If building your own greenhouse from a kit sounds daunting, don’t worry - it just got easier! There’s now no need to lift and balance heavy, fragile panels of glass. You can simply snap the greenhouse frame together and cover it with heavy duty polyethylene panels. Specially designed for the purpose, this modern polyethylene material will let in plenty of diffuse light, without as much trouble and maintenance as glass.

Over the past few years, greenhouse kits have been steadily growing in popularity. Greenhouses are particularly popular for the retired, who may not have the strength to handle heavy frames, so they have taken advantage of developing metals technologies to produce increasingly lightweight structures. These can be weighted down with stones or with stakes driven into the ground to secure them against strong winds. But while these improved frames are definitely a good thing, what about the panels? Plastic greenhouse panels has been available for a while, but have often proven to be problematic, being especially susceptible to scratching and other surface damage which cuts down the amount of light they admit.

More recent greenhouse polyethylene covers have worked around this problem. Soft and pliable, they are far less vulnerable to scratching. They also make greenhouse kits even easier to assemble, as they can simply be rolled over the frame and drilled into place. Although they’re lightweight and easy to work with, they’re still strong enough to support properly structured vents, so you can control the temperature and humidity in your polyethylene greenhouse just as you would in any other.

Polyethylene greenhouses are an excellent solution for people who want to explore working with greenhouse kits without all the difficulties of working with glass. As well as making construction easier, they give excellent results which you’ll enjoy for years to come.