Garage Greenhouses

Depending on your personal preferences and your climate you may be one of many people in the world who fancy themselves a bit of a gardener. Whether you have got a green thumb that’s made you the envy of the neighbors, you just enjoy the look and smell of the occasional flower or you just enjoy growing your own produce and herbs there is one spot that you may not have first thought of when thinking of where to have your garden. That’s right it is in your garage! While it may come as a surprise to some, behind an unexpected number of garage doors is in fact a decadent greenhouse. While there are a lot of things that you need to account for planning a greenhouse the place is usually something that most see as an inevitably large investment. Those all glass enclosures that only seem to be seen in movies aren’t actually as necessary as they may seem. Your garage in fact can do a great job as a greenhouse in its current state, and with a few improvements it will have your garden or your garden fresh meals the talk of the town. There are tons of benefits to having plants in your life from the stress relief it provides to the potential health benefits of growing your own plants for consumption. In this article we will look at the things that might just make your garage the perfect makeshift greenhouse for when you forsake your car and go into sustainable horticulture, or at least for when you decide that you enjoy fresh basil for your weekly pasta nights.

The first reason that the garage makes the perfect greenhouse is because of the space it provides. A garage and greenhouse have essentially the same properties, they are big open spaces typically with more than a few shelves. This means that your garage can quickly be rehabbed into a growing space suitable for the movies. The main thing that you may need to think about, depending on what you want to grow, is the light. Fluorescents and light racks can give you extremely precise and consistent light schedules to carefully guide and manage the growth of your garage’s plant environment, but there is also a lot to be said for natural light. Putting in some well insulated skylights very well may be worth it if you think you will be continuing the greenhouse use of your garage for a few years. The garage sky lights will also add to the value of the garage, not just as a greenhouse, but as a more pleasant and usable room.

The second great thing about using your garage as a green house is that garage door. The garage door allows you to open up the side of the green house in order to get some natural air flow and sunlight at the push of a button. This also means that you can move your plants in and out of the garage much more easily through the garage door opening if you plan to give them to friends, transplant them, or even sell them. This means that giving your plants a touch of nature doesn’t require moving all of them if you don't want to but instead is at your finger tips at any moment. The garage door will also let you set up your green house much more easily because of the size of tables, shelves or plants that you bring into the greenhouse, allowing you to start off much bigger than you would if your were constrained by something like a typically sized door as opposed to a garage door.

The last advantage of the garage being used as a green house is the climate. Your garage’s climate is usually somewhat close to your home’s because of proximity, but it still of course has more fluctuations. This means that if you have a well insulated garage door and garage that you could grow many plants that you would not be able to year round. A steady and more consistent climate than the true outdoors means that you can grow things that would never last all year in the ground for many seasons without them changing the season they think they are in and stopping blooming or from being harvestable. This means that your garage gives you the best of indoor plant care along with the best of outdoor plants, and you never have to move them from spot to spot. If you plan on growing your own produce or herbs this can be especially important as you will never miss out on seasonal fruits, vegetables or spices. This can even be a great way to save money on your grocery bill if in the long run you choose to continue to grow a portion of your own food at home. 

Depending on where you live and what your plans are for the type of plants you want a garage can be the perfect green house for you and your family. Fresh produce and blooming flowers aren’t the only benefits that you’ll get from having a green house in your garage, but it does take a bit of research and work to get your garage set up for the perfect plants. If you are thinking of trying to give your garage a go as a green house then there are a few people you can turn to when gathering information. Think about talking to your local garage door professional to see if they have any ideas about well insulated doors that may serve your needs better or seals that you may need to replace to keep the temperatures constant to what you are after. A contractor may also be helpful in bringing more light into your garage if you plan on going the natural lighting route. Lastly your local garden store or green house owner may have their own insights of how exactly to grow what and some suggestions on how to turn your garage into the greenhouse of your dreams.