Greenhouses and winter gardens. Greenhouse in the house: the most spectacular options for home and garden Greenhouse on the site

What are you growing? Inhabitants of the equatorial forests - coffee trees, orchids and bromeliads? Or oranges, lemons and laurels? Or maybe succulents from the dry tropics? The temperature regime depends on the choice of flora. For tropical and subtropical plants, it is enough to maintain the temperature at +10 ° C, and equatorial residents will need daily +25 ° C.

You can ensure a stable climate, first of all, by taking care of reliable double-glazed windows - they will protect the loggia, bay window or atrium from heat loss. If possible, try to additionally insulate the walls and floor of the room (depending on the design, use either mineral wool or facade slabs made of expanded polystyrene or foam plastic).

All these measures will allow you to save heat, but in a space without heating, this heat must first be obtained. The easiest and most reliable way is to equip the greenhouse with a warm floor (water, electric, infrared - choose according to your capabilities). In the conditions of building a room from scratch, it is possible to lay heat exchangers not only in the floor, but also in the walls. And, perhaps, additional heating systems will also be needed. For example, compact infrared radiators or electric heaters - count the watts and money to find the most economical electrical appliance.

In addition, you will need thermometers (or maybe thermostats - it all depends on the complexity of the heating system) and fans (if not, then open the windows in the winter garden more often, as plants need air movement).

Almost everyone dreams about the appearance of a corner with growing and flowering plants in the apartment. Solid designs of greenhouses for growing cucumbers and tomatoes are suitable exclusively for private houses and summer cottages. And how you want to have a small flower garden at home! How to build a greenhouse in an apartment with your own hands?

What room can be used as a greenhouse

At the sight of a blooming and well-groomed greenhouse, a person will certainly have positive emotions. If the plants are comfortable, then everyone around will be comfortable.

This is probably why there is a natural desire to build a greenhouse in "home conditions", namely in a city apartment. Subject to certain requirements and conditions, an isolated room, a balcony or a glazed loggia can become a home greenhouse.

A greenhouse is an artificial ecosystem designed to grow plants or flowers. The greenhouse in the apartment is a kind of winter garden. Home greenhouses are made of plastic or glass, heated air is kept inside, creating the necessary microclimate.

Infrared radiation is used to warm the soil and plants. What needs to be done with your own hands so that the room is not a collection of planters and pots with flowers or plants, but a full-fledged flower garden?

Helpful Hints

Traditionally, loggias or balconies are used to create a garden or greenhouse. But if you look closely, you can find a suitable place in a small room. To do this, use multi-tiered racks. However, do not get carried away with the creation of dense thickets of plants in flower pots of various colors and shapes.

Garden in a bottle or mini greenhouse

Fashionable indoor mini greenhouses are not a new phenomenon. Capricious fashion has repeatedly returned to the creation of florariums - growing plants in a variety of glass containers. The style and originality of the "garden in a bottle" is amazing, because not only empty bottles or cans are used, but also round-shaped aquariums or pot-bellied cognac glasses.

Variants of such mini greenhouses are an excellent decoration for an office or desktop. Planting and subsequent care of plants is simple - place the container in a bright and open place and water it. But the soul longs for more adult and mysterious structures, such as a winter garden and a home greenhouse.

How to start building a greenhouse

Let's start with the fact that only a kind and hardworking person can become a wildlife lover, because you have to take care of the plants daily: water, spray, remove pests and dying branches or stems.

The greenhouse at home requires the creation of a miniature ecosystem for flowers and plants. The ecosystem for plants is based on conditions: light, heat, watering and ventilation. You can purchase special equipment that automatically creates conditions for plants. Naturally, you will have to decide which plants or flowers you plan to grow in the greenhouse.

Helpful Hints

It is recommended to create a greenhouse with your own hands from unpretentious species of plants or flowers. These are fast-growing and flowering specimens that can grow with modest watering and lighting. Contemplation of the potentialities of plants will be an incentive to develop your botanical abilities and capabilities.

greenhouse lighting

The main condition for the greenhouse is the creation of natural light. Of course, a lighted glazed loggia or balcony can be considered an ideal option. The organization of a greenhouse does not require a large plantation and super-expensive structures for arranging flowers or watering.

