Čarolija staklenika – Pozitiva Samobor

The magic of the greenhouse

December 21, 2021December 21, 2021 pozitivaadmin ESC, Novosti, Plant Your Future, STEM za sve

A gardener without a greenhouse is a bit like a cook without a stove. Yes you can manage, improvise and still be creative, but the greenhouse facilitates much more than you might imagine. A greenhouse allows you to concoct the most divine combinations for your garden, to experiment with your ingredients and nurture the most wonderful plants. It supports your plants in a nurturing, caring environment and provides just the right conditions for plant growth.

The relationship between a gardener and their greenhouse is emotional; of that there is no doubt. But there’s solid science behind the benefits of the greenhouse. And it’s not all about your plants. A greenhouse is a haven for the gardener, a place to practice horticultural alchemy and provides space for mindfulness activities as well as lifting the spirits on those wet, cold, dull days we so often experience (1).

What is a greenhouse?

Greenhouses are structures that are covered with glass or plastic mulch film, transparent and translucent respectively, in order to grow plants. Now, this practice has developed a lot of popularity over the years and there are two ways in which one can do this. One is a fully controlled environment and the other being a partially controlled one, depending on the kind of plants that you want to grow.

This technology of using greenhouses to grow plants is of significant importance, especially in areas where the climatic conditions are always on the extreme side and regions of high rainfall. Also, greenhouses are wonderful as utilizing space for growing plants has never been this efficient.

The plastic mulch film that is used to cover the greenhouses act as radiation filters that filter and stabilize the incoming UV radiation from the sun. Now, this thermal energy that is generated through the rays of the sun is trapped inside the greenhouse. This is called the “greenhouse effect” (3).

It’s a shelter from the weather, a place for quiet reflection and somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life (1).

Greenhouse Features

When it comes to plants, the greenhouse is a catalyst. Cast your mind back to school when we learned about how plants make food in their leaves. Like all great food production even plants need the finest ingredients; quality ingredients that a greenhouse enhances.

First they need light as the energy source for the photosynthesis process and a greenhouse harnesses the power of the sun through its glass panels. Without light your plants cannot grow. It’s as simple as that. A greenhouse amplifies the light and also provides a protected place for your plants to grow.

Plants need water, which the attentive gardener will provide to their plants and they also need carbon dioxide, which is present in the air. The water molecules in the reaction are broken down and release oxygen into the atmosphere. Plants use the carbon dioxide and make carbon chains in the form of sugars and plant foods which they use to fuel growth and store the carbon chains in the structure of their leaves and fibres making them into virtual carbon sinks.

That’s why planting trees and growing plants is good for the planet. As long as there is good ventilation and airflow in your greenhouse there will be plenty of carbon dioxide. Remember in the absence of light (at night) your plants will respire and produce carbon dioxide that will enrich the air in your greenhouse with CO2 and this will be used when the sun rises by the plants for photosynthesis. And the waste product from photosynthesis – OXYGEN and that is why trees and plants are regarded as the lungs of our planet.

In short, the greenhouse provides, improves and supports perfect conditions for photosynthesis ; the method by which plants make food and grow.

Heat and moisture stimulate plant growth. Plants need moisture, heat and light to grow.

The greenhouse stabilizes the growing environment by maintaining the ambient temperature and protecting the plants from extreme cold. This prolongs the growing season at both ends, so in late winter and early spring it improves the growing conditions for plants and allows them to start growing earlier than when they would grow outdoors.

This enables the greenhouse gardener to sow earlier and reap the benefits of the extended growing season, with earlier flowers and harvest. By sowing successionally, i.e. a few seeds every couple of weeks a greenhouse grower can reap a harvest well into autumn especially by using the greenhouse environment to nurture late sown seedlings.

A greenhouse can also protect your plants from a number of pests and diseases. By monitoring small pest outbreaks, your greenhouse can become an oasis without flying pests such as adult aphids, butterflies and all sorts of other plant pests.

You won’t keep them all out because your ventilation provision will allow some access, but you can minimise problems significantly and also utlise a range of biological controls that can virtually be confined to your greenhouse growing space where they can deal naturally with any pest outbreaks without the need for toxic chemicals. That means you can grow organic produce for the family too!

Some plant diseases such as blight can be minimised by growing tomatoes in a greenhouse environment. The fungal spores are less likely to reach your plants and the growing conditions inside the greenhouse are less conducive for the fungi to infect your plants. By choosing blight resistant varieties you can virtually eradicate the chance of tomato blight on your greenhouse crops, which is a huge advantage over growing outside (1).

Greenhouses allow for greater control over the growing environment of plants. Depending upon the technical specification of a greenhouse, key factors which may be controlled include temperature, levels of light and shade, irrigation, fertilizer application, and atmospheric humidity. Greenhouses may be used to overcome shortcomings in the growing qualities of a piece of land, such as a short growing season or poor light levels, and they can thereby improve food production in marginal environments.

As they may enable certain crops to be grown throughout the year, greenhouses are increasingly important in the food supply of high-latitude countries. One of the largest complexes in the world is in Almería, Andalucía, Spain, where greenhouses cover almost 200 km2 (49,000 acres) (2).

Other benefits may include:

Greenhouses need a lot less irrigation than normal farming as it traps the moisture.

Reduces the duration of cropping and increases the quality of crops too.

The temperature and humidity are very effectively controlled as per the requirement of the plants.

If growing high value crops is what you are into, greenhouses are the way to go.

Educated youth can create opportunities for self-employment through the usage of greenhouses.

It is very versatile as crops can be grown in various climatic conditions (3).

Greenhouses are often used for growing flowers, vegetables and fruits. The advantages of greenhouses are more than the sum of their parts. Ask any greenhouse owner what he would do differently to start over and everyone will tell you to buy a bigger greenhouse than you think you need and invest in a quality greenhouse every time. You won’t regret it and you really won’t be disappointed (1).

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