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How to Get Started With Small Indoor Green Houses

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If you’re stuck in an apartment or have a small yard, you probably wish you had more room for a nice green house. It’d be nice to have lush plants growing outside in your yard, but since that’s not a possibility, you’ll have to go with an alternative option. Fortunately, there are products available for creating small indoor green houses. There are plants that do grow well inside, and you should be able to find some that will fit inside your apartment or home.

You can even keep some plants in your basement. Some small indoor green houses can be ordered in packages with light accessories. It might be a bit confusing at first, especially when dealing with hydroponics. The good news is that indoor hydroponics is easier to deal with than outdoor, so you just need to watch a tutorial video or read an instruction guide to figure out how to get the soil and lighting settings adjusted correctly. They can’t be over-lighted or under-lighted, so you’ll have to learn how to adjust the settings for all the plants.

The great thing about small indoor green houses is that they don’t attract as many bugs as outdoor green houses. You also won’t have to worry about them being destroyed in harsh elements. Nevertheless, you still need to make sure they get the right type of soil and light. Once they’re set up properly, your indoor plants will grow quickly.

The simplest, cheapest indoor plants are the ones that can be placed on a windowsill. They are a great choice if you’re looking for something simple to start with, and you can get them for less than $20. All you have to do is make sure they get adequate sunlight and water them often. Some indoor plants come with covers to help maintain moisture. You can order kits that contain settings for controlling humidity levels and temperature.

Growing racks are perhaps the most popular small indoor green houses. They are shelves that have a protective covering and built-in lighting. They come in a variety of sizes and styles, so you should be able to find some racks that look great in your home. The models come in two to four racks, and you can place them on a table or floor. You can also order a corner unit if you want to keep them in the corner of your home or basement.

All in all, having a small indoor green house inside your home will give you a chance to be creative. You can grow flowers, fruits, spices, vegetables, etc. There is a lot to choose from, and you need to make sure you get the right type of plants for your home. Whether you want to keep them on a table, windowsill, or basement, you need to find out what plants will grow best in your indoor environment.

Marie Davis is an herb expert and indoor herb gardening enthusiast. Find out more about setting up your own small indoor green houses at indoor herb gardening.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marie_Davis

Build Your Own Green House – Green House Design Made Simple

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Having your own green house nursery is a dream of many gardeners. Imagine being able to walk through your own garden full of herbs and vegetables and beautiful plants protected from the elements and roving destructive insects and animals. If you have a green thumb this could be your idea of heaven and construction is not that hard which makes this an attractive project to get into.

Building a greenhouse requires first of all a decent amount of room, at least 10 meters by 20 meters is a good size but you can go much larger if you choose. The more compact the cheaper and easier of course but if you want small you can always get a DIY green house kit but the limitations on these are quite restrictive.

Next you need your materials:

-Wooden poles to construct doors and frames for each end of it and if quite a large greenhouse you may need more to prop up the roof. A strong end structure and centre are vital for sturdy construction. Make sure the wood is treated however as it can get quite damp and you do not want it to rot.

-6mm clear plastic, enough to cover the entire area of your greenhouse. Getting more than you need is ok as you may need to replace some sections as time goes on.

-Enough PVC piping to create the structure for the green house like a rib cage curving from the ground one side to the other. This is done in pieces not one long piece.

-Metal stakes, this is for hammering into the ground for a solid base for your PVC piping which then slide onto it to hold it in place.

-Duct tape, an essential part of any handyman’s kit! You will need to use a fair bit of this to join pieces together.

-Hammer, nails and so on

While you may need a few other bits and bobs this is the main structure for your greenhouse. You will need to use the wood to create the doors and ends of the greenhouse making sure they are well propped up by hammering them deep into the round or by having some wooden poles propping the structure up on a 45 degree angle from the frame.

You then need to hammer the metal stakes into the ground at even intervals between the frames keeping them about 2 meters apart is about right. The metal stakes must line up on the left and right side also of course.

