Greenhouses - The Indoor Way To Enjoy Your Gardening
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
There is nothing to beat gardening as a hobby. You get all the exercise you need, and can tear up the health club card. By digging the ground, weeding and pruning, there is always something needing to be done. It is also an unrivalled stress and tension reliever. Not only will gardening make you live longer, it will make you look younger and keep you healthier.
Whats more gardening can be a hobby for anyone. With raised beds, even those in wheelchairs are able to plant, sow, and harvest their crops. Highly scented, or brightly coloured plants can make it an enjoyable jobby for those with fading eyesight. Gardening with a greenhouse will only improve matters.
There is nothing as satisfying as eating a tomato or carrot which you have grown from seed. Or, for that matter an apple picked from a tree raised from a cutting. Whilst you can do all this without a greenhouse, it is so much better with your own greenhouse. By learning how to build your own greenhouse, you will have even more satisfaction
A greenhouse gives you a controlled environment, which should be free from pests and deseases. Making it much easier to raise plants from seed. It also permits you to grow exotic plants, melons and grapes that would normally not survive in cooler climates. It is also possible to be harvesting crops all year round.
The most important aspect of greenhouse gardening is to keep the house free of pests and diseases. Seeing your fresh produce decimated by pests or growing mold just days before you wanted to harvest it can be a really heartbreaking experience. There are a number of simple preventative measures that will help you to avoid that bad experience with greenhouse problems. Remember, prevention is better than cure.
First is scrupulous cleanliness. If you see damaged plant material, such as a leaf with a dirty white or grey mould; pick it off immediately and burn it. Don’t allow your tools to spread diseases to other plants. Always dip secateurs and other tools in disinfectant after using them on diseased plants. Sounds simple, but many people forget this and worry that the mould is indemic.
Many problems can be simply solved just by improving ventilation.Humidity control is also greatly beneficial to controlling some greenhouse problems. Parasitic controls can be introduced to solve some pest problems.
When you have pests or deseases, try not to introduce harsh chemicals to cure them. The residue will last long after you have cropped the infected plants and could cause illness. Organic and Biological controls are generally to be favoured. Often something really simple such as a grease coates yellow card hung up in the greenhouse will solve a problem.(This is actually a cure for whitefly, which is attracted by the colour and sticks to it. A less messy way of curing white fly, however is to introduce biological control in the form of a parasitic wasp.
But don’t be deterred from greenhouse gardening by pest and disease problems. By using simple preventative measures, and just employing good housekeeping practices, you should have little trouble with pests and diseases.
You can even live with some pests rather than intervening, unless of course the maximum amount of cropping matters to you.
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