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Greenhouses Hot Beds and Cold Frames Assess Your Needs
By: Paul Wonning
As winter sets in it is a good time for the gardener to assess the needs for the next gardening season. Every gardener needs plants, lots of them. Buying plants can be very expensive, and the choices are limited to whatever the retailer you buy from elects to sell.
Propagating plants yourself not only can save you money, but vastly expand the different varieties and types of plants you can plant in your garden. Vegetable gardeners can benefit from the thousands of different seed types available. Flower gardeners have the same benefit. There are thousands upon thousands of different types of seeds available to the home gardener.
Plant propagation structures range from the simple plastic domes placed in the garden to hasten the germination of seeds planted early to elaborate greenhouses with climate control and irrigation systems. You need to assess your needs before you can decide what to purchase to start plants for your garden.
A simple cold frame may be suitable for your needs. Seeds can be started indoors in a south facing window, transplanted into the cold frame when they are larger. A hot bed is simply a cold frame with electric heat cables installed to provide bottom heat for early started seeds and to provide heat to small seedlings on cold night. One, or both of these propagation tools may be sufficient for your needs. Both may also be used to root cuttings of shrubs and perennials later in the season.
A greenhouse may be the choice if you grow a lot of plants over a long season. A greenhouse is much easier to control the climate than a cold frame or hot bed. Water hydrants may be installed inside, as well as heating systems to grow plants during the long cold winter months. There are many types of greenhouses from which to choose. Some are called lean to greenhouses, which attach to your home or other building. Free standing greenhouses are just that, free standing. They are usually the most expensive to build and maintain. Pit greenhouses are built over a pit, walkways below ground level. The plants are usually grown right in the earth, or on ground level benches in this type of structure. These are usually the cheapest to heat.
Use the winter months to assess your plant propagating needs and decide what type of plant propagating devices you need. Now is the time to plan and build, so when spring approaches you have your seed starting facility ready to plant.
? 2006
Paul Wonning is the owner of
Gardens and Nature.com a web site about gardening, hiking and other nature related topics. |