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A do-it-yourself greenhouse may be just the touch to brighten your garden and prepare it for spring as you watch winter’s slow departure. Don’t let the gardening “off season” dampen your growing enthusiasm or leave you with empty, barren ground where beauty may abound.

If building or even just assembling your own greenhouse sounds daunting, you simply need to think more creatively. What, really, does a traditional greenhouse need to do to be useful during winter? It really needs to offer only three things–temperature control, reasonable humidity control, and sunlight. Any structure that accomplishes those goals gives you a growing space to use during the winter, and allows you to enjoy the beauty and benefits of growing things no matter what time of the year or season it may be where you live.

Here’s the simplest, quickest way to get a practical yet easy–and beautiful to look at!–”greenhouse” together to beautify your garden space in the winter: Go to one of the many great online sites like Rockler Woodworking, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other building centers. Or, take a trip to local home supply and gardening centers near you which open during the winter. When you get there, whether online or offline, look for greenhouse plans. You might find them called “pergolas.” Pergolas originally were simply open passageways in a garden area that supported lattice-work which was covered with vines and other hanging plants. The term is sometimes used now for a simple framework to which you can add plastic covering or sheeting to give you the sort of self-contained greenhouse you can throw up with a minimal amount of work. (Complexity may vary widely within available project plans!)

These plans can help you build a beautiful pergola structure in your backyard or in your garden space. Then simply secure (a good staple gun available at any DIY store or hardware department works just fine) one or two layers of heavy-duty clear plastic to cover the pergola. This will give you a make-shift greenhouse that’s easy to turn back into a beautiful pergola to enjoy in warmer weather.

Be sure you build the pergola in an unshaded location which gets plenty of sunlight. The direct sunlight will condense moisture within the “greenhouse” and provide completely free, eco-friendly heat.

If all that’s a bit too adventuresome for you, there are many good, easy to assemble greenhouses and greenhouse kits that fit a variety of garden and yard spaces. Often, however, they are little more than a framework with plastic sheeting–which you may be able to accomplish on your own by simply assembling a kit for an outdoor structure such as the pergola kit above, then add the plastic sheeting.

But if a full-blown greenhouse is your pleasure, look for the option to pay someone to assemble it for you, should the project get out of hand. Many Home Depot and local building supply stores or hardware stores offer such a service, or know local handymen who can do it for you.

Whatever skill level you have, or creative use of the skills of others, don’t let winter keep you out of the yard and garden. A do-it-yourself greenhouse may be just what you need to brighten your garden space this winter and get yourself as well as your plants ready for the spring/summer growing season!

By Gary Speer

Indoor gardening allows farmers to grow produce indoors in climates that are either too hot or too cold for traditional outdoor gardens. Hydroponic systems facilitate the growth of plants in an indoor environment, but without light, growth would be impossible. There are two kinds of indoor gardens. The first type makes use of natural sunlight in a large controlled environment much like a green house does. The second type is grown completely indoors with the use of special lights that give plants the energy they need for photosynthesis. These lights are called grow lights or lamps. There are a number of different kinds of grow lamps available.

One of the newest and most popular kinds of grow lamps is called the led grow light. Led grow lights have many advantages compared to their counterparts. Because they use LED light bulbs, they produce very little heat. Indoor gardening systems depend on tight control of the environment. Factors such as heat, ventilation, and lighting need to be controlled and regulated carefully. Like pieces of a clock, if one is out of place, the entire system will not work. The problem with earlier grow lamps was that they emitted too much heat. Because they created excess heat, entire cooling systems needed to be put in place to cool the lights and take the heat out of the grow room. This problem is not present when LED grow lights are used.

Another advantage to led light bulbs is that they last almost five times the life of their counterparts and consume a fraction of the electricity other grow lamps use. This makes them one of the best grow lamps to use on the long term. If you have the money to buy them, these lights will be more than worth it.