The Novice's Guide to Buying a Greenhouse

Why should I buy a greenhouse?

If you are not sure if a greenhouse is right for you, you might want to consider what it can do for your life. In addition to helping you raise the best tasting, freshest food that you can find, it can enhance your life in other ways. Gardening is a mentally and physically therapeutic activity. The worries of life are easily forgotten when you are in a greenhouse with your plants. If your bones ache in the cold, they will love the warm moist atmosphere inside the greenhouse. Inside a greenhouse is the perfect place to be creative and you will harvest a great sense of satisfaction from helping plants grow and produce food and flowers.

Someone once said that “Flowers are food for the soul”. You will be able to feed both your body and your soul from inside a greenhouse and receive all the other benefits of owning a greenhouse. You can have fresh produce year round without worrying about getting sick from salmonella poisoning and save lots of money doing it. It can be a great thing to pass on to your children, and maybe even help them in science class.

You can use a greenhouse as a conservatory addition to your home, changing the climate, environment and life-style of the whole family, including your pets. They are great for growing oxygen-breathing green plants, entertaining, soaking up rays of sunshine, warming the bones of your arthritic old dog, having a glass of wine while you take a tour of your plants or plan your next creative gardening project. The uses of owning a greenhouse are nearly endless. An attached greenhouse can save you money on your heating bill, food bill, and help you contribute to the improvement of mother earth by shrinking your carbon footprint.

If you are still not sure you want a greenhouse, call one of our experienced Customer Representatives and ask them about a greenhouse that will fit your needs and budget. We live with greenhouses, we don’t just sell them. We know what they have done for us, and will enjoy sharing our knowledge with you.
Customer Care line: 1-866-567-0813.


Okay, Ive got my greenhouse, now what?

Once you have your new greenhouse put in place, you will probably want to get started using it right away. Most of the greenhouses come with benches so all you need to do is gather up some simple gardening tools to get started. If you are going to use your greenhouse for early seed starting, you will need something to put the seeds in that holds a growing medium, such as potting soil. You will want to have a "sterile" potting soil that is free of weeds and disease, which you can purchase at a garden shop or mix on your own using a mixture of half peat moss (or coir) and half vermiculite. Add water to moisten it and put into the pots that you are using. You can also opt to use peat pellets, little self-contained discs that swell when you put them in water and you can just put your seeds on the top.

Whatever pots you use, water from the bottom to avoid dampening of the seedlings. At this point, your seedlings do not need to be fertilized because the seed holds the food it needs to grow. If the weather is cold outside of your greenhouse, you can use a heating blanket under the trays of seedlings to keep them warm. This will really help them to get a good, strong start. Use a thermometer to check the temperature of the soil and water with warm water if possible.

We recommend the following books for further reading:

Greenhouse Gardener's Companion by Shane Smith

Gardening in Your Greenhouse by Mark Freeman