Your green house window is the culmination of a long path of development dating back to the Romans and coming up to the latest in polymers.

All these stages culminate in the modern green house window. This history is a fascinating path through technology and invention.

The History of Your Green House Window

Glassmaking is an ancient world art that really came to an apex in the Roman Empire. Yet, even they didn’t just wake up one day and decide to make a green house window. They mostly used glass for special containers, which harkens back to the actual origins of glass.

In the ancient world the most common containers were made of clay and pottery. Most of this pottery was plain, or painted after firing.

It wasn’t until later that the technologies of firing were developed to the heat levels for the modern glazes we think of now. These glazes are the closest relative of what we know as glass.

Romans had some of the purest glass of the ancient world, but even it had too many impurities to form a green house window. In fact, it wasn’t until much later that the idea occurred to melt cylinders of glass over a flat surface, often a pool of mercury to make panes of glass at all.

The choices for green house plants come in as wide a variety as there are plants. Yet there are special varieties that are more often found in green houses than other plants.  These varieties are most often determined by the region where the green house is located.

Outdoor plants for Florida would most likely need to be green house plants in Maine, for instance.  How do you choose which plants are best to be your choice for a green house plants.

Sort Out Your Green House Plants

When it comes time to make your final choices, the variety available can bewilder you and leave you without a clue as to which way to turn.  Following some basic guidelines can simplify the decisions involved.

We’ll try to look them over, but you need to remember that each gardener is different and just what you want from your greenhouse will be the strongest determining factor in just which green house plants are best for you to buy.

You should start by looking at just which plants you like. These will not all end up in your green house, but it does give you a clear idea of just what you would like to see in your garden, and gives you a basic list to sort through the other criteria to arrive at your specific green house plants.

Green house gardening is fast becoming an increasingly popular way to spend time, whether for business or personal reasons. Green houses are seemingly becoming all the rage even though they have been around for a long time.

A green house kit is literally defined as a building made of glass or plastic where plants are cultivated. Green houses are used for the growing flowers, vegetables, fruits, and tobacco plants.

Where to Find a Green House Kit

A green house kit is essential for greenhouse gardening, and there are many locations where you can find a green house kit to purchase for your own specific needs. The best way to search for a green house kit is to use the internet.

This is because the speed, accessibility, and thoroughness of the web will allow you to browse through a multitude of green house kit variations pretty quickly.

BcGreenhouses is one particularly well-known business that offers green house kits, as their manufacturers provide the finest quality glass and polycarbonate green houses and to suit every budget, climate and crop there is.

American Greenhouse Kit Company is another popular website which too offers green house kits, all at relatively low prices. Some of their selection includes:

More people are looking to the convenience of a green house misting system. They choose both the manual green house misting system and the automatic green house misting system.

There are particular reasons for looking at both, and it is a matter of looking at your needs and budget to decide just which is best for your green house.

The decisions don’t stop there; there are many other things to consider so you can have the information to make the best choice.

Choosing the Type of Green House Misting System

There are two basic types from which to choose your green house misting system. There are the manual and the automatic systems. These systems each have certain things to recommend them to the purchaser, and it would be good to know as much as you can about the two before buying one or the other.

The manual green house misting system is the basic system. The automatic system has been developed from it, so we can start with the basic system and work our way into the more complicated system.

Keeping your plants at the proper growing temperature is why you built a green house in the first place, but cold winters may demand the use of a green house heater.

Temperatures can vary in a green house greatly, even if insulated, and to ensure your plants don’t freeze to death you can use a green house heater.

There are numerous sizes and types of electric heaters available and depending on the size of your green house and the expected cold temperature will determine the size of the green house heater you need.

Whether you use a baseboard style heater, an overhead heater or a wall mounted one isn’t as important as just using a green house heater.

Proper Ventilation Helps Keep Constant Temperature

Use of ventilation in conjunction with a green house heater will also help reduce condensation build up and will reduce the likelihood of frost building up on the covering. Of course the efficiency of the heater will be determined by the insulating qualities of the outer walls.

