Saturday, September 17, 2011

Building and using an indoor greenhouse

This year I have decided to try my hand at having an indoor greenhouse; now this doesn't mean that I am building one in my backyard or anything crazy like that. Instead I am taking over a closet my house and converting it over into an indoor greenhouse. I am starting small and hoping to maybe one day go big. The reason I have decided to try my hand at building a mini greenhouse is because I think I can long term be able to grow some simple vegetables (tomatoes and peppers) and always be able to grow my plants for my garden from seeds instead of having to buy the plants from places like Walmart, Lowes, and Home Depot,....etc
In order to build a greenhouse like this all you will need is metal or plastic shelves, greenhouse "growing" lights, and a timer (if you don't want to be in charge of always turning on and off the lights everyday). You should be able to get all of these products for less than a hundred dollars at any warehouse or super center store. I would also recommend getting some cheap plastic pots and something to put underneath the pots so when you water then the water does spill onto your floor.I personally bought the cheap aluminum throwaway pans used for cooking and put the my pots in them.
After you assemble your shelving you will need to attach the growing lights on the underside of each shelve excluding the very first shelf of course because it will just have plants on it and nothing below it. I then plugged in all of my greenhouse/growing lights into a surge strip and plugged that into my timer. I would personally recommend you have you timer set to on for 18 hours on and off for 6 hours a day.

This year I am growing to try and grow habernos, tomatoes, and a lemon tree. Below is what my indoor greenhouse looks like:

On a side note:
If you are thinking about building a garden next spring, try and start buying all the material you will need for in the late summer and early fall. The reason for this is because you will be able to buy the material while its on sale and the companies are trying to get rid of the materials and ready for the holiday season.

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