I'm not particularly known for my green thumb, but even I've learned how to grow a few plants. A small garden if great for providing a few fresh veggies and herbs, and with a little patience and work, it's not hard. But what makes gardening a little bit easier is having a small greenhouse. You don't need to build a professional greenhouse in your backyard, though; a mini greenhouse offers the same benefits.
A mini greenhouse is cheaper and easier to maintain, and you can use it for everything you might use a large greenhouse for. Your greenhouse doesn't even have to be house-shaped - you can buy a cold frame greenhouse with a polycarbonate lid that raises for easy access to the plants inside it or a cabinet-shaped 4-tier mini greenhouse. Or you can get a lean-to greenhouse that works as a sunroom attached to any exterior wall of your house. Many of these small greenhouses have zipper doors or roll up panels on the greenhouse cover for access and ventilation.
If you're ready to get started with a greenhouse of your own, here are five advantages to having a mini greenhouse for your veggie garden.
PlantHouse 4 ft. x 4 ft. Pop-Up Greenhouse
Make use of limited space
If you don't have a large yard - or don't have a yard at all - you can still find a way to create a garden. Small containers on a patio or balcony work to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers. You can use the same space to create a mini greenhouse. And if you only need plant protection part of the year, keep a pop up greenhouse on hand and use it only when you need it.
Practice makes perfect
No matter how much garden space you have, you don't want to invest a lot of time, effort and money until you know you can make it work. So instead of building a heavy-duty greenhouse, start small with a mini greenhouse and use it for practice.
Give plants a head start
A garden greenhouse is the perfect place for seed starting. Move young plants outside to your main garden when the growing season kicks in, and you'll be able to harvest sooner. Or even better, simply plant your garden and then place a portable greenhouse right over your outdoor plants with this pop-up greenhouse.
Grow plants year round
You can extend your growing season with a mini greenhouse. Or if you live in a region that tends to have late, unexpected freezes, you can protect tender plants by moving them to your greenhouse overnight. Or in the case of portable greenhouses, you can move the structure to the plants with something like this FlowerHouse planthouse.
Build a fun DIY project
Most mini-greenhouses that you buy from the store feature some kind of heavy-duty material over a steel frame. You can buy a high-quality mini greenhouse kit that makes it easy to put it all together. Or you can buy a greenhouse cover to go over existing shelving.
