A Hobby Greenhouse Will Get You Growing!
By Antonio Teixeira, Tue Jan 10th

For people who would like to do more but live in ashort growing season area, a hobby greenhouse is the answer. Ahobby greenhouse is not large enough to produce vegetables orflowers on a commercial basis. It will, however, give you aplace for a tomato plant or two and some fresh greens even ifyou live in the northern regions. Greenhouse enthusiasts evenhave their own association, called the Hobby GreenhouseAssociation, which publishes a quarterly magazine. Theorganization also sponsers events and helps individuals connectto get help with the aspect of that they areinterested in, whether it's growing cacti or saving seeds.

If you are in the market for a hobby greenhouse, there areseveral types on the market. The smallest type is not largeenough to walk into and must be accessed from the outside. Itresembles an old-fashioned phone booth made all of glass andoutfitted with shelves. This type is designed to fit as manyplants as possible in as small a place as possible. The shelvesare made of glass to allow as much light as possible to reachplants on the lower shelves. Another inexpensive version of thissort of hobby greenhouse is shelving covered with a zipperedtent of clear plastic. This sort of arrangement is great for thesmall-scale hobby gardener wanting a place to keep her flowersor houseplant starts.

There are a variety of designs of hobby greenhouse that arelarge enough to walk into but made entirely of clear glass orplastic. They are often about the same size as a small storagebuilding. Some independent builders have started

making these tosell locally. Among national brands, one of the nicest is calledthe "Solar Prism." It is called this because of it's uniqueconstruction. This hobby greenhouse is made of a single piece ofdurable clear plastic which is designed to work like tiny prismsside by side. They trap the rays of the sun and shoot them backinto the greenhouse at all angles. For this reason, these littlegreenhouses are said to glow when the weather is cloudy.

Better hobby greenhouses are equipped with automatic sensorsthat open vents which allow ventilation and keep the interiortemperatures from getting too high. These are a great laborsaver, but can get expensive. Another benefit sometimes found innicer greenhouses is a built in irrigation or misting system.Members of the Hobby Greenhouse Association, or HGA, haveinvented many interesting designs of greenhouses.

If is your hobby, greenhouse growing will interestyou. With a greenhouse, you can have the earliest tomatoes andsalad greens all year. You can also start seedlings for the maingarden early in the spring when outdoor temperatures would killthem. A hobby greenhouse can be a good investment.

For more information about gardening, visit:http://flowergardeningtips.info

About the author:Antonio Teixeira is a self employed gardener since 1986 withexperience in building gardens, landscapes and automaticirrigation. You can find more information about gardening,landscapes, flowers, bulbs, bonsai and anything related withgardens and landscaping at http://flowergardeningtips.info