Once the stakes are on you can slot the PVC piping onto the metal stakes giving the PVC a good solid structure at the bottom so it can hold up your roof. Bend the PVC piping as much as you can so it makes a U shape over the top of where the green house will be and slide the other end into the metal stake at the other side.

This may mean you need to cut the PVC into smaller sections and use some small PVC flexible joiners you can buy from any hardware store.

By now you should have the frame for it and quite a study one. Now you need to put the plastic cover over your green house. This can be tricky and you may need to cut lengths to fit but using your duct tape and measuring well you should be able to create a cover for the whole structure and keep it in place with more duct tape or even by plastic ties if you choose, the cover must be attached to each piece of the structure so there is no movement. Do not forget to cut a door in the cover also!

The cover can be held in place at the ground by good duct taping or by some large heavy rocks; some have used tent pegs to tie it to the ground but whatever works best for you.

You now can build your own and can bring in all the extras you need to tend your green house nursery!

Do you need more information on how to build a greenhouse?

Do you want to know the best green house gardening methods?

Click here to find out comprehensive information about green house construction and maintenance! http://homegardenstyles.blogspot.com/2007/11/complete-guide-to-building-your-own.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Porteous

Green House Plans: Why Get LEED Certification?

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LEED certification potential is the ideal way to assess green house plans, principally because it is comprehensive. Instead of focusing on a certain area of construction and design, LEED certification covers at every facet, including indoor air quality, resource use, land issues and construction materials. Moreover, the certification process requires meticulous attention to detail. LEED certification is not easily won; to earn it, the result of sustainable house plans must be tested and inspected. Given all of this, it’s no wonder that LEED certification is considered the zenith of sustainable home design.

Green house plans for LEED certification aren’t just good for the planet – they’re also wonderful for the people who end up living in the homes they describe. People who have lived in a house constructed from green house plans can vouch for the following advantages of LEED certification:

1. Reduced water and energy costs. Sustainable home design must provide significant energy and water savings in order to qualify for LEED certification. As an example, one way green house plans achieve improved water efficiency is by including rain gardens that harvest free water.

2. No toxic off-gassing or other fumes. Paint, vinyl and other traditional construction materials may release toxic chemicals. Vinyl off-gases have been found to contribute to cancer rates. To avoid noxious materials, the “Materials and Resources” section of the certification process confers points for selecting toxin-free, environmentally friendly materials. You can be confident that your family will be safe in a home built from green house plans.

3. Exceptional durability. Another section of the certification process, “Innovation and Design,” obliges builders to create long-lasting homes that will require fewer costly repairs in the future. This is one of the top benefits of sustainable house plans – less worry over the entire period of habitation.

4. Universal green building standards. Peers, family members and neighbors will be in awe of your green roots when you show them your LEED certification. Your positive example could even induce some of them to choose sustainable house design!

5. Qualification for environmental incentives. A slew of environmental building incentives require LEED certification.

6. Assured transit access and walkability. Another certification category, “Location and Linkages,” considers accessibility to common locations such as churches, daycare centers and grocery stores. If you enjoy walking or biking to nearby restaurants and boutiques, you will love living in a LEED certified home that has been created according to green house plans.

7. Improved air quality. The EPA estimates that indoor air is often five times more polluted than outdoor air. Builders must pay attention to interior air quality when earning LEED certification for sustainable house plans. As an example of how this manifests in design, a detached garage helps isolate toxic fumes and combustible gases.

8. Complimentary homeowners’ manual. The last LEED certification category we’ll mention is “Awareness & Education.” This section awards points for efforts to increase homeowner knowledge. Many builders choose to earn points in this area by providing handbooks on the green technologies that are included in specific green house plans. Many LEED builders also include a walk-through to personally describe how to care for a new green home over the long haul.

These eight advantages are key reasons why many homeowners choose to purchase homes with residential LEED certification.

