How to Build a Small Greenhouse

There was once a time when I was fully preoccupied with the thought of building a small greenhouse. It all came to pass and I have to admit, it was all worth the effort and it got me hooked on gardening until my once small greenhouse ultimately became a bigger one to accommodate all the plants I want to grow.

But I am getting ahead of myself. You have to know that I was solely interested in gardening myself. But having looked around some greenhouse kit, I made the decision to just learn how to build a small greenhouse so I can customize it myself and it's way cheaper than those kits available.

I did some research and in the process of building a small greenhouse, I learned of some of the things to consider in building my very own greenhouse.

LOCATION

If you want success in growing your plants, location is a major consideration. You wouldn't want a spot where there are deciduous trees or buildings that can potentially cast a shade on your greenhouse. Plants need exposure to the sun and in my experience, an area on the south or southeast portion is usually the best spot for sun exposure.

WEATHER

What sort of climate do you experience? Do you experience long summer or perhaps winter? Climate change is a major factor and in some cases, a major frustration in maintaining a stable temperature in a greenhouse.

PLANTS

What types of plants do you wish to grow? Different plants have variety of need. The greenhouse should provide the kind of environment that makes it suitable for optimum growth of the plants.

If you wish to grow lettuce, you'll need to maintain a cooler temperature and proper irrigation as lettuce needs plenty of water. On the other hand, if you wish to grow tomatoes you'll need to keep it moist but never over watered and it thrive more on warm soil.

HEATING, IRRIGATION AND VENTILATION

As discussed previously, different plants have different needs but the most important needs that the greenhouse has to provide are heating, irrigation and ventilation.

Ventilation refers to effective airflow. To achieve this, you may need to have some air vents installed. But usually, based on my own experience in building a small greenhouse, windows will usually do the job.

If you are planning to grow variety of plants, there should be some proper irrigation system in place to meet the water needs of the plants.

Heating is vastly dependent on the climate so depending on where you are located and the size of your greenhouse, heating can be achieved simply by using a cover that can retain heat like plastic for example. Otherwise, you may need to have some heating system in place.

DESIGN

Though you're just planning to build a small greenhouse, it has to have everything that's suitable to your needs as a grower. It has to be made of materials that's compatible with the weather. It has to have ample space to grow the plants you're planning to have.

Personally, I never had any problem in design. Once you determine the things you have to consider as discussed above, it'll be much easier to build a greenhouse that's very suitable to your preference.

In any case, I had the help of a very useful guide that takes me through the step-by-step process with its instructions to build a small, yet cheap greenhouse. I was even able to use some scrap resources I had in my shed. Of course, having some pictures along with the instructions vastly helped too!