Growing your own plants at home can provide some relaxation and focus. There’s nothing quite as fulfilling as seeing your hard effort and time turn into flowers, vegetables, and fruit. However, it can be difficult to grow what you want if you live in an area with more strenuous weather conditions.
If it rains too much, that can kill off a lot of plants that thrive in drier environments. Too much sun can also prove deadly for certain species. A backyard greenhouse allows you to create the ideal environment for your plants so you can experiment with more exotic greenery.
Here’s why you should start a home greenhouse and how to set it up.
What Can You Do With a Backyard Greenhouse?
Starting a greenhouse backyard project is a lot of work, but there’s also a lot of potential. You could grow vegetables that you don’t normally see in your area or only thrive in certain seasons. There’s the option to fill it with beautiful flowers if your state or city has long winters that would normally kill them off.
One of your better options is to grow the fruits and vegetables you use most often. Try out tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, or eggplants. You can also grow smaller fruit plants like blueberries and strawberries in your own backyard.
Benefits of Backyard Greenhouses
Why bother investing in greenhouses for the home? After all, it may be easier to simply use that space to plant things that normally grow in each season. However, greenhouses bring much more to the table, including pest prevention and a therapeutic experience.
Controlled Gardening
The first benefit of a backyard greenhouse is that you’ll be working in a controlled environment. When you try to garden outside, you have to deal with wild animals, people, the weather, and more.
If something isn’t growing, it can prove difficult to nail down exactly what is going wrong. Your soil may need replacing, or there may be an infestation that’s eating away at your crops.
With a greenhouse, you supply the soil, the walls keep out the pests, and the roof keeps the rain out.
Protected from Weather
Weather is difficult to plan for. You can cover your crops before heavy rain, but the wind can blow off the tarp and the water can flood your yard.
One of the most challenging aspects to deal with is the temperature outside. It’s easy enough to heat or cool a greenhouse to the desired temperature.
You can heat your greenhouse with direct solar energy by having it act as a heat sink for your home. Buy an electric heater if you need help keeping it warm during cold nights.
As for cooling, active ventilation can help. You may also want to try out evaporative cooling, which uses a combination of cellulose pads, a water pump, water storage, and fans to cool the space.
Grow All Year Round
As a result of temperature control, you can grow your crops all year round. For example, the peak season for green bell peppers is from July through September. A backyard greenhouse can grow them throughout the year without issue, granting you access to fresh produce that hasn’t been frozen or preserved.
Food Supply
Since you can grow your crops all year long, that gives you a consistent food supply. It’s especially helpful if you like to cook at home and have staple ingredients, such as cilantro or habanero peppers.
In addition, you won’t have to use any dangerous pesticides to keep the bugs off.
Eat Healthier
It’s easy to go to the local fast-food chain and buy yourself a meal or get something microwaveable. However, those options are almost never as good as growing and cooking your own meals.
When you grow your food, you’re more aware of what you’re actually putting in your mouth. Since you control its environment, you know there won’t be nasty pesticides coating them or an infestation hiding inside.
Additionally, you’ll feel obligated to eat the food you’ve grown. Maybe you’ll even cook meals for your friends and family using the fruit and vegetables you’ve created.
Pest Control
A major reason why people fail to grow their gardens is a pest problem. You want to avoid spraying pesticides in your yard, but there is no other efficient solution if you want to have a backyard garden.
You’ll still get your share of pests inside of a greenhouse, but they’ll be much easier to control. You can also make sure the right kinds of bugs show up, such as ladybugs and lacewings.
Stress Relief
Gardening is widely known to help relieve stress and provide benefits for a person’s mental health. However, you can’t get much relief if you’re constantly fighting pests and struggling to grow your plants.
A gardener will feel much more relaxed knowing that their foliage is flourishing and growing as intended. It also feels good walking into your climate-controlled greenhouse on a cool winter day.
How to Start Greenhouses for Backyard
If you want to start your own backyard greenhouse, you can do so in a screen room. A screened-in porch may not give you as much control over humidity or temperature, but it can help keep bugs away and protect your plants as they grow.
Aluminum screen enclosures are especially good if you don’t already have one installed. Aluminum is durable, strong, and resistant to corrosion. It’s an environmentally friendly option that is made to last.
First-time greenhouse producers should start with some easier crops before taking on more needy options. When you’re ready to create your official greenhouse, take into account how many plants you’ll want, whether you’re placing it in direct sunlight, and whether you’ll need a drainage system.
Get Your Home Greenhouse Professionally Made
A backyard greenhouse is a great option if you want a hobby at home that will improve your mood and diet. However, you may have some trouble building it on your own if you don’t have any construction experience. You also don’t want to buy a cheap greenhouse that’ll corrode or get damaged.
Pyramid Aluminum is Tampa Bay’s top aluminum provider. We can help provide your building materials and construct your new backyard greenhouse. Contact us today to get your free estimate and to learn more about our services.
