How to Build a Small Indoor Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a glass or transparent wall structured house that offers an optimum plant growing environment. If you have visited a botanical garden you may have been able to admire exotic plants and flowers growing inside these climate-controlled spaces. You don’t need to own a large piece of land to build a greenhouse and even if you just want to decorate your patio you can protect your plants from wilting very quickly by building a small indoor greenhouse.
In this OneHowTo article we explain different ideas on how to build a small indoor greenhouse.
Mason jar or plastic container
The first point you need to consider is how much space you want to set aside for your greenhouse in order to determine the size and space of your project. Moreover, you must decide if you want to start small by planting only one seed or if you want to build a large natural indoor ecosystem.
If you are only planning on growing a seed at first, then we suggest you build a greenhouse using a large mason jar or a leftover plastic container. Add some compost inside the jar and plant your seed. The benefit of of using this method is the fact that you can close the jar or the container to help maintain a regular level of humidity.
Fish tank or glass box
Should you want to grow more plants, we suggest you buy an empty fish tank or glass box where you can fit in at least a few different plant varieties. Glass is the best material to create this optimum environment but any transparent plastic material may be used as well. The key is in the ability of the glass to allow sunlight to pass through.
You will equally have to fill in the fish tank with compost, topsoil or black dirt along with some preferably homemade fertilizer depending on the plants you are growing. Make sure that you are using plants that require similar water, soil and light conditions so that it is easier to take care of them optimally.
Wood frame DIY greenhouse
If you want to build a greenhouse from scratch, we suggest you use wood framing and glass panels for your DIY. Wood is a fairly affordable material that can be easily trimmed and customized. We suggest you buy thick wood panels and use a high quality glue, to glue together the glass panels to the wood frame structure. Alternatively, you can use plastic sheets and staple them to the wood strips.
Another benefit of using wood is that it is a natural and environmentally friendly material that will not affect your plants in a harming way. If you decide to paint the frames, use a non-toxic paint that offers a guarantee of low or zero VOC contaminants.
Remember, that you will have to be able to open the greenhouse to clean and take care of your bedding; as well as, for watering your plants. Don’t glue or staple all the panels together and maybe use some hinges to create a front or back or back door.
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