A constant maintained temperature and an adjustable level of lighting will allow you to create a greenhouse of flowers or greenhouse fruits. What are the rules for choosing lamps for lighting a greenhouse? You should choose the following lamps:

With missing shades (the most transparent glass is capable of retaining about half of the transmitted light)

With reflectors, which significantly increase the illumination

Protected against ingress of drops of water or moisture

With the ability to connect a timer with the installation of several modes.

By choosing the right lighting and installing it, you can enjoy peace and comfort even in a winter greenhouse.

Home greenhouse equipment

You can make a greenhouse in a city apartment using an original design.

A home greenhouse can be made in the form of a pretty transparent house design with an opening “roof” and “entrances”.

The internal content of the "house" will be the following elements:

Stainless steel frame with dimensions 76.4x73.6x20 cm.

Steel rails for fixing the frame and glass

Facing "house" (tempered glass 3 mm thick)

4 LED white light bulbs

Spray tube

Sensors: humidity, temperature and light

Remote control

Stand with cast-iron enameled counterweights, size 78x74x20.

The home greenhouse is assembled as follows:

Prepared glass is installed on the rails in the steel frame

"house" is installed on a stand with counterweights and strengthened

Install sensors, spray wand and LED lamps

Mounted photosensitive element

The operation of the sensors is checked using the remote control.

The originality and style of the design of the home greenhouse will properly answer the question: "How to make a greenhouse."

Helpful Hints

A home greenhouse or a winter garden in an apartment should harmoniously create a healthy atmosphere. The design of the greenhouse must be approached taking into account the phyto design. The attractiveness and neat forms of flowers and plants should not fall out of the general interior, and the greenhouse should be bright and expressive.

On cold days, it is very pleasant to spend time in a cozy armchair in a warm greenhouse. It is in it that tropical plants rare for our climate can be grown. There are quite a few ways to make a greenhouse. It should be borne in mind that it is easy to mount it with your own hands in a short time and enjoy the results of your work in a few months.

The main function of the greenhouse is to maintain the optimum air temperature, even if it is cold outside.

The main structural elements of the greenhouse

The main function of the greenhouse is to maintain a high air temperature, regardless of the time of year and the weather outside. This suggests that special attention should be paid to the choice of sealants and sealants.

When constructing a greenhouse, it should be borne in mind that it consists not only of many transparent surfaces, but also of frame elements. Wood can be used as the main material, due to its insulating properties.

It should be borne in mind that in terms of caring for a tree, difficulties may arise - it must be treated with special means, since wood does not tolerate high humidity and exposure to various microorganisms. Combined designs in which wood is used in conjunction with aluminum are much more popular. They have high strength to withstand high loads and good insulating qualities. Windows with aluminum profiles can serve as the basis for the greenhouse - they will help save significant money on heating.

You can build a greenhouse from ready-made individual elements. So, the roof can be completely glass. If the room does not have a large area, it is advisable to use a lighter material. For example, cellular polycarbonate with a large cell size is suitable for such purposes. The basis of this building material is layers of transparent polymer.

In order for the floor not to become a source of strong cooling, a strip foundation must lie at the base of the structure.

It must be poured at a depth of about 80 cm and insulated with polystyrene plates.

In the summer, it is important to ensure high-quality indoor air exchange. To avoid overheating of plants, the number of opening windows should be provided. So, their total area should be at least 10% of the total roof surface area.

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Features of the construction of the greenhouse

When choosing a place where the greenhouse will be located, certain criteria should be followed. It is advisable to place it on the south side of the house - so it can collect maximum heat, the place should be very sunny. It is extremely important that a good air flow be provided in this place. When the greenhouse is located on the north side, it is advisable to provide a heated floor - it will help protect the soil from excessive moisture or hypothermia. To provide additional heat supply, you can put a fireplace in the room. It is advisable to provide the structure with awnings that can create shade on bright sunny days, and a ventilation system that ensures air movement even in calm weather.

