Your Assistant Is A Greenhouse

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

It is not always possible to build a spacious heated greenhouse on your personal plot. A more budgetary, but no less effective option would be a small greenhouse for biofuel. Its design is simple, for construction you will need a few planks, a couple of logs, wooden slats and glass for the lid, as well as a shovel, hammer and a few nails

Greenhouse pit

It is customary to locate the greenhouse in an area that is sufficiently protected from the winds. It should be lit, the ground should not be heated. If it is possible to make a long greenhouse, dig a trench from east to west.

The length of the pit depends on the availability of materials for the greenhouse frames - slats, glass or film. Standard frames are made in the size of 160 x 106 cm. The optimal width of the pit at the bottom is 120 cm, at the top - 150 cm. That is, in cross-section, the greenhouse has the shape of a trapezoid.

When determining the depth of the pit, the terms of use of the greenhouse are taken into account. When laying biofuels in early spring (in March), it is about 70 cm, in April - no more than 50 cm.

On the edges of the pit, on the north and south sides, they put lads. They can be made of logs, bricks, which are laid along the edge of the pit. On the north side, the mare is made 10-12 cm higher than the south. This design will not allow water to collect on the frame after prolonged rainfall, and also provides better lighting for the plants placed in the greenhouse.

Cross-sectional diagram of a greenhouse:

On the picture:

1 - the width of the pit at the top;

2 - the width of the bottom of the pit;

3 - pit depth;

4 - northern lad;

5 - free space between the soil mixture and the frame;

6 - glazed frame;

7 - southern lad.

To create a certain microclimate and thermal insulation, you should conscientiously fill up the gaps between the cuttings, the pit and the ground surface. In the southern parubne, a groove is cut out into which the frame will abut during the airing of the greenhouse.

If you have a shortage of timber and do not have bricks at hand, you can sod the edge of the pit. At the northern edge, the width of the sod layer should be about 20 cm, on the southern edge - 3 times less. Before laying the layers, the edges of the future greenhouse are watered for better and faster rooting.

As a rule, the sod is harvested in the fall and before cutting the layers, the site must be treated from pests. Therefore, if there was no need to harvest the tapes last year, it is better to postpone this procedure until a suitable time.

We make a frame with our own hands

For frames, you will need long wooden bars, the width of which is 7 cm, the length is 5.5 cm. If the frame is made of standard sizes, 3 shpross are placed inside (width - 4.5 cm, length - 3.5 cm) at a distance of 23 cm. start to cut from the center of the frame to the edges. The structure is treated with linseed oil.

When the frame is dry, glazing is performed with ordinary window glass. The uneven edges are cut off the broken pieces. Larger layers are placed in the center, small ones - at the top and bottom of the frame. The glass is fixed with bitumen or ordinary putty.

Also frames can be covered with plastic wrap. If the film begins to sag, one end is nailed to the rail and the material is wound onto it, and then the rail is attached to the frame.

Instead of frames on the greenhouse, you can use arcs. Such temporary frame shelters can simply be made from natural material (rods, hazel) or thick wire (5-8 mm in cross section). Arcs are installed across the trench at a distance of about 1 m from each other. To prevent the film from being blown away by the wind, its edges are weighted down with slats and dropped into the ground on the sides.

Adding biofuels to the greenhouse

The prepared biofuel is mixed in a pit and moistened with hot water. After that, the raw material needs to be warmed up. For this, greenhouses are covered with straw mats for a period of about a week.

A layer of fertile soil mixture with a thickness of about 10 cm is laid on top of the biofuel. Such a greenhouse will warm your plants for about a month - depending on the fuel used.