Many growers are against using a ceiling mounted green house heater since heat rises and would probably be lost going out the top of the green house.

Just like building a house, for the price of building a controlled environment growing center you need to start with a green house building plan. There is a lot more to a green house than a few pieces of wood and glass and some of those considerations can be outlined in your green house building plan.

Most green houses are, in effect, free-standing buildings and will require a floor and something on which to attach the sides. Depending on its size, build into your green house building plan whether you can use wood or a poured concrete foundation.

If you use concrete with a row or two of bricks to raise the height of the green house, the top layer will need to be flat to make attaching the walls easier and more secure.

Using wood, the walls can be attached directly to the wood but this should be specified in the green house building plan whether you draw it up yourself or buy it from a professional service.

You can buy a green house frame kit at a local home and garden store, or you order one from a company that specializes in them and have it shipped to you.  Kits are available in many sizes and shapes, and you’ll easily find one that works in your backyard.

Green House Frame Kit Materials

Green house frames can be made of metal, plastic or wood.  Obviously, some green house frame kits are sturdier than others.  If your green house is to be a permanent structure, buy the best you can afford.

Steel, heavy-duty aluminum and wood are the most durable.  PVC frames can be sturdy, but plastic tends to get brittle with age and with heat-cold cycles.  The life span of a plastic frame is about ten years, max.

Plastic and PVC frames are great for temporary green houses and cold frames, though.  A simple collapsible plastic green house can extend your gardening season a month in the spring and a month in the fall.

You can erect the green house frame kit right over your garden space, and collapse it for storage when the weather warms up.

The quality of your green house building material will determine the overall strength and durability of your green house. Whether it’s aluminum, wood or PVC and what’s used as an outer covering will affect it.

Regardless of the shape and size the green house building material you use will also determine how long it lasts and how well it holds up, just as with any other construction project.

Frames are usually made of metal with high strength galvanized roll-formed steel or heavy-duty aluminum frames with baked enamel finishes. You will need to decide if the green house building material you choose for the side walls is to be load rated or non-load.

Sometimes local building codes have established specifications and unless you’re building a small unit, chances are you will need a building permit and will need to look over the requirements before you build.

There are basically four types of coverings used as greenhouse building material including tempered glass, polyethylene plastic, polycarbonate sheeting and double or triple thickness polycarbonate. Each one has advantages and disadvantages, depending on your location.

Building your own greenhouse is a great idea if you’d like to cultivate more exotic plants, get a head start on the growing season, or have fresh produce for longer than a normal outdoor garden can provide.

There are some considerations to take into account before you begin building and having a green house plan that covers all the points you need to is important. After all, you don’t want to put in effort and time into building something that you later find inefficient or even useless.

The Best Location for Your Greenhouse

One of the first things to consider in your green house plan is location and size.  How big do you want your greenhouse to be, and do you have the space to accommodate that?

If you’re aiming for something that will allow you to have tropical plants or ones that aren’t as hardy as others, then you may only need a small amount of space.

Even so, you’ll want to make sure your green house plan gives you enough space to move around freely.  Bumping into pots or having to constantly hunch so you don’t hit your head isn’t the ideal, and planning for height and space is important.

What is the Green House Effect?

The green house effect was discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824, and it is the process of the literal absorption of infrared radiation by an atmosphere and how it warms the planet.

It is the rise in temperatures which the Earth experiences due to certain gases in the atmosphere such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, for example.

These gases trap energy from the sun, and without these sorts of gases, all the heat would escape back into space and the average temperature of Earth would be about 60F degrees cooler.

The term green house effect can be used to refer to several things, such as the natural green house effect, that which is due to the naturally occurring green house gases, as well as the enhanced green house effect, that which results from gases that are emitted as a result of human activities.

The Earth receives an enormous amount of solar radiation, and the solar power from this which is hitting the Earth is then balanced over time by an equal amount of power radiating from it.