Learn more about the benefits and versatility of sustainable house design at HousePlans.co, your online destination for stock and custom home design. Their large inventory of house plans is only a click away.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rob_Digby

Building Green House Plans – 4 Quick Tips About Good Green House Plans

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When you are considering building green house plans for yourself or for a friend these 4 tips will help you understand what a good green house plan should include. From knowing how to get water to your plants, where to put your green house and how to make sure the proper amount of sunlight hits your new greenhouse you will know what to look for when purchasing your do it yourself blueprints!

1. When building a green house the plans should include specific details about where to best place or locate your new structure. Some types of garden houses require very little maintenance and utilities to grow your plants and function properly where as others require more maintenance. More maintenance means different locations like somewhere close to a water source, electricity, and heating systems. Any good blueprint will include this critical 1st step for building your gardening center.

2. What about materials? Well there are really only a few common materials used to put together the frame of a growing house and those are PVC piping, some types of wood, and also aluminum. PVC can be great in terms of giving you more options for irrigation and misting systems. Wood can look more natural and have better appeal while being much easier to construct. Aluminum is probably the most common only because it is the easiest to maintain for people who don’t spend a lot of time gardening in general.

3. The other items that should be included inside a guide or building green house plans are different and various sizes of greenhouses. The more plants, trees, flowers, and other plant life you plan on growing the more growing room you will need in your garden shed and growing house. So when you purchase your plans make sure they include several designs, blueprints, and instructions for a number of sizes.

4. The other area of importance you will really need to consider and should get help with from a complete do it yourself guide is that of a proper foundation. Foundations in general should be areas where you won’t end up with a puddle or lake of water from irrigating your plants inside your greenhouse. A complete guide will tell you and suggest the best preparations to take for getting a great foundation.

So there you have it. Just keep these 4 tips in mind when purchasing your greenhouse blueprint guide or plans. There are lots of books and DVDs to buy that can show you how to build a garden shed or other gardening structure but won’t include other tips and ideas for irrigation systems, drainage ideas and designs, and other critical tips for having a properly functioning growing area. Building green house plans doesn’t have to cost lots of money either, in fact you should be able to get a complete downloadable guide online these days for around $25-30. These online plans typically will come with many more bonus items to help you improve your gardening results! Good luck and lets help improve our environment starting today!

For the top online source for tips, suggestions, and downloadable do it yourself greenhouse plans go to Do It Yourself Greenhouse.

If you are just wanting a direct source for purchasing a complete greenhouse blueprint guide and plans plus many more ideas and design tips go to Do It Yourself Greenhouses.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ronny_Prothero

Eight Things to Avoid in Your Garden Green House

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Growing plants in a garden green house is very similar to growing them in your garden. However, mistakes that occur outside are magnified even more when they occur in a green house environment. And the outcome can be fatal to the plants if you aren’t careful. To ensure success with your indoor gardening, here are eight things to avoid with your garden green house:

