The Small Greenhouse Place

Among the many different styles of greenhouses, the lean-to greenhouse can range from a quickly-built temporary lath-and-poly shelter for hardening off seedlings, to a solidly-built extension to the house with a foundation, heating, etc etc.

Between those extremes, many people find that a kit-built or ready made lean-to greenhouse is easy to build and extremely useful. The most important point to consider is the location – which way the greenhouse will face once it’s built. Since it only has one side and half a roof to collect sunlight instead of two sides, it’s very important that it get plenty of sun for as much of the day as possible (though in some locations, afternoon sun may be too hot).

Some lean-to greenhouses are large enough that you can walk inside through a door at the end, others are smaller and accessed through the side. With a larger lean to greenhouse attached to the house, you can have a door from the house straight into the greenhouse, which is wonderful when the winter weather outside is frightful. It also allows the house to benefit in winter from the warm damp air from the greenhouse.

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If you use your garden greenhouse to overwinter plants which can’t stand frost, then you’ll need some method of heating it – usually a greenhouse heater. If it’s attached to the house you may be able to hook in to the home heating system or simply leave a door open between the house and the greenhouse, but freestanding greenhouses need some kind of heat source if they are to stay above freezing when the outside temperatures drop below. There are ways of using natural heat sources like compost or small livestock, and you can reduce the extra heat needed by using water or rock as a heat sink to store daytime heat, but many people install a greenhouse heater of some kind.

Along with the greenhouse heater should come insulation: there’s no point having all your heat disappear through uninsulated walls and glazing! You’ll also want a min-max thermometer to keep track of temperatures, and possibly a thermometer that has a remote readout in the house so you can really keep a close eye on things. See below for details on these.

Greenhouse Heater Fuel Types

The most common greenhouse heaters run on electricity or propane, but depending on your location you may also be able to get kerosene (paraffin) heaters, oil heaters or natural gas heaters. Electric, oil and natural gas heaters require that you have electricity, oil or gas supplied to the greenhouse, whereas propane or kerosene heaters can be freestanding and portable (though propane heaters can also be permanently installed and piped to a large propane supply tank outside the greenhouse). Occasionally people install wood or pellet-fired stoves in greenhouses: like oil or natural gas these need a flue or chimney for safety, and are most often installed against a solid wall. Check local building regulations to find out whether you have to have venting for combustion-based heaters.

Greenhouse Heating System Features

Whatever heat source you use, there are some things you want your greenhouse heater and associated heating system to have.

• A way of distributing heat around the greenhouse (reflectors or fans)
• Temperature control (thermostat)
• Automatic turn-off feature during a malfunction or emergency
• System for handling fumes or combustion gases, if any

Electric Greenhouse Heaters

These heaters generally range from 1000 – 3000W depending on your power source (120V or 220-240V) and will put out around 5000 – 10,000 BTU’s, enough to heat up to a 275 square foot greenhouse.

There are different designs but most come with indicator lights, overheat and tip-over shutoffs. If you want to add a thermostat you’d need to wire that separately to control the heater – consult a qualified electrician.

Good points of electric heaters are that they do not give off any fumes and thus can’t damage plants that way, they are very easy to install if you already have power in the greenhouse, they are portable, clean and quiet. You need to watch where the fan is blowing hot air – it’s better if it doesn’t blow directly onto plants – and be very careful that the heater and the wiring can’t get wet. If you have a large area to heat you may be better off with several smaller heaters than one large one, so that the warm air is distributed more evenly around teh greenhouse.

Propane Greenhouse Heaters

Propane heaters come in two types – those which can be used in an enclosed area, and those which must be vented. The ‘closed area” type have a low-oxygen shutoff system which means that they will not continue to burn under conditions which might cause production of poisonous carbon monoxide.

Smaller models can run off the small 1lb camping propane cylinders but this is very uneconomical if you need to run the heater for extended periods. An alternative is to use a heater which can attach to a large cylinder like those used to run BBQs, using a hose. Commercial-size models might be better attached to an exterior propane tank such as those used to supply home heating and kitchen appliances.

Small propane heaters are quiet, portable, lightweight and odor-free (unless, like me, you hate the smell of the propane itself!). Some can be wall-mounted as well as floor-standing.

Other Greenhouse Heaters

If you have a large home greenhouse or a commercial-sized one, then you might want a fixed, permanently installed heater which runs on oil, gas, propane, pellets or wood. These need a chimney or flue, and are often installed against a solid end wall of the greenhouse with overhead ducting to carry the warm air all the way along to the other end.

Greenhouse Thermometers

Your basic minimum and maximum thermometer will tell you the current temperature and the minimum and maximum temperature reached since you last reset it. They come in old-fashioned glass/mercury or glass/alcohol styles (which are prone to breaking) or as digital thermometers, which are easier to read and less breakable but need batteries.

An upgrade is to get one which has a remote sensor in the greenhouse and an indoor display. These have now come down to a very reasonable price, at least if you don’t need a long transmission range, and I think are worthwhile.

Some even have an alarm which will wake you from your sleep when frost threatens, so you can leap from your bed, run outside and spread blankets over your beloved plants. A delightful prospect, but possibly better than losing a lot of hard work!

