Last Updated on February 7, 2024
As a homeowner, having a green thumb – or someone interested in gardening – can bring together the atmosphere that you want to give your home. After all, whatever you plant is bound to steal any guest’s attention. So, if that’s what you’re striving for, then exactly, what you’re getting is a lot of attention.
Why You Need A Greenhouse
Although, if this wasn’t your intention, you might need to consider constructing a shelter for your plants. Here, they can all be stored away without getting cut off from sunlight or nutrients, regardless of the style you want. Although, if you find these resources lacking in any form, supplying the place with essentials shouldn’t be an issue.
However, to give this shelter a name, it’s fittingly called a greenhouse. After all, considering its primary purpose is to store plant life, it’s bound to be a house full of ‘green’ by the time everything’s flourishing. But as helpful as they are, managing a greenhouse is known to be quite an endeavor. Although, that’s simply because of the plants it’s housing.
Because of how many species of plants there are, each has its respective characteristics that make them distinct. And among these characteristics is their adaptability to the environment, namely the temperature. While few species are versatile in withstanding cold and humid weather, more are susceptible to these temperatures. As such, simply plopping down the cheapest and easiest greenhouse to build would be extremely careless.
Types Of Small Greenhouses
Fortunately, various greenhouses available are designed to cater to specific climates. This way, your plants can survive, be it the peak of summer or the coldest winters. Additionally, since you have options to choose from, you also have different sizes available. So, if you keep hesitating to keep plants, there’s no need to purchase a greenhouse that’s big enough to be an entirely new building.
But before you settle with a small greenhouse, there are different variations to choose from as well.
- Indoor Greenhouses
When you’re choosing a greenhouse for your indoor space, you will likely be very restricted with the room you have. That makes it important to choose a small indoor greenhouse like this, with plenty of adjustable shelves to maximise the houseplants, flowers, and herbs you can grow.
Gardening indoors is great if you want to avoid bad weather, particularly in winter. An indoor greenhouse also makes a great space for you to grow seedlings, as you can control the temperature, light, and air within the greenhouse, and control over the growing environment helps you to maximise the size and health of your plants. You can also choose a greenhouse on wheels, which allows you to move them outside during good weather to maximise natural sunlight.
Having shelves in your greenhouse should be a given already if you plan to maximize the space for houseplants, flowers, and herbs you want to grow. But to utilize space even further, adjustable shelves would be your best option. To make use of every corner of the building, this kind of shelf can easily be molded to adapt to the greenhouse’s form.
And considering how it’s staying indoors, it’s best to have a greenhouse on wheels. Since indoor flooring typically consists of flat surfaces, moving your greenhouse around allows you to change its positions easily. So, if you’re looking to maximize the little sunlight those cold days have, simply rolling it over to where the sun aims should do the trick.
- Portable Greenhouses
Before you consider buying or building a greenhouse, ask yourself if you’re ready for that kind of investment. Because even though it’s only meant to shelter plants, a greenhouse is still considered a structure. And while it might be smaller than other industrial-sized greenhouses, small greenhouses are expected to do their job successfully, particularly portable ones.
It’s not easy to claim you’ll be using a greenhouse in the long run. After all, as mentioned earlier, greenhouses are buildings that need to be treated as proper investments, even the smaller ones. With this in mind, greenhouses are the last thing anyone should consider ‘a waste,’ especially after you’ve thought it through.
However, if you can’t find any strong foothold for owning a greenhouse, why not consider portable greenhouses? Since you’re getting worked up over making a decision, one of your worries most likely involves the portion of land where the greenhouse is supposed to stay. Because while indoor greenhouses are available, many households can’t afford to give up space for this shelter, even if they wanted to.
But space won’t be a problem for portable greenhouses. Since they’re only a temporary fixture, the land they stood on can still be used for another project after you pack them up and store them somewhere. And depending on the manufacturer’s instructions, assembling them should be quick and easy. In that same line, because they’re not built into the ground, they’re much cheaper than permanent greenhouses.
However, this is ideal for properties that receive a lot of sunlight despite the cold seasons. Because while they’re great for beginners or amateur plant caretakers, portable greenhouses aren’t ideal for serious growing. Since they’re so easy to assemble and the materials aren’t permanent, they can’t retain heat too well, which could discourage your plants from growing even beyond the season. Investing in heaters is highly recommended.
- Lean-To Greenhouses
Typically, the outside walls of one’s house are left bare unless there’s a holiday going on that makes you want to decorate. But other than that, these parts of the house are often unoccupied by anything else. So, if that’s the case, have a lean-to greenhouse fill in the space.
Unlike portable greenhouses, lean-to greenhouses fully depend on a pre-existing structure as one of their walls for construction. Therefore, all it needs to be built are only three sides. However, this makes it extremely particular with which side it’s placed.
Since there’s little sunlight during the cold, you must be familiar with where it’ll land during the day. This way, you can utilize it to its full capacity and make it the ideal growing environment for your plants. And it helps that this type of greenhouse can guarantee it’ll retain warmth inside, especially if it’s small.
- Mini Greenhouses
Whether they’re tall or short, mini-greenhouses typically don’t take beyond 10 square feet of space. And since it’s that small, constructing it can be simple, wherein you can choose between a greenhouse kit or creating one yourself with materials you can find in the hardware store. In a way, this quality makes it similar to portable greenhouses. But while their size makes it impossible for anyone to step inside, mini greenhouse kits compensate by having shelves come with them.
Takeaway
Some people consider taking care of plants too troublesome for relaxing. Since plants are living organisms, they all require a certain amount of attention regardless of their species. However, for those passionate about plants, what sounds like a chore isn’t a problem for them. Therefore, it’s easy to say they’ll go far and beyond to provide for their plants. And they even have them stay in greenhouses that are perfect for the weather, especially the cold.