouse?, I usually tell them that
it's part of my secure food supply that provides me with more nutritious
produce than anything I could possibly buy at the store.
Considering your interests in vegetable gardening and the information
presented above, it's now time for you to determine what is a greenhouse to
you?
https://www.thepolycarbonategreenhouse.co.uk/mini-greenhouse/
