Greenhouses

Greenhouse Basics

A very interesting animation of the greenhouse basics and a brief description!!
The most basic greenhouse would be a simple box made out of solid, transparent material, such as glass or clear plastic. When sunlight shines through the transparent walls of the greenhouse, it heats the material inside. Let's consider how this works in a greenhouse with a dirt-covered floor.

Radiation energy from sunlight heats up the greenhouse floor. The floor releases some of this thermal energy, which heats the layer of air at the bottom of the greenhouse. Warmer air is lighter than cooler air (that is, it has a lower density), so the heated air rises to the top of the greenhouse. When the heated air rises, cooler air replaces it at the bottom of the greenhouse. This air becomes heated by the floor and also begins to rise.

PVC Greenhouse plans etc.

A very interesting collection of plans on how to build easy and low cost greenhouses for home uses and educational purposes and applications

Another PVC Greenhouse plan

Another set of plans, in 3 phases, on how to build a PVC greenhouse for home uses ...

Backyard greenhouse

A set of plans on how to build a PVC greenhouse at the backyard for home and educational purposes and applications

A Small Backyard Greenhouse

If you are a backyard gardener like me, you might benefit from a small backyard greenhouse. A greenhouse can be built easily and inexpensively, in several hours, using simple hand tools and materials available at most building supply stores. These are the instructions for the greenhouse that I have in my backyard ...

Tom Uhll's greenhouse

Somewhere in the world, it's always just the right time to start building a greenhouse. Tom has generously taken time to document the construction of his greenhouse. It's inexpensive, and you can build one, too! ... [An application of the above mentioned backyard greenhouse, with an interesting story in the end!!]

Planning and Building a Greenhouse

Careful planning is important before a home greenhouse project is started. Building a greenhouse does not need to be expensive or time-consuming. The final choice of the type of greenhouse will depend on the growing space desired, home architecture, available sites, and costs. The greenhouse must, however, provide the proper environment for growing plants ...

How to Build a Greenhouse

There are plans all over the internet on How to build a greenhouse from scratch with nothing more than plastic and cattle panels and PVC pipe and greenhouse plastic. The ideas are endless when it comes to building your own greenhouse. We thought you would like to have one place where you could find all of those "How to build a greenhouse" plans without all of the searching, so we'll do our best to bring all of the greenhouse building plans to you! ... [very interesting links and resources]

National Gardening Association

The National Gardening Association (NGA), founded in 1973, is a nonprofit leader in plant-based education. We serve a national audience with timely materials designed to foster an appreciation for the benefits of gardening ... [Also have a look at the Kids Gardening pages!!!]

The greenhouse effect

The Earth has a natural temperature control system. Certain atmospheric gases are critical to this system and are known as greenhouse gases. On average, about one third of the solar radiation that hits the earth is reflected back to space. Of the remainder, some is absorbed by the atmosphere but most is absorbed by the land and oceans. The Earth's surface becomes warm and as a result emits infrared radiation. The greenhouse gases trap the infrared radiation, thus warming the atmosphere. Naturally occurring greenhouse gases include water vapour, carbon dioxide, ozone, methane and nitrous oxide, and together create a natural greenhouse effect. However, human activities are causing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere to increase. [excellent from UNEP "Introduction to climate change"]

The greenhouse effect

See relevant information and an interesting animation ...