Nearby trees can also protect against overheating. Also, blinds or curtains that fold into a roll can protect from the abundance of the sun.

To build a greenhouse, you will need the following materials:

• glass or windows with aluminum profiles;
• frame (wood, PVC, galvanized steel or a combination of wood and aluminum);
• concrete for pouring the foundation;
• drainage;
• polystyrene;
• cellular polycarbonate;
• blinds or roller blinds;
• plant racks.

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Carrying out construction work

To ensure normal conditions for plant growth, it is necessary to take care of electricity, heating, water supply, and ventilation. When creating a concrete foundation, a drainage system should be provided, since after wetting the concrete can become slippery under the influence of moisture.

It is important to perform a soil pavement under the plant racks. For this purpose, you can use any insulation, even foam. It is able to save heat in the lowest compartments of the racks. The floor is best covered with small pebbles or gravel - such filling can remove excess dirt.

After the work on pouring the foundation and installing the frame is completed, you should do the finishing work yourself. It is very important to choose the right material for the sheathing of the frame. So, if you have to make a greenhouse on the north side of the house, you will need to pick up dense translucent materials that are distinguished by a high degree of thermal insulation. Sheathing should provide a comfortable degree of light scattering. Although the greenhouse needs a lot of light, direct sunlight can kill most of the plants. In addition to glass, sheathing can be made with polycarbonate or fiberglass.

Do not forget about creating a heating system in the greenhouse - the amount of heat that will be stored due to the insulated sheathing and floor will not be enough. Greenhouse heating can be created using a gasoline, gas or electric boiler. Each of the options has its own specific advantages and disadvantages. The most convenient is electric heating, since it does not imply the creation of a special ventilation system. The disadvantage in this case is that when the electricity is turned off, the greenhouse can cool down to a temperature that is critical for many plants. In this case, it is desirable to use combined types of heating. Heating equipment is best placed in a separate room located near the greenhouse.

Another important component of greenhouses is the vegetation irrigation system. To do this, it is necessary to conduct water pipes to it from a residential building. For greenhouse conditions, an automatic irrigation system or fine-drop sprinkling (fog type) is perfect.

With the advent of cold weather, we are increasingly thinking about organizing a winter garden next to a country house or even right in an apartment, on a balcony or loggia. Indeed, it is so tempting to feel surrounded by tropical flowers, protected from the hardships of the outside world by the crystal walls of the greenhouse.

Today, no one can be surprised by exotic flowers and fruit trees grown at home. Flowering plants create coziness and warm on cold winter or rainy autumn evenings. If we take into account a number of nuances (design solutions, heating, lighting, plant varieties, care), then creating a real greenhouse in a house or in the country with your own hands seems quite possible.

Year-round cultivation of exotic tropical plants and flowers in a temperate climate is a difficult task. So that they do not suffer on frosty winter days, they must be placed in a place protected from the cold with sufficient natural or artificial lighting. To create ideal conditions, greenhouses and winter gardens are being built, which differ from standard greenhouses intended for the cultivation of vegetables and herbs, not only functionally, but also externally.

Even the smallest greenhouse is not only a place of relaxation where you can enjoy the beauty of nature, but also the pride of any owner who is more or less interested in gardening and plant breeding. In view of this, every gardener, whether amateur or professional, dreams of his own, albeit a small greenhouse, which will allow him to do his favorite thing all year round and delight himself and his loved ones with a home oasis.

The idea of ​​​​arranging a greenhouse in an apartment seems especially relevant on a hot summer day, when sitting all day in dusty office spaces, you dream of a breath of fresh air and a place where you can enjoy not only the smell of freshness, but also the brightness of lush greenery.

Features and benefits of greenhouses

The charm of the winter garden is hard not to notice. Even if you do not take the original purpose of the greenhouse - to contain lush thickets of tropical plants in the house - it still helps to integrate nature into the house. Transparent glass walls become an almost imperceptible barrier between the landscape and the interior. Visual permeability allows, being inside, in the warm comfort of the house, to feel in the natural environment, almost directly in contact with the garden, which is behind thin glass.

