A Garden Greenhouse Can Be Heated or Cold

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The home, or garden, greenhouse can be a simple, portable structure, or a permanent building. It simply depends upon your needs and what your expectations of the greenhouse are. A garden greenhouse is usually more expensive to heat and construct than a lean-to greenhouse. There are basically two types of greenhouses for the gardener to choose from.

A portable, cold greenhouse can be erected right in the garden. Using pre-bent metal hoops or PVC pipe, the greenhouse can be built to harden off seedlings and get an early start for seeds planted right in the garden. This type of house can either be left unheated, or use of a small electric or propane heater can keep light frosts from damaging plants. This type of greenhouse can be torn down at the end of the spring season and used again the following year, or to extend the fall season for some garden crops. The cold greenhouse can also be used to over winter perennial plants and shrubs for spring planting in the flower garden.

A permanent heated garden greenhouse structure can be glass, fiberglass, plastic, or plexi-glass covered. This type of structure may need a foundation for stability. Heating and irrigation equipment can be installed inside to make operation of the greenhouse easier. Benches are usually installed to grow the plants on to bring them up to a manageable height for the owner.

This type of greenhouse, if properly insulated and glazed, may be used to grow many different types of plants including tropicals and cut flowers for the home. With proper design, a greenhouse can be built to accommodate both types of greenhouse. One portion can be kept warm, a divider can separate part of the house to provide a cold environment for plants which need the colder, unheated conditions of a cold greenhouse. Indeed, many annual flowers produced for the spring garden, like petunias and pansies, benefit from growing in cold, sometimes slightly frozen conditions.

Heated and unheated greenhouses both play their part in producing and storing plants for the home gardener. And with proper planning, one structure can satisfy both needs while supplying wonderful plants for the home garden.

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