Garden furniture comes in all shapes and sizes and can make a huge difference when it comes to enhancing your garden. We take a look at one of the most important buildings you can add to your outside space and how you should choose one that meets all your gardening needs.
We’re talking, of course, about the humble garden greenhouse, a humid haven to grow fruit, vegetables and tropical flora and fauna.
How do you choose your perfect greenhouse? Let’s take a look.
Style and Space
You are, of course, going to be limited by the size of your garden but if you’ve created some room and want to prioritise your greenhouse footprint, then what you’re really concentrating on is finding the style that suits your exact needs.
Start with looking at greenhouses that are at least six feet wide to let in the maximum amount of light and give you the maximum amount of space. If you can go wider you will give yourself more opportunity to add more benches and shelving.
Materials
There are plenty of shapes to choose from too. If you have an existing wall that gets a lot of light in the day, it’s perfectly acceptable to build a greenhouse using this wall, which has the added advantage of having the bricks keep warm to provide even more heat.
Alternatively you may choose a hexagon or octagon shape, which can be very useful if you’re struggling for space in your garden.
The more traditional victorian greenhouses come in a variety of materials from aluminium to hard wearing timber, that may require a little more upkeep.
You’ll also have to choose which kind of glass you’ll want installed. Traditional greenhouse glass is easy and cheap to replace but there are alternatives including a strengthened version; a good option if children and footballs also share your outside space.
There are also non-glass versions that let in a little less light but are good for retaining a constant temperature and tend not to shatter as easily as the glass versions.
Once you have your favourite greenhouse design firmly in mind, you’ll need to dig your foundations or have someone do the hard work for you. Choose the spot in your garden that gets the most sun during the day for the longest time if possible. It is entirely possible for a confident DIY-er to build the greenhouse themselves but equally fine to have someone erect it for you.
Then all you have left to do is the fun part. Start your growing season with beautiful unusual flowers or start off those cuttings in a warm, protected environment and watch them bloom, ready to transfer to the garden. Your tomatoes will never grow as fast as they do in your new greenhouse and your exotic palms will feel right at home in the humid environment.
Spend a little doing some research and you’ll soon be well on your way to gardening glory with a greenhouse that ticks all your boxes.
