How often do you see beautiful, well-kept gardens, where every corner has been meticulously tended. Except for the greenhouse. Too often, gardens are "decorated" with bland, generic, store-bought structures. We invite you to spark your imagination and create a greenhouse worthy of your beautiful garden, your own little piece of the tropics where heat-loving crops will thrive!
What to make it from
The choice of materials isn't vast, so there won't be any problems. Metal, wood, or plastic are commonly used for frames. Each option has its advantages. Metal is strong, durable, and allows for custom shapes. Plastic is weather-resistant, lightweight, and flexible. Wood is used less and less, but that's a shame—a wooden frame adds a decorative and sophisticated touch.
Glazing is even simpler – either polycarbonate or glass. Polycarbonate is lightweight, durable, and offers many decorative options. Glass looks more elegant and transmits light well, but it's fragile and heavy. The choice is yours.
Construction and glazing
When planning to build a greenhouse, first create a design on paper.
There are several important points to consider:
- The maximum area should be permeable to sunlight. Design the frame accordingly, ensuring that decorative appeal is combined with functionality.
- Try to integrate your future greenhouse into the overall style of your garden. Ideally, the glazing should match the other garden structures; this will ensure a harmonious look and avoid any discord.
- Don't forget about opening doors. They should be located at the top, at the end opposite the entrance, and in the side walls.
Greenhouse shape
We will suggest several directions in which your creative thoughts can move.
If your garden resembles a traditional estate, emphasize this style with a greenhouse. Take Gothic or Victorian conservatories as a model. Their slenderness and elongated lines will perfectly complement nearby arborvitaes and junipers, and glazed windows will look beautiful.
A greenhouse based on an octagonal frame looks spectacular. Such a structure can be enhanced with artistic forging elements and a decorative turret can be created on the roof. The result is a larger-scale replica of a patterned box, which could easily grace the most prominent spot in your garden.
If your property's style is more modern and minimalist, consider creating a greenhouse with clear geometric shapes. It doesn't have to be a classic parallelepiped. How about a pentagonal greenhouse, for example? Or two small greenhouses with pitched roofs, connected by a covered walkway?
Accommodation
The greenhouse should be located in a bright spot, away from tall fences, trees, buildings, or lush bushes. The ideal location is near a vegetable garden. For example, two symmetrical small greenhouses can be built at the entrance to the garden, resembling decorative pavilions. It's especially good to build a greenhouse near a house or recreation area—it will be convenient for harvesting fresh vegetables for the table.
Another spectacular, but more complex option is to attach a greenhouse directly to the house. This will create not only a place to grow fruits and vegetables but also a wonderful winter garden. And if you add a couple of armchairs and a small table, you'll have a truly unique seating area. Just imagine how cozy it will be to sip tea there in the winter while admiring the snowfall outside! However, achieving this requires a fair amount of work – a winter garden requires plumbing, water supply, heating, and lighting.
Foundation
If you've already decided on a location for your greenhouse and are confident you won't change your mind, build a durable structure and place it on a foundation that can be decorated with natural stone, porcelain stoneware, pebbles, and similar materials.
Decor
If you already have a greenhouse or have chosen a ready-made one, there's still plenty of room to get creative. For decoration, you can use bamboo, wrought iron elements, pebbles, thin ropes, and so on. Flower containers around the outside perimeter look great, and place pots with small ornamental trees or shrubs on either side of the entrance.
Painting
Try refreshing your existing greenhouse by painting the frame. Look around – the dominant color in your garden's decor is best used for the greenhouse as well. This approach will tie all the garden structures together into a unified composition. Another unconventional idea is to paint the greenhouse a bold black. This solution looks very stylish and distinctly graphic.
Lighting
Be sure to install lighting in your greenhouse. The benefits are undeniable:
- It's convenient. Even at night, you can stop by for fresh vegetables or herbs.
- It's incredibly beautiful. Your greenhouse will sparkle with new colors and resemble a glittering palace in the dark.
Mini greenhouse
If your property doesn't have space for a large structure or simply doesn't require one, you can build one or more small greenhouses. Making them portable is convenient, allowing you to move them to another location and store them for the winter.
As you can see, the choice is vast, and growing heat-loving crops can decorate your garden, giving it the sultry charm of the tropics.
