If you are a new gardener greenhouses may seem like an unnecessary luxury. If you live in a mild climate, it might seem like you already have an adequate growing season for your plants.
Many people already recognize that greenhouses are designed to extend the growing season for your plants. But you may not recognize the many additional benefits a greenhouse can offer beyond an extended growing season.
This article will highlight a few additional benefits of greenhouses; some of which you may not have already thought about.
There are a few main reasons greenhouses are practical for many of us who garden:
- Extending the growing season
- Being able to grow more exotic plants than your natural climate allows
- Protecting your plants from the outdoor elements
- Keeping out unwanted pests and insects
- Maintaining a controlled growing environment
- Protect your plants and crops from an unfavorable climate
- Help you generate even better results from a mild climate
Enhanced Leisure offers a full line of greenhouse kits for sale in various sizes. We offer everything from small, beginner sizes to large commercial sized greenhouses.
Extending your Growing Season
A primary benefit with greenhouses is the ability to extend your growing season. The typical growing season starts to end in the fall when the leaves come down and the temperature begins to drop.
By keeping your garden inside a greenhouse, you have more control of the environment and you can direct extra heat and energy to your plants beyond the normal outdoor growing season.
If you are especially creative, you can even try adding a few more exotic and tropical plants inside a greenhouse that might not typically be found in a more mild climate.
Protecting Plants from the Elements
Because plants are naturally found outdoors, we don't often remember that plants can benefit from being shielded by some of the outdoor elements.
The obvious things include snow, high wind, and low temperatures. But its also a good idea to prevent too much rain from over stressing your plants.
Outdoor Insects
Certain insects do wonders for plants. Bees can be a plant's best friend. But there are many other insects that are quite destructive and can cause havoc to your outdoor garden.
Spraying chemicals around your garden can not only damage your plants but it can also damage your own health if your not careful.
Keeping your garden safely stored inside the protective walls of a greenhouse is a great way to keep out the wrong types of insects from your garden.
A Controlled Growing Environment
We all know that you can't control mother nature. Instead of 20 days of great spring growing weather, you might have 20 days of extended winter weather.
Wouldn't it be nice to have nice and steady warm spring days to supercharge those seeds you just planted?
A greenhouse can provide you with the tools to create that nice warm growing environment even if mother nature decides not to cooperate.
The right greenhouse will allow plenty of light while retaining heat. This can be accomplished with a properly insulated greenhouse. On days when the outdoor heat is not adequate, you can turn up the heat inside your greenhouse.
By adding a heating element inside an already insulated greenhouse, you can retain that extra heat inside the greenhouse throughout the day and into the evening. You'll be amazed at how much better your plants perform inside the more stable greenhouse environment.
Protecting your Plants from an Unfavorable Climate
Unfortunately we can't all live in the perfect growing environment for our plants. Many people find themselves in very cold northeastern and northwestern areas that are known for particularly harsh winters.
These regions may still have good growing seasons in the spring and the summer, but the temperatures may not remain stable or high enough to make for a good growing season.
By using a greenhouse, you can take an average growing season and turn it into a much more favorable environment.
Maximize your Growing Results
Imagine being a new gardener. Wouldn't it be a much more enjoyable experience if you could learn how to grow your garden and be able have much better control of the outdoor conditions?
A greenhouse is a wonderful tool that can make your gardening experience far more enjoyable.
Imagine being able to experiment with a larger variety of plant types. A greenhouse lets you try out new plant types while also improving your results.
Greenhouse Examples
There are a wide variety of greenhouses available for people of all different skill levels.
Beginner gardeners are best suited with smaller sizes and more experienced gardeners may be better served with larger sizes to accomodate higher varieties of plants.
Beginner Gardeners
New Gardeners will benefit from smaller sized greenhouse kits that are portable and easy to setup.
The Early Bloomer greenhouse is a great option for beginners because of its small size and easy assembly. Solexx greenhouses include a number of great beginner options in sizes that range from 64 square feet all the way to 320 square feet for larger greenhouses.
PVC pipe greenhouse kits are very easy to assemble and surprisingly durable.
Intermediate Gardeners
If you have more experience gardening and really want to take your garden to the next level, the Riverstone Mont greenhouse line offers some great options.
Riverstone Monticello Greenhouses are available in multiple sizes and start at 64 square feet. These greenhouses are designed with polycarbonate glazing which offers superior insulation compared with glass greenhouses.
There is also a Premium version of the Mont greenhouse that includes a watering system, built in sink, an internal shade system, and a commercial work bench for additional storage space.
Also see our guide to Greenhouse sizes if you aren't sure what the right greenhouse dimensions are best for your garden.