In addition, transparency, accessibility to sunlight helps to collect maximum light in this room, which is especially valuable for the northern climate, not spoiled by the sun. Such a room in the house can rightfully bear the name of a solarium in its pre-industrial meaning. Warmed by the sun and penetrated by its rays, it is especially conducive to relaxation.

The image of unity with nature can be expanded by making part of the glazing sliding. Then, during the warm months, it will be possible to literally combine the conservatory with the garden, letting in fresh summer air and opening direct access to the street.

And although good lighting, coupled with security, still creates all the conditions for growing green thickets in the greenhouse, for which it was intended, modern winter gardens often keep the garden only in name. But if your passions and rhythm of life allow you to revive the tradition of greenhouse growing, lush masses of greenery will create a real oasis of nature in your home.

In addition, a winter garden is a great way to expand the space of a house without making it visually massive. The greenhouse adjoining the house diversifies its architecture, enriches plasticity, but at the same time, due to its openwork and transparency, does not weigh it down. Such an architectural addition is easier to coordinate with the existing building than solid extensions and outbuildings.

Differences between greenhouses and greenhouses

A greenhouse is a room designed for year-round cultivation of evergreen southern plants that do not grow in the middle zone. Such plants include citrus fruits, southern palms, orchids and ficuses, which conquered the inhabitants of cold latitudes with their exotic romance.

Since these plants are extremely demanding on microclimatic parameters, this necessitates precise compliance with both humidity and temperature parameters. Based on this, several varieties of greenhouses are distinguished, which must be classified according to temperature conditions:

• Warm greenhouses, in which the temperature is maintained at 25-28 degrees;
• Semi-warm greenhouses, the optimal temperature regime in which does not exceed 18-22 degrees;
• Cold greenhouses, a less common option, with temperatures ranging from 1 to 8 degrees.

How to build a greenhouse

The greenhouse in the country is a relatively light structure, 80% glass, so the foundation with your own hands can be tape surface. Under the foundation there should be good drainage and a sand cushion. The walls of the winter garden are a frame structure. The most commonly used aluminum, wooden or plastic rails. The frame can be brick.

Choosing a suitable place for arranging a greenhouse is one of the first, and at the same time, an important stage in planning your greenhouse, on which further construction activities depend. If your home is currently only at the planning stage, then consider yourself lucky, as you have the opportunity to pre-select the most suitable place for the future corner of wildlife. This will greatly facilitate further work and in the future will allow the installation of large windows oriented to the south in the greenhouse.

The durability and performance characteristics of the structure allocated for the greenhouse are also important parameters that must be taken into account during the construction of the structure. The main guarantee of the durability of the structure is a solid foundation, therefore, for arranging a durable and no less comfortable greenhouse, therefore, experts recommend giving preference to a strip foundation made of concrete or stone. The depth of the foundation should reach a mark that determines the level of maximum soil freezing in the most severe winters, which in one way or another contributes to the formation of an optimal microclimate in the greenhouse. In the middle lane, the depth of the foundation in most cases does not exceed 80 cm.

If you have given preference to concrete, it is necessary to equip the drainage system for the outflow of moisture in time, since if it accumulates excessively, the concrete will become slippery. We must not forget about insulation: polystyrene plates are ideal as a heater, which will help to retain heat in the lower sections of the foundation. To prevent the accumulation of moisture on the floor, it is covered with gravel or small pebbles, which provide the most efficient outflow of moisture.

For the construction of a quality greenhouse, aluminum, polyvinyl chloride or galvanized steel are perfect. You can order pre-cut blanks or cut them yourself and install the frame by welding. The tree is not a very good option, because over time it will begin to deteriorate and require regular maintenance.

Use materials with good impermeability and thermal insulation. Consider the fact that the room should receive as much sunlight as possible. Glass and plastics such as polycarbonate, fiberglass and polyethylene film are well suited for exterior decoration. Mount the sheets of material on the frame. In the process of work, do not forget to insulate and insulate the walls. For the roof, it is recommended to use cellular polycarbonate.

