When you buy greenhouses for your garden, you probably plan to put them wherever you have space, or wherever you think they’ll look most attractive. Stop. Positioning a greenhouse is more complicated than that. If you want to get the best out of it all year round, and if you want to reduce the risk of it being damaged by the elements, there are several other things you need to consider.

Protecting your greenhouse from strong wind is an important consideration, as this is a leading cause of broken panels - and, of course, one broken panel can cause the temperature in your greenhouse to plummet, killing all your plants. If your garden gets strong winds which usually come from the same direction, you may want to consider lean-to greenhouse types, with the solid wall of your house or one of your outbuildings on the windward side of offer protection. If any greenhouses for your garden are inevitably going to be more exposed, consider greenhouse types such as quonset greenhouse. The curved sides of this structure mean that wind has nowhere to latch on to - there’s no point at which pressure can build up to a destructive level.

It’s probably obvious that greenhouses for your garden should be positioned where they can get the most possible light, but what many people overlook is that this position changes during the course of the year. Often a greenhouse which gets plenty of light in summer can be in trouble in winter when the sun doesn’t rise as far above the horizon, meaning that a building which was not previously a problem puts the greenhouse in shade for much of the day. It’s important to calculate the angle of the winter sun and position your greenhouse with this in mind. Bear in mind that some greenhouse types, such as timber framed greenhouses, let less light in to begin with and so require still more careful positioning.

If you keep these factors in mind, you should have a much more successful gardening experience, no matter which greenhouse types you opt to use.

Most people use their greenhouses for keeping tomatoes, herbs and flowering plants, but some gardeners are tempted to try something a little more exotic. Banana trees and coconut palms can grow extremely well in a greenhouse environment, giving you access to fresh tropical fruit even if you live in a northern climate - but they grow fast, and need a lot of space. Of you want to keep exotic plants like these, it’s important to choose greenhouse designs which can accommodate them.

Starting off with small specimens, many people don’t realise just how big plants like this can get. Pruning them doesn’t really work - they’ll still keep growing upwards, often smashing through the roofs of inadequately sized greenhouses - at which point, of course, they get too cold and simply die. What’s more, they need to be tall in order to produce their optimum yield. This doesn’t mean that they’re impossible to keep in greenhouses, but conventional box greenhouses are clearly unsuitable.

Before you buy, ask your garden supplier how big the plants you’ve chosen are likely to become, and choose your greenhouse accordingly, allowing an extra foot of height in case your specimen does unusually well. Greenhouse designs like the gothic greenhouse are well suited to keeping taller plants, as they provide extra space without becoming unstable - a tall greenhouse needs to have a reasonable floor area as well, or it may suffer in strong winds.

A tall, leafy plant, properly cared for, can look amazing in your greenhouse, giving it real character. Be careful to choose and position your other plants so that they don’t suffer from being overshadowed by it. Some plants, when encountering such shadows, will grow taller themselves in an attempt to reach the light, though this may lead to them becoming unstable so you should be ready to support them with canes. Greenhouse gardening like this enables you to do something really different, and can give you years of pleasure.

Building a portable greenhouse can be a good activity for the whole family. Decide on a weekend for building the structure. To prepare for this activity, you need to buy your building materials beforehand.

What You Need

There are a number of things that you need to build a good portable greenhouse. First, you will need a design or a plan. You cannot build your greenhouse without any idea of what goes where. Aside from the design, you will need materials. You need some metal, PVC or wood materials for your frame, door and vent. Read some pros and cons of each type of greenhouse framing. Find light-weight materials for your frames. Remember that your greenhouse is meant to be portable not stationery so you need strong but light materials. Aside from framing material, you will also need UV resistant greenhouse plastic covering material. Research your greenhouse covering options to make sure you pick a covering that is best for your plants. Check the warranty on your greenhous covering as well to make sure you select a covering that will last.

Since coming up with a good design and shopping for the right materials can take time, you might want to buy a portable greenhouse kit instead. The good thing about buying these portable greenhouse kits is that they already have everything you need to build your greenhouse. Moreover, the kits come with instructions on how to put things together so you need not come up with your own design. Note that designing your own greenhouse can take a lot of time and effort on your part.

Having a greenhouse is all about concentrating sunlight to benefit your plants, isn’t it? That’s right; but sometimes it’s still possible to take it too far. Sometimes the sun is too bright, and the weather too hot, for too long, and greenhouse plants begin to suffer. Caring for greenhouses in the sun is as vital as protecting them in winter. Even if you live somewhere where really hot weather seems unlikely, it’s important to be prepared so that you can protect your plants from extreme exposure when emergencies arise.

Employing vents and cooling systems can be effective ways of reducing the air temperature in your greenhouse, but they can’t negate the effects of the sun’s direct rays. If you have a Solexx greenhouse covering, the light will be diffused and you will not have to worry about burning. However, with glass or polycarbonate greenhouse covering, the sun is magnified in intensity, and the sun can scorch and badly damage plants on summer days. The only way to protect against them is with screening. This can be employed either inside the greenhouse - for instance, by using pieces of cardboard to shield your most vulnerable plants - or outside, by covering greenhouse panels.

Some modern greenhouses come with clip-on covers provided so that you can easily attach shading to panels directly in the sun’s rays. If you don’t have these, an effective alternative is to drape the south facing side of your greenhouse with a shade cloth. The best type of shade cloth is reflective to keep your greenhouse from getting overheated.

Caring for greenhouses in sunny weather can require quick thinking, but it’s always worth being prepared so that you can act more speedily. If plants do become scorched before you can intervene, gently misting their leaves can help them to recover. Be ready to cut off any leaves which seem too badly damaged for recovery, as they may become vulnerable to infections. Make sure that damaged plants are kept safe from further scorching as they regrow.