You may have the pleasure of making your own greenhouse. You may select from various designs and sizes you would like to create. Greenhouses, whether these are commercial greenhouses or for just home improvement, give you comfort whenever you attend to your plants, vegetables, flowers, and orchids. It also gives the needed sunlight and humidity for these plants. You may relax and enjoy each time you visit a place where you have exerted all your time and effort in building you own greenhouse.

You may save more money if you plan to build a small greenhouse- of course, greenhouse management is necessary. There are supplies and materials that you can utilize in order to build your own greenhouse. which should be just enough according to your allocated budget. If there is enough space that can cater a larger greenhouse, which is more advisable because you may maximize the place where you want to develop more plants and vegetables.

But how to build a greenhouse, by the way?If you really want to build a greenhouse where he can develop and propagate more plants, you may consider different factors that would be necessary on the type of greenhouses you would like to build. Here are some tips and factors you would like to consider in building you own greenhouse.

1. You may think of using salvage materials if you intend to make a larger greenhouse. You may utilize these materials in designing and planning for a low cost budget greenhouse. This will also help you lessen the expenses of the other supplies and materials required.

2. You should also consider the climate of the place where you live. An insulated greenhouse should be necessary for cold climate areas. This will help you give the needed warmth and heat for your plants. For warm places, a greenhouse that has a shade control is be advisable.

3. You also need to make sure that your greenhouse will be developed with appropriate air circulation spaces, ventilation, pest control soil, heaters for winter season, and humidity control devices. You may develop an environment that would be appropriate for the types of plants that will grow in the greenhouse.

4. The area of the greenhouse should be developed where there is enough sunlight. You may select a solar greenhouse for vegetables and exotic fruit bearing plants if you would like your greenhouse to be situated on the east-west part where your place is more exposed to sunlight.

You can develop and grow all sorts of plants with a versatile greenhouse. You may also grow from the grown plants to fill the greenhouse with a variety of plants. Building your own greenhouse will be more enjoyable if it is done with the help of the family and friends.

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For more information, visit http://www.greenhousemanagement101.com/

Article Source: Populate.net

By Clair Schwan

Now is the time to build a greenhouse — a quality homemade greenhouse. Start growing vegetables year round and free yourself from the ever rising cost of produce. That’s exactly what I have done.

A quality homemade greenhouse isn’t difficult or expensive to build — I’ve constructed three different designs with no previous experience. All are well built metal and wood structures that will last a lifetime. If you are serious about growing vegetables and you want to save money, then you should seriously consider building a quality homemade greenhouse.

Here is how I built my second homemade greenhouse. It started as a large patch of weed infested ground, and now it’s a nice strong hot house that serves me year round. The idea was to create two 3 foot wide by 36 foot long raised beds with a sunken walkway in between. A metal and wood frame greenhouse would then be built on top.

I dug it. The first steps of the process involved creating the sunken walkway that would run between the large raised beds. This was done with a backhoe and skidsteer. The backhoe dug out most of the walkway, and the skidsteer was used to do the final digging and smooth out the floor of the walkway so it would be level for the walls of the raised bed.

The walkway was dug plenty deep, about 5 feet, to allow for high walls and a deep bed of sand to cover the walkway. It also had to be excavated a little bit wide so the walls could be installed and lined with corrugated metal to keep the power poles from touching the soil in the raised bed. Outside and end walls were also constructed in a similar manner.

The upper story. The basic design of the greenhouse is similar to a single car garage. The walls are vertical and 5 feet tall. The roof is 10 feet from eave to ridge with a 45 degree pitch to capture light and shed snow. Metal tubing is used for the walls and rafters, with 90 degree EMT conduit elbows used at the ridge to connect the rafters. Metal tubing is also used to create purlins, angle bracing for the walls, and diagonal bracing across the structure.

Chain link top rail serves as the primary metal tubing for construction. It is light, easy to work with, inexpensive and readily available at the local home improvement store. Chain link fencing end clamps are used extensively to fasten together walls, top plates and rafters. Walls are secured to the power pole foundation by drilling holes and pinning them in place with lag screws. Diagonal bracing is secured to the power pole foundation with large spikes.

The ends of the building are constructed from 2 by 4 lumber painted white. Vents and an exhaust fan are installed, both controlled by a single temperature switch. The building is covered with woven ripstop poly in three pieces. One piece for each end, and a single piece that covers the walls and roof. The poly is stapled to the wood ends, and held in place across the structure by plastic lath and self-tapping screws.

Note: this project required 2 people and heavy equipment because of its size and the heavy materials used in construction of the base. If you build something similar without heavy equipment, you can limit the challenges by choosing lighter materials like railroad ties at 80 pounds a piece, making the beds shorter, and making the sunken walkway more shallow.

The finished greenhouse is now in full production. In the summer we grow two dozen summer and winter squash plants, and about 20 cucumber plants. In the winter we grow kale, broccoli and Brussels sprouts, about 8 plants each. All of the resident vegetables seem to enjoy the warmth that the enclosure provides, and the high winds out here on the prairie don’t have a chance of drying out our precious crops.

Clair Schwan is an experienced vegetable gardener and has constructed 3 homemade greenhouses from local building materials. He has eliminated the high cost of produce by growing it himself. As part of his frugal and self-reliant lifestyle, he grows over 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables, and extends his vegetable gardening season to a year round adventure. Get detailed how-to discussions, tips and photos about building greenhouses, growing vegetables, and vegetable gardening at http://www.frugal-living-freedom.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Clair_Schwan
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