There are a number of greenhouse accessories that can give a helping hand for your heating, insulating and venting of your greenhouse so that you can maintain the perfect environment to get the best from your plants and vegetables throughout the summer and winter months.
What follows is a non-exhaustive list of a number of greenhouse accessories that we recommend you consider either at the outset of your growing or when a particular situation arises over the life-time of your greenhouse. These accessories aren’t necessarily vital, but to get the most out of what you are doing then we to suggest at least thinking about them.
As mentioned, this list isn’t exhaustive and there are a number of lesser additions to your greenhouse that we haven’t covered here. Things won’t grind to a halt if you happen to be short on one or even all of these accessories but there will be some aspects of your greenhouse growing that may be limited in someway.
Greenhouse Heaters
Probably a fairly obvious inclusion in this list given the nature of this website as a whole but worth a mention for those who have come from outside. During winter growing, certainly, it’s vital that you can maintain the temperature within your greenhouse at a level that’s just right for any seeds and plants you happen to have. The hot air pumped out by the heater can protect against frost damage. During the summer, most electric greenhouse heaters come equipped with a summer-time fan option which does the opposite from the usage in the winter and pump out cold air instead. As far as greenhouse accessories go, a good standard of heater is up there at the top of the list.
Greenhouse Ventilation System
When it comes to adequately ventilating your greenhouse you can just simply go with the simple option in summer – open the doors and any windows during the day when required and close them at night. Simple. Well it is but means your greenhouse requires regular attention. It’s difficult to maintain the required temperature you’re looking for. And what if you forget one morning or one night to do what you need to do? As far as greenhouse accessories go a ventilation system is one of those things that is a god-send as it opens and closes your windows according to a set temperature control that is constantly monitoring the vitals of your greenhouse.
Greenhouse Covers
A cover isn’t necessarily one of those greenhouse accessories that is absolutely vital to the well-being of your greenhouse, however, it’s is one of those things that we’re including as for completeness sake. Wear and tear can cause damage to your greenhouse and if left without repair or replacement plastic covered greenhouses and their contents can suffer greatly. A tear in a plastic cover can see your greenhouse lose upwards of 10% of its heat during the winter – that 10% loss can have a devastating effect on what your growing. It’s therefore important to locate any tears quickly and either repair them if you can or replace the entire cover.
Greenhouse Glazing
For similar reasons to the above with replacement covers – it’s vital that you replace any cracked or broken panes of glass within your greenhouse. It’s not necessarily something that might appear on your list of greenhouse accessories and might not immediately spring to mind when creating a list like this, but replacement glass is worth mention due to the sheer number of people who ignore a crack or a broken pane. Again, similar to plastic covering – even a small hole in the corner of a window pane can disrupt the regulation of heat within your greenhouse and it’s important that you replace the pane immediately.