Acquiring or building a greenhouse for growing vegetables is only half the battle.
To get the maximum yield in it, you need to properly position it in the summer cottage.
Basic principles of choosing a place
The creation of optimal conditions for growing plants and obtaining a large crop depends directly on the correct location of the greenhouse. When installing you need to take into account all the features of your site:
- Soil quality;
- Terrain features;
- Direction of the wind;
- Location of communications and other buildings.
Analyzing the landscape features of the site
During installation, it is necessary to analyze the following factors:
The quality of the soil. Its accounting is necessary due to the fact that the greenhouse installed on too soft soil, may eventually subside significantly or tilt. As a result, the strength of the structure will suffer, the doors may stop closing. Distortion can even lead to the destruction of the coating or damage to the frame. In this regard, you should choose a place where the soil is more dense.If the choice fell on a swampy area, then you need to make a good drainage, before you put the structure. Having a greenhouse on soft soil, it is necessary to make a foundation.
To determine the composition of the soil on the site dig a hole and check what is under the fertile layer. If there is clay there, then putting a greenhouse in this place is not recommended. Clay will retain water when watering, it will cause stagnation of water and increased humidity inside. This phenomenon is unfavorable for plants. Try to find a place where there is sand under the fertile layer.
If all the land in your area is located on a clay layer, before installing the greenhouse you must dig a pit, replace the clay layer with a sand pad, place a drainage layer under it and then cover it with a fertile layer. Only then can a greenhouse be installed on this place.
It is also important to ensure that the site is not located close to the surface groundwater. The distance to them should be at least one and a half meters.- The presence of bias. You should not have a greenhouse on a plot under the slope. Pick up a flat area for her. The ideal place is to install on a flat area with solid ground. It is impossible to allow both longitudinal and transverse inclination of the structure.
If your entire site is on a slope, you can soften it by building a foundation under the building.
The quality of the soil. Its accounting is necessary due to the fact that the greenhouse installed on too soft soil, may eventually subside significantly or tilt. As a result, the strength of the structure will suffer, the doors may stop closing. Distortion can even lead to the destruction of the coating or damage to the frame. In this regard, you should choose a place where the soil is more dense.Greenhouse orientation to the cardinal points
On how the greenhouse will be located relative to the sides of the world, depends on the illumination of plants grown in it. With the wrong choice of this criterion, the plants will experience a shortage of light, which means that the size of the resulting crop will decrease dramatically.
Of course, you can compensate for the lack of sunlight using artificial lighting, but this will immediately lead to an increase in energy costs. Therefore, it is better to calculate the location in such a way as to maximize the use of free solar energy.
How to locate the greenhouse in the parts of the world? Better from north to south or from west to east? It is desirable to place the greenhouse in a place that is illuminated by the sun all day. It is more expedient to choose the west-east direction. With this arrangement, the plants will be lit as much as possible from morning to evening. And if the greenhouse is operated in winter, the cost of lighting and heating can be reduced.
If it is impossible to build a structure at the place that is as lit throughout the day as possible, try to place it in such a way that the plants receive lighting in the morning. The most dangerous time for plants is dawn, so if the sun does not warm them in the morning, growth may be slowed down and the ovaries may fall.
Lighting the greenhouse in the afternoon is the most unfortunate option. The sun does not have time to warm the inner space, and the plants will freeze overnight. Sunlight on the cooled plants that did not have time to warm up after dinner will cause burns.
ATTENTION: Do not make a greenhouse near or directly under tall trees. They will shade the plants.
Where is the wind blowing?
Wind direction is another important factor to consider when installing. The structure should be reliably protected from gusts of wind. If the greenhouse appears to be in a draft, then the temperature inside it will be too low for growing thermophilic crops.
How to install a greenhouse? Even in a small area, choose the quietest place. Try to position the greenhouse so that it is maximally protected from wind gusts by other buildings. Particularly important is the protection of the building from the north wind.
Alternatively, you can use as a barrier against the winds planting a hedge or installing a deaf fence. In this case, it is important to correctly calculate the height of the fence, and its distance from the greenhouse. Bushes should be planted at a distance of 20 meters, and the fence at a height of 2 meters at least 7 meters.
Accounting for distance to communications
The mistake of many gardeners is the decision to build a greenhouse in the far corner of the site for aesthetic reasons. So that the structure does not spoil the appearance of the site, they try to locate it as far as possible from the house. Beauty in this case turns into additional inconvenience and unnecessary material costs.
To the greenhouse you need to carry water, and sometimes gas and electricity. So you have to pull pipes or wires through the whole section. Therefore, choosing a place, consider the need for installation of engineering systems. Think also about the convenience of greenhouse maintenance. It should be easy to approach and approach.
How to build a greenhouse on the roof of the house?
The idea of building greenhouses in buildings is not new in modern conditions. In Europe, this practice has long been ingrained and began to be in demand. In Russia, there is no such mass distribution of greenhouses in various buildings. At the same time, this option is quite interesting in terms of space saving, and as the creation of the most favorable conditions for growing plants.
Judge for yourself, the greenhouse on the roof is the maximum of solar energy and it means a greater amount of heat for the plants. In combination with the saving of space for growing vegetables on a small plot, this solution has only positive sides on all sides. And the greenhouse can be built not only in a private structure, but also on the roof of an apartment building.
Of course, the building located on the roof has its own special requirements for the design and the technology for growing vegetables in it. Without addressing the second question, which requires a separate article, let's talk about the features of the location of the greenhouse on the roof.
The design should be as light as possible and at the same time strong enough. The coating should not be glass, but polycarbonate. This is due to the fact that on the roof of a high-rise building there are very strong gusts of wind. The material must be shock resistant. It is unacceptable to build on the roof a structure with a coating of plastic film - the first strong wind will blow it away or tear it up. Strength should have a frame.
The most suitable for the roof is the arched shape, contributing to the reduction of snow and wind loads.
There are several options for the location of the greenhouse:
- Construction of an additional transparent bay window.
- Install the finished greenhouse directly on the existing roof.
- Rebuilding the roof by setting up on it a kind of floor with transparent walls (that is, alteration of the attic).
IMPORTANT: Before deciding on the installation of a structure, carefully review the documents on the house and calculate the bearing capacity of the floors to avoid problems. When making calculations, do not forget to include the weight of the soil in the mass.
Another important point is to prepare for the installation of roof covering. It must be equipped with additional waterproofing. When the device also do not forget to provide a water supply system, since it will be difficult to carry water with buckets to a height. The most profitable in this case is drip irrigation.
To provide air access to the plants, it is necessary to provide the maximum number of vents, as on hot days the temperature may be too high on the roof, and your plants will simply burn out from overheating.
A greenhouse on the roof of an apartment building is an excellent option for practicing gardening for residents who do not have country dacha plots.
Compliance with all the rules for the location of greenhouses in the suburban areas, gardens and roofs of houses, as well as taking into account all the listed nuances will allow you to get the maximum yield in your building.
A photo
In the following photos you can familiarize yourself with the options for locating greenhouses on the garden dacha
The location of the greenhouse on the site and the scheme of orientation to the cardinal points:
