The Benefits of Having a Personal Greenhouse

Like many people nowadays, you may be trying to eat consciously and healthy, including buying only organic and local produce. There is much wisdom in buying local food since it reduces your carbon footprint and puts money in the pockets of hard-working local businesses instead of giant corporations. One of the downsides of buying local and organic food is doing so can be costly and often, the items you want to buy aren’t available because they’re not in season.

You can avoid the high costs of buying local produce, as well as the limited seasonal offerings of produce by installing a greenhouse in your own backyard! With a Toronto greenhouse garden, you can grow all of your favourite vegetables, fruits, herbs, and even flowers, no matter what the unpredictable Canadian weather brings. You can even create organic fertilizer from your produce scraps.

Having a personal greenhouse in the convenience of your own backyard provides the luxury of having a garden to tend to all year round. Regardless of whether or not you’re an expert gardener – you will quickly become one with your own greenhouse! – you can grow your vegetables and fruits without worrying about harmful pesticides or preservatives because you’ll be able to grow your produce organically.

Below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of having a greenhouse in your backyard:

A Greenhouse Is Protected

When you grow your plants in a high-quality greenhouse, your plants will be protected from outside elements. You will no longer have to worry about cold, windy or inclement weather destroying your plants.

Once you install a greenhouse, you won’t have to worry about how to prevent animals from eating your plants. Squirrels, rabbits, groundhogs, deer and birds are just some of the wildlife that love to nibble on your crops at night while you’re asleep! This problem can be eliminated with a greenhouse! Durable materials, such as maximum strength glass and aluminum, protect against weather, insects and animals. As a result, your plants should stay healthy and strong all year long.

A Greenhouse Allows for Variety

Do you want to grow exotic plants, herbs for cooking, and your own fruits and vegetables in your garden? Fortunately, you can grow all of these plants in a greenhouse. Owning a greenhouse gives you quite a bit of freedom because it is temperature and climate-controlled, allowing for many different types of plants to grow simultaneously throughout the year.

Unlike maintaining an outdoor garden, which gives you limited opportunities to grow items based on your geographical landscape and weather, a humid, warm, and shielded greenhouse can allow a wide variety of plants to thrive no matter what time of year.

A Greenhouse Means an Extended Growing Season

Many plants love warm and humid environments, which is why most plants thrive in a greenhouse space. In a greenhouse, the humidity and warm temperature are regulated, which ensures that plants are getting sufficient heat to grow. As a result, you can enjoy flowers, fruits and vegetables for much longer periods during the year than with a regular garden. Further, the stable temperature of the greenhouse causes much less stress to plants than inclement weather.

Disadvantages of Having a Greenhouse

As appealing as greenhouses sounds, there are a few disadvantages including the following

1. Cost to Heat – One of the major disadvantages of having a greenhouse is they can be expensive to heat depending on your heat source. If you are using an electric greenhouse heater, be prepared for increased electricity costs on your monthly bill. Consider skipping the heater and instead, using materials in your greenhouse with high thermal mass such as soil, brick and stone. For example, add pathways made from brick, stone or gravel; or add raised garden beds since they contain more soil. You can also add insulation on the north wall of the greenhouse since this wall will not block sunlight that pours through the south glass wall of the greenhouse.
2. Some Plants Require a Lot of Heat – If you want to plant tomatoes or peppers, keep in mind that they require a lot of heat, which leads back to point 1. If you want to save on heat, plant cold-hardy plants such as carrots, beets, kale, spinach, Swiss chard, peas, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, turnips, or green onions.
3. Lack of Pollination – Since greenhouses eliminate the entry of insects, you may not want to plant flowers or vegetables that rely on pollination such as _______.
4. Constant Monitoring – Plants in a greenhouse do not just grow on their own. You do have to constantly monitor them, as well as provide maintenance and care.

After reading the advantages and disadvantages of having a greenhouse, you can decide whether a greenhouse is right for you. Installing a greenhouse in your backyard can lead to an exciting new chapter in your life. You’ll reap the benefits of healthy, organic, and locally-cultivated food all year long.