Sustainability tends to take many different guises depending on the person discussing it. However, for most of us, it usually means doing what we can to protect the environment and hopefully save money. While the importance of the two will vary from person to person, it’s a safe assumption that with the rising cost of living, most folks are perfectly happy to reel in some of their unsustainable practices as long as it helps to alleviate their monthly bills. Fortunately, when it comes to gardening, it needn’t be a zero-sum game, and when you play your cards right, you can do your bit for Mother Nature while reducing your grocery bills at the same time (not to mention knowing what you’re putting inside your body). This post takes a look at why, if you really want to do your part, a greenhouse is an absolute must-have.
You Can Maximize Your Gardening Opportunities Throughout The Year
If you have ever seen aerial shots of those farms that produce various fruits and vegetables year-round to cater to the world’s voracious demand for instant gratification, you’ll recognize the ubiquitous polytunnel covering them. These are used to create a controlled environment that ensures seasonal products that aren’t usually grown in certain seasons can be sold year-round. While this isn’t exactly what you might call sustainable, the point is that by creating these environments, you can guarantee your own source of food regardless of seasonality. When you choose to shop for greenhouses to place in your backyard, you’re essentially creating a habitat conducive to growing whatever you want, whenever you want. In reality, if you want to avoid utilizing some of the less environmentally friendly practices, you’ll probably still need to practice rotation, but this can also be an enjoyable and rewarding thing to learn, offering you the chance to develop recipes based on seasonal variations (but while still being able to enjoy the occasional strawberry during the winter months!)
Optimize Space With Vertical Gardening
If you are even somewhat interested in gardening (which I assume you are if you’re reading this post), you will probably have read plenty about vertical gardening and how great it is. While the benefits of gardening vertically as opposed to horizontally are well-documented, not everyone has the opportunity to set things up this way. A greenhouse allows you to create a dedicated space where you can set up a trestle of some sort that will enable various plants to grow upwards, providing you with even more space to play with for other veggies.
Reduce Pests With Controlled Environments
When planting outdoors, you really only have two options to protect your plants:
- Use natural pesticides that are pretty hit or miss in their ability to ward off predators
- Opt for harsh chemicals that work wonders but are harsh chemicals
If you want to avoid having to use the second option, a greenhouse can be a real boon. Because they are an enclosed space by their very nature, you will find fewer bugs entering and wreaking havoc on your strawberries! Now, just to clarify, a greenhouse alone won’t automatically mean that you are immune to these pests, but it does make the task of managing them a whole lot easier.
Save Water With Efficient Use
Water use for gardening can be a massive drain on public water supplies, especially during hotter months when droughts are far more likely. Although during any drought alert, you must obey, the fact is that a greenhouse is a humid environment, and the better ones are highly efficient at trapping moisture. In practice, this means you can leave your plants for more extended periods of time before watering them during the times when you are unable to use a lot of water and still see them flourishing.
Grow Organic Produce Without Chemicals
Just as a greenhouse allows you to use fewer and fewer harmful pesticides, it also enables you to help your plants without the use of nasty chemicals designed to help plants grow. If you pair it with locally produced compost, you have a seriously potent method of keeping your plants nourished without needing to resort to the very things that are most harmful to the environment. By using compost within your greenhouse, you’re not only avoiding toxic chemicals, but you’re also closing the loop on waste and creating a truly sustainable growing system. This approach not only benefits the environment but also produces healthier, more flavorful, and genuinely organic produce for you and your family. While commercial fertilizers might give your tomatoes a quick boost, they can also leach into the surrounding soil and waterways, causing significant environmental damage. A greenhouse, however, creates a contained environment where you can focus on building healthy soil teeming with beneficial microbes. This rich soil, combined with the controlled climate of the greenhouse, provides everything your plants need to thrive naturally.
You Will Save Money On Your Groceries
There will always be a need to head to your local grocery store once in a while, but there is nothing quite like being able to head out into your garden and pick a few veggies to fulfill whatever recipe you’ve chosen to cook that day. By growing the types of veggies you use regularly in your cuisine, you can save a pretty decent chunk of change from not having to drive to the store and spend money on stuff that grows quickly within a greenhouse! Cultivating your own fruits, vegetables, and herbs significantly decreases your dependency on commercially produced goods, therefore directly affecting your shopping bills. Moreover, creating your own food reduces waste as you just choose what is required, hence avoiding typical rotting with store-bought vegetables. Growing high-value crops, such as organic or specialized types, within a greenhouse would help save money even more, thereby increasing the availability and affordability of fresh, healthy food. You can also add the leftovers and unsuccessful crops to your compost heap, further boosting your environmental credentials.
A greenhouse is certainly something you might have to plan for, but something that has so many advantages for you and the environment that it is madness not to consider. From saving money to doing your part for nature, they really are a must-have for any serious gardener.
