A Hobby Greenhouse Will Get You Growing!
For people who would like to do more gardening but live
in a short growing season area, a hobby greenhouse is the answer. A hobby greenhouse is not large enough to
produce vegetables or flowers on a commercial basis. It will, however, give you a place for a
tomato plant or two and some fresh greens even if you live in the northern
regions. Greenhouse enthusiasts even
have their own association, called the Hobby Greenhouse Association, which
publishes a quarterly magazine. The
organization also sponsors events and helps individuals connect to get help
with the aspect of gardening that they are interested in, whether it's growing
cacti or saving seeds.
If you are in the market for a hobby greenhouse, there
are several types on the market. The
smallest type is not large enough to walk into and must be accessed from the
outside. It resembles an old-fashioned
phone booth made all of glass and outfitted with shelves. This type is designed to fit as many plants
as possible in as small a place as possible.
The shelves are made of glass to allow as much light as possible to
reach plants on the lower shelves.
Another inexpensive version of this sort of hobby greenhouse is shelving
covered with a zippered tent of clear plastic.
This sort of arrangement is great for the small-scale hobby gardener
wanting
place to keep her flowers or houseplant starts.
There are a variety of designs of hobby greenhouse that
are large enough to walk into but made entirely of clear glass or plastic. They are often about the same size as a small
storage building. Some independent
builders have started making these to sell locally. Among national brands, one of the nicest is
called the "Solar Prism." It
is called this because of its unique construction. This hobby greenhouse is made of a single
piece of durable clear plastic which is designed to work like tiny prisms side
by side. They trap the rays of the sun
and shoot them back into the greenhouse at all angles. For this reason, these little greenhouses are
said to glow when the weather is cloudy.
Better hobby greenhouses are equipped with automatic
sensors that open vents which allow ventilation and keep the interior
temperatures from getting too high.
These are a great labor saver, but can get expensive. Another benefit sometimes found in nicer
greenhouses is a built in irrigation or misting system. Members of the Hobby Greenhouse Association,
or HGA, have invented many interesting designs of greenhouses.
If gardening is your hobby, greenhouse growing will
interest you. With a greenhouse, you can
have the earliest tomatoes and salad greens all year. You can also start seedlings for the main
garden early in the spring when outdoor temperatures would kill them. A hobby greenhouse can be a good investment.