  1. Arbitrarily selecting a site for your green house. Take time to evaluate and consider a few key factors like the levelness of the ground, the amount of sunlight the green house will receive in the summer as well as the winter (pay attention to long winter shadows), access to electricity and water, and protection from strong winds.
  2. Overheating the greenhouse. Remember, it’s supposed to collect solar heat but too much of a good thing can be bad! You need to monitor the temperature frequently to adjust for the day’s weather. Set up an inside thermometer and log the changes until you become familiar with the outside temp’s impact on your greenhouse’s temperature. Make sure there are ventilation options available to release the heat through doors or windows when necessary.
  3. Letting it get too cold. You also need ways to supplement the lack of solar heat on cold, cloudy days. Heaters and accessories are available for purchase in addition to experimenting with a few thermal heat options.
  4. Forgetting to water. If you’re planning to use the greenhouse year round, make provisions for easy access to water during good and not so good weather conditions. You may be able to run a hose to the greenhouse, carry buckets, add a water barrel, or you may be fortunate enough to have running water in your greenhouse. And just because the plants aren’t subject to drying winds and direct sunlight, they still need regular watering … but not drowning! Again, monitor and record the needs of each plant.
  5. Over or under fertilizing. Make sure you understand the individual needs of the plants. Some plants are heavy feeders and will require fertilizer more often than others. Avoid the “one size fits all” practice when fertilizing.
  6. Forgetting the importance of fresh air. Even when the inside temps remain fairly consistent, the plants in your garden green house will appreciate some fresh air circulating around them. An oscillating fan is great for circulating air – just make sure the size of the fan is appropriate to the space in your green house.
  7. Using only one level of horizontal space. It’s common to see wooden or aluminum shelves providing horizontal work areas and plant storage. However, the vertical space between the floor and the ceiling provides lots more room for stacking additional shelves and hanging plants, hoses, and tools from the structural frames. Don’t be afraid to use all the space in your greenhouse including the floor under the shelves.
  8. And finally, forgetting your greenhouse! In the beginning the excitement about a new greenhouse may drive you there several times each day! However, as time goes by, this excitement may temper a bit. Make sure you check your garden green house every day to regulate the inside temperature and take care of watering chores. If it’s a sunny morning, make sure you do a temp check and make adjustments for proper ventilation before the greenhouse has an opportunity to overheat. It’s a good idea to maintain a daily routine of visiting the greenhouse and monitoring the conditions inside.

You can’t just set it and forget it. If properly managed, a garden green house provides hours, months, and even years of enjoyment for home gardeners. A quick checklist of easy chores makes for sweet success. 

Jill Hogan is a gardening enthusiast who loves to find unique garden gifts and share her gardening tips. For more about garden green houses or to find the perfect gardening gift, check out her garden and gift ideas at http://www.GreatGardeningGifts.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jill_Hogan

Benefits of Green Houses

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Our planet desperately needs our help from the approaching danger. In order to rescue our planet from the intriguing danger or an ecological disaster we all need to come together and think of something which will help us develop new and effective methods to avoid this mass destruction. The solution which people have finally come up with is the development of green real estates which is indeed one of the most convenient options at the time. this not only helps us towards attaining a greener and healthier environment but it also helps the people using it gain a lot in the long run. Where there is a will there is always a way, the advanced and major American cities like Washington, San Francisco have already taken the initiative of promoting these much beneficial green real estates. Extensive use of green-roofs, non-toxic paints and other eco-friendly materials that are used for the construction of these green homes can actually help us counter the biggest disaster we might have to experience since the origin of this planet.

People investing in these green real estates might initially have a negative feeling by seeing the high amount of money you need to put in at first to go green but what they are not witnessing is the huge profits it yields with time, it not only works towards the benefiting of the environment but also helps you make a lot of profits in the long run. The government has already taken initiative towards many beneficial incentives for people who are ready to take up these green real estates. The incentives include a 50% reduction on your utility bills, along with that the government also sanctions many tax-benefit schemes for you. The government is concerned about the future and hence it is offering such lucrative schemes for people who are investing in the green real estates to have a happier and healthier tomorrow.

Green living comes with innumerable other advantageous features. most of the substances used for the construction of these green real estatescome from building that have been taken down and various other environment friendly materials which will cause no harm to our environment. Floors made of cork, bamboo and stone are indeed beneficial for the environment. Many people have switched to roof-top gardening which is a very useful thing for the environment. To reduce heat flow and also to promote vegetation, innumerable roof gardens are being constructed. Apart from the advantages you provide to the environment a roof garden also makes your house look beautiful. Plants not only help in growing a health environment but greenery is always a picturesque sight.

There have been many discussions, announcements and other warning programs but this is high time we reacted. We all need to take as many positive steps as possible towards building an environment which will be devoid of any danger. Eco-friendly homes are the best way to bring this change. If you still haven’t it is really about time you decide to go green.

Luis Pezzini
lpezzini@SunsetStripRealty.com
http://www.SunsetStripRealty.com

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