Extend gardening season with the right greenhouse

For avid gardeners, colder temperatures have traditionally meant the end of a fulfilling hobby. However, many gardening afficionados have discovered that a greenhouse can be a great way to turn a seasonal passion into a year-round one.

Thanks to weather and climate changes, traditional outdoor gardening is often limited to a handful of months each year. In addition, climate often dictates what a gardener can grow and when. But with the right greenhouse, a gardener can both control the climate and grow plants that aren't necessarily native to the region, an opportunity most gardeners cannot pass up.

Essentially, there are only two categories of greenhouses: attached or free-standing. An attached greenhouse is just what its name implies: connected directly to a home. An advantage to attached greenhouses is their ability to receive heat coming from the home. Sometimes, an attached greenhouse needs to be approved by your local government, as zoning and building laws might restrict such additions.

A free-standing greenhouse is one that is not attached to the home. Many people with enough room in the yard choose free-standing greenhouses because they will receive more sunlight than attached greenhouses. That's because they won't have the shade of a house partially blocking the sun. In fact, when installing an attached greenhouse, it's best to choose a south-facing location so the greenhouse can receive sunlight during the winter months. Such a concern is unnecessary for free-standing greenhouses. Oftentimes, free-standing greenhouses are a greater expense, both to heat and to build.

While those are the two categories greenhouse fall into, there still exist several types of greenhouses from which a gardener can choose.

+ Lean-to: This is really the only type of attached greenhouse that offers permanence. Small in size, a lean-to attaches directly to a wall of your home, or even your garage or shed. Though smaller and far more limiting with respect to how much you can grow, a lean-to has the benefit of accessibility in harsh weather (after all, it's attached to a wall in your home) and might be able to use heat from your home.

+ A-Frame: Known for their durability, particularly in areas where snowfall is heavy, A-frame greenhouses have slanted sides and high ceilings. The slanted sides reduce space while the high ceilings make them more expensive to heat.

+ Modified A-Frame: Think of the way a child would draw a house, and you have the shape of a modified A-frame greenhouse. While the ceilings are slanted, the walls are straight, which allow for more space.

+ Pit Greenhouse: A pit greenhouse is somewhat like a basement greenhouse. In a pit greenhouse, you'll plant at ground level, and then dig a hole a few feet deep to create a walkway that will allow access to your plants. The walls of the walkway can be held up with plywood, which gardeners might want to install even lower than the walkway. Because pit greenhouses tend to be very warm, critters love to burrow into them, hence the need for deeper walls.

+ Solar Greenhouse: A solar greenhouse is best installed in areas where the sun doesn't shine all that much during the colder months. Such areas will benefit greatly from a solar greenhouse's ability to store solar energy and heat. Freestanding solar greenhouses are best used for growing large quantities, whereas attached solar greenhouses are better for gardeners growing for personal use.

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