Growing herbs in a mini greenhouse has many benefits
Have you ever wanted to set up an herb garden greenhouse in your own backyard? It may sound like an extravagant proposal. After all, can you really afford a greenhouse? Do you have the space? But year-round gardening may just be more accessible and affordable than you realize.
The benefits of greenhouse growing are numerous:
• You can extend the growing season, planting earlier in the year. A greenhouse protects plants from major temperature swings, retaining heat and moisture. This not only allows you to garden in the winter, but to enjoy and sell out-of-season produce. Whether you are gardening to put food on your own table, or you are doing it to make some extra income, that is a great boon.
• Protect your plants from pests such as caterpillars, snails, rodents, and larger animals that may be interested in eating your produce. Your plants should also stay safe from blight, so you don’t need to worry about the disease affecting the neighbor’s plants from infecting yours.
• Keep your plants safe from inclement weather such as blizzards, hail, high winds, and dust storms. A greenhouse makes it much easier to grow in unpredictable climates (the Midwest for example—which has excellent growing conditions overall, but all it takes is a single severe storm to wipe out an entire crop and force you to start all over).
• Prevent soil erosion resulting from flash floods or ongoing torrential rainstorms. You no longer have to worry about losing all your crops because of a sudden change in the weather, nor do you have to rush out to your garden at the drop of a hat to try and prevent damage from occurring. Your plants will be protected in the safety of the enclosure.
• Take pleasure in the joys of gardening year-round, no matter what the weather is outside. For many people, gardening is a relaxing, centering activity. Being able to do it throughout the year provides a sense of tranquility and well-being. This is a payoff which goes far beyond the culinary yields of your produce.
A greenhouse doesn’t have to be a significant structure like you would find at a commercial or botanical garden! It can be small enough to fit in a backyard with limited space. It doesn’t even have to be a walk-in model. You can easily purchase greenhouse kits which are designed to accommodate a small herb garden. One great example is the Palram Raised Greenhouse planter. This is a low-cost design which offers several unique benefits over more traditional models.
Do you actually need to go shopping for greenhouse frame kits, or can you build a small herb greenhouse on your own from scratch? You certainly can do it, and you can do it at a very cheap cost too (some people have erected greenhouses for $50 or less). See the following example from the DIY Experts at Hip Chicks.
Video: How To Build A DIY Mini Greenhouse For Under $50
We love this example due to the nice portable size which would be perfect for an herb garden.
If you aren’t keen on this type of DIY projects, a greenhouse kit is another option for you. A kit can make it easy for anyone to build an inexpensive greenhouse in their backyard. That is true whether you have a lot of experience with hardware or not. The kit provides you with all the materials you need. The parts are already ready; they just need to be assembled. The detailed instructions will walk you through each step.
Notice the ability to raise the greenhouse top and store garden supplies underneath
The kit above to the right is a unique product because it offers an alternative to the traditional walk-in model of greenhouse. The raised gardening bed can be placed literally anywhere—even on a patio or balcony—so it is perfect even if you are living in an urban environment. You could set this up even on the balcony of a high-rise apartment, so long as the balcony was large enough to accommodate it. All the plants are at just the right height for easy reach, making it an excellent choice for elderly and disabled gardeners.
The panels are made out of polycarbonate and are built to be extra-strong. They can even protect your plants from hail. They lock in heat and moisture, providing a safe, sheltered microclimate which is ideal for growing plants in and out of season.
So if you have been on the fence about getting into backyard gardening, or you have been looking for a way you can take the gardening you do already to the next level, you really have no more excuses! A backyard or patio greenhouse is something you can afford—and it is something you have the space for, even if you do not have a yard at all.
Once you get set up with it, you will find that it can reduce the amount of work you need to do throughout the year. Greenhouses can make gardening easy and fun, and is perfect for beginning gardeners and long-time gardeners alike.