What is a greenhouse?

A Greenhouse is a structure built with shade-net to regulate climatic conditions and optimize the humidity to cultivate plants.

Advantages of greenhouse-

• Reduces indoor temperature by 6 – 8 degrees and can reduce air conditioning cost
• Reduces overall heat absorption of buildings and insulate the building against heat and cold
• Convenience of safe, pesticide-free, healthy green and fresh vegetables
• Conducive to a routine of physical exercise, clean air and being close to nature
• Increases amount of oxygen in the air
• Reduce sound pollution
• Consistent Gardening
• Protection for Plants
• Optimum Growing Environment for Plants
• All Season Gardening

Are you a new urban gardener growing greenhouse vegetables? Or, are you just thinking about getting started with a greenhouse?

We’ll focus on a few of the most common mistakes that urban gardeners make.

Here are ten common mistakes to watch out for gardening in a greenhouse-

1. Right spot to install a greenhouse- Install a greenhouse where there is a good drainage conditions, during watering the plants, the water has to go somewhere. So plan for proper drainage. A slope for the greenhouse helps the water drain out easily. If the drainage is not proper, water log conditions cause disease and pest gets attached to the plants.
2. Make sure that your greenhouse doesn’t get excess shade- Install the greenhouse where it does not get more duration of shade from tall trees or buildings. Shadow will be a continuous problem by limiting light enter into the greenhouse, and also tree branches may fall and cause damage to the greenhouse.
3. Avoid placing the grow bags or pots directly on the floor, instead use garden stands– Garden stands is a added advantage to your greenhouse, where it optimizes the vertical space by using double step stand or triple step stand. The usage of stands also helps in maintaining the hygienic condition and stainless garden. It also helps to keep the minute insects away from habituating underneath plants pots or grow bags.
4. Selecting the right plant for greenhouse gardening – Growing the right plants is  important as all plants cannot be grown in greenhouse such as fruit plants because  the height of the plant may cause shading of other plants.
5. Pollination issues – In a closed greenhouse, you might face pollination issues due to no activity of insects inside the greenhouse. Hence hand pollination is required for creepers and vegetable plants.
6. Pollinates are not available inside greenhouse – Attract pollinates by planting few floral plants like marigold. Pollinates are attracted to yellow colour and the fragrance of the flower. Hence pollination won’t be an issue.
7. Excess watering the plants – Avoid excess watering the plants because in greenhouse the humidity is controlled, so the evaporation of water from the soil is less. If the plants are excess watered the plants will be affected by fungal attack or stem rot.
8. Pest management – Most of the gardeners fail to observe the plants when infected at initial stage of infestation. Observation of the plants daily is required and if any part of the plant is infected with pests, immediately discard the part of the plant. So it doesn’t spread to other plants. In greenhouse the pest attack spreads very fast.
9. Crop rotation – Crop rotation is very important in gardening. After the lifecycle of a single crop, plant it with another variety. So the soil is fertile and sufficient nutrients are available for a healthy plant growth.
10. Failing to expose the soil to direct sunlight – Most common mistake done by Urban Gardener are they don’t expose the soil to direct sunlight. Solarization is required for the soil or potting mix because if the soil is not exposed to the sunlight, it will attract soil borne pests, maggots etc… and sometimes fungal disease too. By exposing to sunlight the most of these pests will be dead.

Conclusion

If you are planning to grow or if you’re an urban gardener with a green house to grow your own food on terrace for yourself and family, there’s more in gardening, knowing and dealing with the common greenhouse garden mistakes makes a great start to successful gardening! It is a continuous process of improvement. It’s so important that we learn from the mistakes. I hope this blog helps you to avoid the common mistakes done by urban gardeners. 

Happy gardening!!!