Everything about the greenhouse

• Admin
• March 28, 2024

Nowadays, the garden is our place for recreation and relaxation. We have a pool and furniture that demonstrates fashion and luxury. We even have an office in the garden where we carry out our usual activities. Although we are surrounded by everything we need, we constantly complain about the quality of the food and we strive more and more to eat healthy. Healthy eating has become a top priority for people all over the world, but this process is related to growing organic food. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to grow our own food, as the nature around us is no longer the same as before. Growing vegetables and fruits outdoors poses risks to crops, as temperature fluctuations combined with acid rain can destroy or degrade the quality of your crop. Fortunately, there is already a solution to this problem. Covering the arable area in the garden can protect your produce. This is done with the help of a greenhouse. In this way, you can grow organic fruits and vegetables yourself. However, let's take a closer look at this construction.
Before placing a mini greenhouse in your garden, it is very important to determine what crops you will grow, as well as what time of year you will grow them. Is it in winter, summer or all year round? Another important thing is the location of the greenhouse. Do your crops need more shade or more sunlight? The questions are many and the answers are few. Don't worry because we are here to help you. The purpose of the greenhouse, regardless of whether it is small or large, is to create a sustainable and favorable climate for the vegetables, fruits or flowers that we will grow. What material to choose for a greenhouse?

The material from which the greenhouse is made must meet several criteria.
1. First of all, the structure must be durable and not bend under the influence of strong winds, therefore it is important to choose a strong and resistant metal for the structure itself.
1.1 Metal construction for a greenhouse. The metal frame for a greenhouse has countless many advantages. First of all, it is a strong and durable material that can withstand even the worst weather conditions. However, the only drawback is the corrosion caused by the moisture of the metal, so in order to take advantage of all the advantages of this material, it is good to treat it with special preparations before covering the greenhouse.
1.2 Wooden greenhouse. Wood is not inferior in strength to metal. It is an ecological material that has the ability to regulate the humidity in the greenhouse by itself as long as we do not water it every day. However, this is impossible with some crops and regular watering can damage the tree over time. Treating the tree would help fight its biggest enemy - moisture, but unfortunately this would only slow down the destructive processes.

2. Secondly, you need to choose a suitable cover for the greenhouse. It must provide adequate light as well as strength and protection against hail and precipitation. Here you have 3 options:
2.1 Nylon covering, but not ordinary nylon but polyethylene. It is an inexpensive but extremely effective material for a greenhouse. There are, of course, more expensive options, which have threads built into their structure, which play the role of "armature", which makes it even more resistant and difficult to break. A greenhouse made of polyethylene can easily provide shade to the plants. It is enough just to spray the surface of the nylon with slaked lime. Another advantage that this material has is its ability to fit absolutely any shape of the greenhouse. The disadvantages here are that this material is not a good insulator, and if you decide to grow heat-loving plants in the winter, it will be difficult for you to warm them. Also, great heat or frosty days change its structure, i.e. in the summer the material becomes looser and looks "stretched", and in the winter it shrinks and tightens. Another disadvantage of this material is that before placing the nylon on a structure, it is good to wrap and treat each iron element with something soft, because in our greenhouse there will be moisture, which can cause corrosion in the metal (if it not processed properly) and he, in turn, to tear the nylon at their points of contact. When choosing the size of the nylon, be sure to take at least 1 meter longer than what you measured, because the installation is done by digging into the ground, i.e. we stand at one end of the greenhouse and dig at least 50 cm of it under the ground, then we stand at the other end end, we stretch the nylon so that it adheres tightly to the structure and bury again.
2.2 Polycarbonate greenhouse. This type of greenhouse cover is much more resistant than polyethylene and its service life is really impressive. The price is of course higher, but it offers much better insulation for your future organic products. Such a greenhouse does not retain moisture on its surface. Another advantage of this type of mini greenhouse is that in the winter you can easily install some type of heating without disturbing the structure of the covering. In most cases, the greenhouse arrives from the store ready-made, i.e. you only have to assemble the elements. Of course, there are disadvantages. In the summer, for example, it can get really hot inside, so you need to provide windows and doors that provide good ventilation. Also, polycarbonate is difficult to work with, i.e. it comes pre-bent and if you need to replace a panel, you will have to order it with the same bend angle, which will cost you money.
2.3 Glass greenhouse. The transparent glass greenhouse is not new on the market. This is one of the best ways to grow vegetables indoors. The glass has a high transmission of sunlight and has excellent thermal insulation properties.The thickness of the glass is usually about 4 mm. Adding the long life of this material makes it easily one of the most preferred on the market. It is easy to install steam or other heating means on such a greenhouse, because the frame of the structure allows it. However, you should monitor the temperature inside with a greenhouse thermometer, because summer can get really hot inside. The only drawback here is that the glass is not cheap and breaks easily from hail, for example.

3. The greenhouse can have a different shape.
3.1 House-type greenhouse. This is the most common form. Torn nylon can easily be replaced and it is also possible to "glue" many greenhouses together, which is not possible with tunnel greenhouses and therefore wastes space that could be used to grow a few more plants. Any material can be used for the construction of this type of greenhouse.
3.2 Tunnel-type greenhouse. It is also one of the most widely used forms. This type of form has extremely easy assembly and disassembly. The advantage here is greater resistance to winds, because of the shape, which makes the wind simply "slide" along the surface without affecting the entire structure from the front. It can be made of pre-bent metal pipes or truss-type construction. However, if you have a large area and want to place several such tunnels, it will be necessary to leave a distance of about 1 meter between each of them, which will result in the loss of potentially cultivated space.