Greenhouse Design - Four Types That You Can Easily Build Yourself

Once you have figured out what you will primarily be using your greenhouse for it's time to select the best greenhouse design to meet your specific needs. Greenhouse designs basically fall into two categories: Either freestanding or attached to an existing structure (like the south side of your home). Below is a general overview of four different greenhouse designs that can be built without an intensive financial or building commitment.

A-Frame Greenhouse: This greenhouse design has definitely garnered a reputation for ease of construction. The roof and walls can be made in various sections on the ground and then raised and joined in place. This design does particularly well in areas that receive a lot of snow because of its ability to shed large build-ups. Headroom can become a problem with A-frames, so you might want to consider building a short vertical wall that the frame can rest on. This will really help out with hanging plants, plus you'll have a place to add extra ventilation.

Barn Style Greenhouse: This design is similar to a conventional vertical sided greenhouse, but because it's walls slope away at an angle it is able to cover more square footage at the base. This makes it ideal if your primary focus will be growing plants in beds versus growing stuff mainly in pots on shelves. Due to the fact that the walls are angled it can be a little tricky to attach shelving to them. Because of its conventional style roof, the barn style greenhouse usually has a lower height than an A-frame.

Arched Roof Greenhouse: Can be either a hoop-style or gothic-arch greenhouse. Of the two, the hoop design is the easiest and cheapest to build. Its roof line looks like an upside down U. The gothic arch greenhouse is similar but has curved sides that are connected at the top with a ridge-board. Both designs have the advantage of covering a lot of ground for the least amount of money, plus they let a lot of light in to every part of the structure.

Lean-To Greenhouse: These are the kind that you attach to your home or dwelling. One of the main advantages to building a lean-to house is the savings you get over building a free standing structure of the same size. The fact that it's so close to existing plumbing, electrical, and heat sources also makes this style ideal for many green thumbs. Just be sure to have a door that does a good job of blocking it off from your home (especially in the summer), and plenty of ventilation to compensate for the extra humidity that will come from the home during winter months.

There is certainly a large variety of greenhouse styles to choose from. If cost is a major concern for you, remember that it's available to add on to the structure at a later time when you can spend some more money. A good greenhouse design is usually easy to modify in this way. With that said, I would encourage you to build as large a greenhouse as you can, because if you're like me, you'll quickly grow into that space in no time. Such is the life of a greenhouse gardener.