Thermophilic vegetables and those with a long growing season can be successfully grown under cover. Greenhouses have the most durable construction.Until recently, they were built with the use of garden glass and galvanized steel, now systems using aluminum and much lighter polycarbonate prevail.
The use of lighter materials allows for the production of taller greenhouses, and reducing the number of structural elements to the necessary minimum provides plants with much better sunlight. In amateur cultivation, small single greenhouses are usually used.
The basis of the greenhouse is the foundation that transfers the total load of the object to the ground.The foundation can be continuous or point.The first one surrounds the whole object, the second one is in the form of footings, which for small objects are usually placed at the object angles, and for larger objects, approximately every 3 m in a straight line.
The skeleton of the greenhouse is made of framers (constituting the basis of the supporting structure), purlins (forming the roof structure), and lamellas (connecting the panes) and ventilators (being the smallest structural element).
These elements are made of aluminum or galvanized steel, which can be painted white to improve the light conditions inside the greenhouse.For the construction of the structure, you can also use wood (made of larch or oak), necessarily impregnated, or plastics.In traditional greenhouses, the so-called horticultural glass.
There is a whole range of horticultural greenhouses available on the market, mainly made of polycarbonate or acrylic panels.They transmit light to an extent similar to glass, but they are half as light and much more resistant to mechanical damage.
Additionally, they are characterized by better thermal insulation, partially protecting plants against sunburn.The side and gable walls of the greenhouse can be double-packed to further reduce heat loss.The roof plane usually has a single fill (4 mm thick) in order not to worsen the light conditions inside the greenhouse.
In the roof slope, with a standard inclination of 30 °, ventilators can be placed.Small greenhouses are often equipped only with doors, which greatly reduces the possibility of airing.If you plan to use a greenhouse for growing cucumbers or tomatoes, it should be equipped with at least one roof vent to avoid plant burns.
Insulated and functional
To take full advantage of the greenhouse's benefits, it is beneficial to install a heating system, but with additional costs for both construction and operation. Heating pipes should be installed in the greenhouse floor and on the walls.Unheated facilities are also quite commonly used and enable the extension of the vegetation period for plants, the production of seedlings, but much later compared to heated facilities.
If we want our greenhouse to be fully functional, let's make sure that it is equipped with additional accessories, e.g. automatically opening windows, air vents or louvre windows.Many ready-made greenhouses also have systems of practical shelves - they can be used as a work table for quilting or transplanting plants, and as a place for their cultivation, thus increasing the acreage of cultivation in this small facility. Their price does not have to be excessive either. Ready-made greenhouses can be purchased for around PLN 1,500.
When designing or ordering a ready-made greenhouse, it is worth considering not only its purpose, but also its appearance.Traditional models have a cuboid, the more sophisticated are round or semicircular and connected e.g.with the building, serving as an orangery in winter.
Building small home greenhouses can be an interesting challenge for enthusiastic DIY enthusiasts.The most important issue, apart from the selection of materials, is a reliable calculation of the load resistance.Therefore, it is better to choose a lighter and more resistant to damage filling, for example polystyrene glass, polycarbonate plates or acrylic glass (plexiglass). The greenhouse should be built on flat ground, which evenly distributes the load and ensures proper light diffusion inside it.
