If you live in a temperate weather region and have a garden, you should try gardening in a cold greenhouse. It will extend the range of plants you can grow and will also extend the growing season. Whilst a heated greenhouse will give you an even larger range, it is quite costly to run and, because it will use fuel to heat it, will not be good for the environment.
Cold Greenhouse Gardening is very similar to gardening outdors. With a couple of differences.One of these exception is that you are in control of the amount of water plants get. Your watering system can be straigtforward and low tech, or more complex with high tech controllers. The traditional watering can, or hose-pipe is the simplest solution. If you don’t have a friend to water your plants when you are away on vacation, then an automatic watering system may be needed to maintain the health and vigour of your precious plants. It is worth considering a good watering system when you are designing your own diy greenhouse
There are a number of automatic watering systems for amateur gardeners on the market, performing in a similar fashion. Two of the least expensive and most accessible are a system which sprays water over the whole greenhouse and can be put on a timer and a system which continually drip feeds water to your plants.
The Spray System for Watering.
Sprinkler systems can be sourced from a number of suppliers. Several suppliers make individual parts which you put together to get exactly what you want. This is a very good system and does the job admirably. However, it can be wasteful on water since you water the whole greenhouse rather than just the plants.The clock turns the water on and off at pre-planned timings. This can occasionally cause overwatering or drying out, although this does not happen often. It does, however, provide a high humidity throughout the greenhouse, which can be a greta advantage.
The drip watering system.
Once again there are a number of suppliers of these systems. {A typical system consists of a water reservoir which feeds through increasingly smaller pipes until it reaches your plant where you have a small valve which allows you to control how often a drip goes onto you plant}. This means that you can vary the amount of water from plant to plant depending on their individual requirements. Since this sytem does not have a mains water feed, you will have to get a friend to fill the reservoirs when you are asay. It does mean that you don’t have to instruct them on how much to water each plant, just fill the tanks
This system is almost foolprof. It does not have any clcoks or controls to go wrong and is not subject to pressure changesfrom the tap. However, it does take time and patience to set up in the first place. It can become your permanent watering system, once set up, so you need never worry about keping your plants watered. It will save you a chore every day and will only need filling up once a week or so. The system is also very good for water conservation since you only apply water exactly where you need it.
An automatic watering system is especially important, since we always seem to take our vacations during the hottest part of the year, and in the high growth part of growing season. Automatic watering systems are one of those greenhouse gardening tips that you should carefully consider It saves you relying upon friends and neighbours to do the job for you. If they forget just a single day, your plants caould be irrevocably damaged. Either of the systems discussed here will repay their cost very quickly once set up, and both will do a good job. Both systems will last a number of years provided you look after them.
