Thorough planning and preparation is essential before starting your greenhouse project. Putting up a greenhouse need not be time-consuming or expensive. Your greenhouse design will very much depend on your home’s home architecture, space and plants that you want to grow, cost and available location. Make sure that your greenhouse should provide the environment suitable for your chosen type of plants.
Location
Your greenhouse must be built in a site where it will get the full and concentrated sunlight.
Your best option is the “southeast side” of your house or shade of trees. All day sunlight is best, though also consider the morning sunlight coming from the east side because this is adequate for most plants, as it permits the course food production to start early so then progress is maximized.
The location on the east captures most of the November up to February sunshine.
Deciduous trees like oak and maple can shade the greenhouse effectively from the strong late afternoon sun during the summer but they must not shade or cover your greenhouse during the morning. These trees likewise permit maximum sun exposure during the winter due to the shedding of their foliage during fall.
Your greenhouse must not be located beside trees having leaves all year as it will block the winter sun. You must maximize greenhouse exposure to winter sun especially if your greenhouse will be used year-round.
Another necessity for the location of your greenhouse is good drainage. When needed, construct your greenhouse higher than the ground so as irrigation and rainwater will easily drain away.
Light that is required by certain types of plants that you will grow, water, electricity, heat and protection from strong wind are other factors that should also be considered.
Also, you need to set up a workplace and an area for storage of your supplies in your greenhouse.
Here is a simple and easy to construct greenhouse:
Materials:
5 pieces of 20 foot each “of 5/8 inch” rebar, cut into 1/3's - 6 foot in length.
7 pieces of 20 foot schedule” 40 PVC” drilled with a hole size 3/16 to ¼ inch “dead center” at 10 feet.
84 feet that is “cut into 4 foot lengths” of “½ schedule 40 PVC”
80 pieces size 2X4 wood (treated).
4 pieces fence posts, 8 foot in length (treated).
Size “40X24 fee” UV “polyethylene”, stabilized
60 pieces 2 ½ inches fence staples
1. Begin by extending a thin rope or string where the “two long sides” of your greenhouse should be. Then pound the 6 foot rebar in, each with a distance of 4 feet away from each other, in a “straight line” and allowing 48 inches to protrude from the soil or ground.
2. Nail the 2X6 runner on to the “rebar stakes”. This will provide you with something so as to nail on the polyethylene later. You may use a “60 2 ½ inch fence staples”.
3. Slide in the PVC pieces (20 inch) over the “rebar stakes”, making certain that no sharp points are exposed, such as rebar, wire ends, rough pipes, etc.
4. Put the PVC pieces (20 foot) on the “rebar stakes”. You need to have somebody do “one side” as you also do the “other side” carefully and slightly at each time. Make sure that you drilled holes “parallel to the ground”.
5. Slide the wire all through the PVC holes and through the 8 PVC (4foot) pieces “along the roof”.
6. So as the “ribs” will not shift horizontally, you need to wire together the 4 foot PVC pipe lengths with either baling or copper wire. Make certain that the wire is wrapped so that the PVC pipe is forced inward.
7. Construct now the “two end walls” and the doors. Use vertical posts (4X4) 10 foot length and buried 3 or 4 feet for the doorway frame. Make certain that the end walls are not floppy and must stay vertically so that the PVC will not separate. Your door must be very tight so that the wind will not be able to inflate the greenhouse.
8. Drive some nails into the post’s base horizontally of the posts and submerge them to the ground.
9. With somebody’s help, and each person on each side holding the plastic, slide it over the rib cage and then attach the ends by wrapping the plastic’s end around lath pieces then “nail the lath” to the “end walls” and also along the foundation.
10. Be creative and add a few of your personal touches.
All done! Have fun in your greenhouse!
For people who are fond of plants, flowers, vegetations, and other ornamental plants, having their own greenhouse may be a dream come true.
A greenhouse or conservatory is a type of structure where plants are developed and grown. Usually, greenhouses are made of plastic or glass. This is to allow the natural light coming from the outside environment to permeate inside.
Because of its special condition, many people are wondering why do plants have to be cultivated inside this super special structure, wherein fact, it can be grown outside with the natural forces readily made available anytime, anywhere.
The answer to this particular issue is based on how the greenhouse really works. It is only through the understanding of its full operation that people will appreciate the advantages and environmental use of greenhouses.
Heat It Up
Putting up and maintaining a greenhouse can be a daunting task. However, the benefits that it brings not only to the environment but also to the owner of the hothouse cannot be underestimated. For one thing, greenhouses are perfect cultivating area for people who wish to grow their own vegetable farm or ornamental plants. This means that they have an all-year round supply of these items.
However, some people cannot just identify the real purpose of greenhouses because they believe that there is not so much difference between the outside environment with that of the interior condition in the greenhouse.
They say that light, water, and air are, in fact, readily made available in the natural environment. Inside the greenhouse, lights, water, and air are artificially supplied. They further contend that once the person who is in charge of the process has failed to do his job, chances are, the plants will die.
Hence, they insist that it would be better to cultivate the plants on its natural environment rather than locking them up in a glass-made ‘prison.”
The problem with these people is that they do not understand the main operation of the greenhouse that is why they cannot appreciate the goodness of greenhouses. They are not pleased about the benefits that greenhouses may bring.
Therefore, in order to gain the right appreciation of the purpose of greenhouses, here is a list of detailed facts about the real operation of greenhouses:
1. It uses solar energy
Like the natural environment, greenhouses make use of the solar energy as well. That is why greenhouses are made of glass or plastic to allow the natural light to pass through.
2. It converts the solar energy to heat
This is where the greenhouse benefits start. Basically, when the solar energy enters the greenhouse, the heat that goes along with the light are trapped inside the area. Once inside, the heat is distributed throughout the place. This is similar to the condition of a car that is parked in area with direct sunlight.
Have you ever observed that after you have parked your car in an open area with direct sunlight you can still felt he heat being trapped inside your car? Sam thing goes with the light and heat inside the greenhouse.
Generally, when the “electromagnetic radiation” of the sun enters the greenhouse, the things inside the structure like the soil, plants, and other notable material inside the place are being heat up.
Consequently, the materials that make up the greenhouse, like the glass or the plastic trap the hot air or the heat inside the room. Thus, it heats up both the air and the plants inside. Likewise, it also heats up the air close to the ground.
The main purpose of this particular structure of a greenhouse is to prevent “convection.” This is because through convection, heat is eliminated through the presence of fluids.
The main focus of the issue here is that this particular amount of heat should not escape the hothouse in order to proper growth to the plants.
It is for this reason that many people deem it more to cultivate their plants inside a greenhouse because with proper cultivation process as well as the regulated amount of light and heat present in the area, optimum plant growth and development is highly expected.
Indeed, just by looking at it, many people will still question the efficiency of greenhouses. But as soon as they understand the real concept behind eh operations within the area, they will soon realize that greenhouses are absolutely added features for the environment.
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