Winter is coming to an end, March is approaching - time to start garden and garden affairs. At this time, laid the foundation for the future harvest, and with it the wealth on your table for the whole of the next year. Most gardeners are looking forward to this time, bored on the ground and garden beds.
Why greenhouse?
In the apartment it is best to do distillation of seeds in mini greenhouse. Some will ask: why? After all, the apartment is so warm, light, let it grow in the old fashioned way in boxes! It has been grown for decades! That's the way it is, but how much strength can be saved with care and how much improve the quality of seedlings, if you use for this mini-greenhouse!
The apartment is far from ideal conditions - the air dries the central heating, the winter-spring sunshine is insufficient for plants, it blows cold from the window, etc. And gentle seedlings need greenhouse conditions.
Mini greenhouse on the windowsill
A window is a place where pots with potted flowers, winter mini-beds with onions, parsley and fennel are traditionally placed. Why not arrange here a small aesthetic greenhouse that would decorate the interior?
For greenhouses located on window sills, there are certain requirements:
- the main thing - it must be aesthetic and not completely block shine from the window, so as not to cause inconvenience to households;
- create for plants optimal mode;
- provide easy access to care plants;
- have a good margin strength for reusable use.
Installing a mini-greenhouse on the windowsill will allow you to save electricity for additional lighting. In the afternoon the sun will shine, and you can prolong the daylight with phytolamps.
Types
There are a lot of types of mini-greenhouses on the windowsill, from simple containers from under cookies to complex automatic structures produced by the industry.
Greenhouse from the container
Easier to make mini-greenhouses for planting seeds from plastic food container. Such capacity should be deep enough and have a convex cover so that the seedlings have a place for germination. And they look neat and easy to care. For them need palletwhere excess water will flow after irrigation. At the bottom of the container is enough to make a couple of drainage holes - and the greenhouse is ready.
If you make a neat shelving along the perimeter of the window, you can fit a lot of such greenhouses on its shelves. In them, the seedlings will grow until the time comes to pick it in separate pots.
"Houses"
If the window sill is wide, you can put a miniature copy of the garden greenhouse on it - a small house with an opening front panel. In it in the cassettes you can grow already dive seedlings.
In addition to seedlings, you can grow greens, salads and even radishes in such a greenhouse all year round.
Bread box
Excellent on the window will look like greenhouse-bread box. Transparent from all directions, it will provide good illumination to plants. For maintenance and ventilation, it can be opened with one hand movement. If the window sill is fully adapted for a mini-garden, it can be made in its entire length.
In this mini-greenhouse, even early radishes can be grown in cassettes.
Old aquarium
If a mini-greenhouse is needed, but do not want to spend money and time, use the old aquarium (if he, of course, is in the house). The only thing that needs to be done is a transparent cover.
Everyone is good at such a greenhouse, one inconvenience - the plants will have to get through the top.
What are we growing?
The choice is great and it depends only on your enthusiasm for the selection of varieties of vegetables that can grow in a mini-greenhouse on the windowsill.
- greens - onion, dill, parsley, celery, mint, etc .;
- Balcony Miracle Tomatoes - give up to 2 kg from a bush (weight of 1 fruit is not more than 30 g), suitable for fresh consumption, canning and freezing;
- hot peppers. A bush with fruits can be a decoration for your interior, it looks so beautiful;
leafy salads - cress, arugula, spinach; - early radish;
- seedlings.
Some craftsmen manage to grow even cucumbers on window sills.
Do it yourself
You can buy a mini-greenhouse on the windowsill, since there is no shortage of offers from manufacturers. The advantage of such a decision is the absence of troubles in manufacturing, a minus - it is not always possible to choose the right size, and you still have to install lighting in addition.
Plus, a homemade greenhouse - the ability to make a mini-greenhouse exactly in accordance with the needs, will be cheaper. Minus - will have to tinker.
Rack
The most aesthetic and convenient option would be a rack made around the perimeter of the window. To make it look organic, it is better to make it completely out of durable polymeric white or transparent material. The best will be the good old plexiglass. It is a durable, unbreakable material. Its thickness should be from 10 to 12 mm.
Where to begin?
Of course, from the drawing and measurements. Plexiglas is easily processed, it does not need complex tools. It takes only a plexiglas cutter, which is easily obtained from the blade for a hacksaw, a file to level the edges of the cuts, a screwdriver for attaching shelves to the walls of the rack, a marker for marking, a drill.
- side walls and shelves are cut out of plexiglass according to the sizes;
- edges are processed using a file;
- on the side walls with a marker are applied the points where the shelves will be fixed;
- in the marked points are drilled holes for the corners;
- fasten fasteners and insert shelves;
- to give the structure additional rigidity, behind the upper and lower shelves you can make screeds of narrow strips of plexiglass.
Rack ready. On the shelves it is convenient to place the containers with seedlings, mini-beds with greens. You can decorate with small pots with potted flowers.
Shelves can be made and suspended, as shown in the photo. But in this case it is impossible to make a greenhouse out of it with a cover.
For lighting up under each shelf you can attach phytolampso that it illuminates the shelf with plants under it.
If you need a heated ground, you can use thermal electric mats, putting them under the containers. If you need to create microclimate - such a rack is always convenient to cover the cover of the film with a zipper.
Conclusion. A beautiful and functional mini-greenhouse with your own hands will bring not only satisfaction from the quality of the work done, but also help to grow a good crop in the window mini beds. Good luck and new ideas!
Budget mini-greenhouse with your own hands? Easy!