Creating a microclimate in the greenhouse

Regardless of the time of year, ideally the temperature in the greenhouse should be at a constant level. For plants growing in the Mediterranean, it should be at least 10 degrees, while for equatorial plants it is at least 25 degrees. And in the event that you heat the apartment using a water system, in order to achieve the optimal temperature in the greenhouse, it will be enough to organize a constant flow of air into the room through the organization of the correct ventilation system.

In most cases, the arrangement of heating in a greenhouse involves the installation of gas, electric, and gasoline boilers, each of which has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of electric boilers is that there is no need to equip an additional ventilation system, however, in the event of an emergency power outage during the cold season, the plants may die.

In this regard, experts recommend choosing a combined heating system, which provides for the failure of one system, the inclusion of another. Installation of heating equipment can be carried out in a separate technical room, and if the greenhouse is part of a living space or located in an outbuilding, then a home heating system can be installed in the greenhouse room.

Glazing of windows should be either double or insulated, which will create an obstacle to the penetration of cold air into the greenhouse. In addition, it is necessary to take care of the insulation of the walls, for which mineral wool boards are best suited that meet all the requirements for insulation, as well as sealing the joints of balcony structures. And another important point that novice gardeners need to remember is temperature regulation, carried out with the help of ventilation and timely opening of the windows.

Another important microclimatic indicator of the internal environment of the greenhouse, which also has a significant impact on the vital activity of whimsical exotic plants. An indicator of the optimal level of ventilation in the greenhouse is the exchange of air from 6 to 10 times per hour.

In winter, characterized by the absence of severe frosts, this level of air exchange is achieved through the organization of natural ventilation, which is provided by frequent ventilation through open windows and doors. However, severe frosts or the scorching sun in summer necessitate the organization of supply and exhaust ventilation, through which controlled air exchange will occur.

Considering that natural light is one of the main conditions for the organization of a greenhouse and the existence of plants in general, it is necessary to choose a well-lit room or balcony oriented to the east, west or southwest for arranging the greenhouse.

If you are setting up a greenhouse at home, its windows should be clean and free of heavy curtains. Since in winter the plants suffer from a lack of light, and in summer from excessive insolation, the organization of the greenhouse provides for the arrangement of both additional illumination and dimming, which can be handled by blinds or curtains on the windows. For additional illumination, it is enough to install a high-pressure gas discharge lamp in the room.

Air humidity

No less important is another mandatory condition for keeping plants in a greenhouse, which consists in maintaining the optimal level of humidity in the room. For exotic plants, it is at least 70-80%. Since in summer the humidity in the apartment is about 50%, and in winter it is even less, it is necessary to constantly humidify the air in the room.

The required level of humidity in the winter greenhouse is achieved by humidifying the air by spraying with spray guns, installing indoor aquariums and trays filled with moistened expanded clay, and other containers filled with water. In order to prevent the formation of condensation on windows and walls in the event of excessive humidity, it is necessary to ventilate the room in time.

Irrigation arrangement

Like any other plant cultivation facility, a greenhouse needs irrigation. If you have run water pipes into the room, you can water manually, however, adherents of innovative technologies are likely to give preference to modern automated drip irrigation systems,

which will contribute to the constant irrigation of the land and thereby ensure regular and timely delivery of water and the nutrients they need to the root system of plants. Cutting-edge drip irrigation systems, in addition to the above features, are equipped with timers and motion sensors, the presence of which allows you to adjust the time and amount of water supply depending on the needs of plants.

One of the advantages of greenhouses is that they can grow plants that are not adapted to our climate. It is in the conditions of the greenhouse that you can grow citrus fruits, for example, orange, lemon and tangerine. In addition, coffee grows well in greenhouse conditions. In greenhouses, you can grow abundantly flowering magnolias, which have large and bright flowers.

Also in the greenhouses, gardenias, bougainvilleas, orchids, passionflower and oleanders bloom very abundantly and beautifully. Plants that have a curly leaf shape, for example, kostenets, elk horn, peperomi, bracken, can complement the beautiful view of a flowering greenhouse garden. Varieties of ivy and jasmine can take on the vertical design of greenhouses. And, of course, numerous types of fern crops feel great in greenhouses.