Home greenhouse, how to make a greenhouse in an apartment, useful tips
Residents of large cities are more and more clearly aware of the need for communication with wildlife, they prefer to devote weekends, especially in the warm season, to hiking in a park or forest, each family tries to acquire a summer house, or at least a garden. But in winter or late autumn, outdoor attacks are often canceled due to bad weather. But if you want to create a green corner, or even a whole greenhouse, you can in your own apartment. If earlier a winter garden was created exclusively in private houses, today, using the ideas of designers, you can create a green oasis in a typical city apartment with your own hands. Of course, the question requires determining a suitable place, lighting and heating options, careful selection of plant varieties.
Content
- Home greenhouse - how to choose a place to create it video
- Heating
- Greenhouse of flowers - how to ensure optimal humidity
- How to divide the territory of a small room into functional zones video
- DIY greenhouse - take plants seriously
- Greenhouse at home - how to properly care for plants
- Winter Garden - Some Useful Tips For Arranging video
- Vertical flower beds
Home greenhouse - how to choose a place to create it
Of course, in an ordinary city apartment it is quite difficult to find enough space for organizing a winter garden. Usually the choice falls on glazed loggias or balconies, the ideal option is a room with a bay window, unless of course there is one in the apartment.
The balcony room or loggia will need to be prepared as follows:
- clean from unnecessary items,
- insulate the ceiling, walls, floor,
- come up with an original interior decoration for the walls,
- determine the overall style of the flower greenhouse.
If you do all the work yourself, the preparation stage will not be very costly.
Allocated area should be correctly zoned:
- set aside a place to rest,
- provide for the possibility of moving around the balcony,
- leave room for plants.
To place the plants, you can use any surface - window sills, shelves attached to the walls, shelving, a planter with plants can be attached to the ceiling. The greenhouse of flowers should be distinguished by functionality and compactness. Since plants require a certain humidity, degree of illumination and temperature for normal development, it will be necessary to create a certain ecosystem on the territory of their habitat.
You should also make sure that there are no drafts and the tightness of the room. As a decoration for the walls, you can use any suitable materials, the floor is best laid with ceramic tiles or other material that does not threaten destruction from high humidity - because the plants will be constantly watered and sprayed.
Heating
Before you make a greenhouse, you should consider the question of its heating. There are many options for the heating system, the choice will be determined more likely by the willingness to spend this or that amount of money. The most expensive, but effective option is to install a warm floor, installing a split system or a conventional oil cooler will be less costly. Do not forget that in severe frosts the split system may not be effective enough, and the constant operation of the radiator will lead to an increase in energy costs. Experts consider the installation of a warm floor to be the best option, even at a relatively expensive initial cost.
Heaters should be located near the coldest wall or near the window.
When installing double-glazed windows, installing effective thermal insulation and a high-quality heating system, it is possible to achieve that the temperature in any weather conditions will exceed +15 C, which is quite enough for growing tropical plants.
A thermometer should be installed on the balcony. Lowering the temperature to 0 C is an alarm. Many of the plants will not be able to withstand this temperature for a long time. It will require the organization of additional heating or temporary movement of plants in a warmer room. A sharp temperature difference must also not be allowed.
Be sure to make electrical wiring on the balcony - with a short daylight, the organization of a normal light mode will be required. In order for the plant to receive rays whose length maximally contributes to its development and flowering, it is best to install fluorescent, LED or special phyto lamps. Lighting devices should be at the proper distance from the plants themselves. If you do not have your own experience in installing electrical wiring, then this stage of work is better to entrust to a specialist.
If the balcony is located on the south side of the house, it will be necessary to provide for the possibility of installing blinds - too bright sun can harm plants. It should also be borne in mind that some plants generally do not like bright light - they can be placed away.
Greenhouse of flowers - how to ensure optimal humidity
The optimum moisture level for flower growth is about 70%. But the use of heating devices in the winter or intense heat in the summer leads to a significant reduction. Therefore, when planning the interior, a place should be provided for placing at least small water tanks. Daily spraying of hygrophilous plants is recommended. Water dust will help increase humidity and wash dust off the leaves, thereby enhancing the process of photosynthesis and increasing the percentage of oxygen in the air filling the apartment. You can also use salt lamps - sea air is good for both people and plants.
How to divide the territory of a small room into functional zones
Of course, a small balcony can be divided into very tiny zones, however, with proper planning, caring for plants and relaxing in the greenhouse can be quite comfortable. The width of the passage along the balcony can be from 40 to 60 cm. In this case, an unhindered approach to each flower, to windows and doors should be ensured. The dimensions of the recreation area will depend on the dimensions of the loggia or balcony, if the place allows it, you can install a small sofa or chair, it is possible to use folding furniture. It’s good to place a miniature coffee table, several closed shelves or a cabinet for storing plant care products in this area.
DIY greenhouse - take plants seriously
The small area of \u200b\u200bthe home winter garden does not mean at all that a strictly limited number of plants can be placed in it. With skillful selection and proper arrangement of containers with flowers, you can create a cozy atmosphere of a green oasis.
As the main object of the composition, you can use a larger plant - ficus, palm, yucca, dracaena, pandanus, lemon tree. A container with it is installed on the floor, smaller objects are placed around it, while it is advisable to choose flowers that are combined according to the outlines of the leaves, their dimensions or shade. The nearby milkworms, cyperus, calathea, money tree look good. It should not be allowed that one plant overlaps another, each of them should receive a sufficient amount of light.
If hydrangea, rose, azalea, orchid are used in the composition, it is better to place them closer to the source of natural light.
Ampelous plants such as lianas, tradescantia, chlorophytum, polyanthus jasmine, and gloriosa will be normally planted in hanging planters.
The greenhouse will give special charm to a small, beautifully designed artificial pond, possibly with a waterfall or fountain. It will help humidify the air and bring a sense of dynamics to the greenery of the interior.
Fans of minimalism can limit their choice to succulent plants, cacti and agaves. But the choice of any of the species involves the creation of conditions corresponding to each flower, bush or tree.
Flower greenhouse at home - how to properly care for plants
When organizing a winter garden, one should be aware that in order to maintain its attractiveness, constant monitoring and maintenance will be required. Signs of carelessness of the owners or improper care will be:
- wilting or yellowing of leaves,
- falling buds
- flowering is not intense enough for this season.
Continuous care will include:
- spraying and watering plants
- dust removal from leaves,
- humidity and light intensity adjustment
- temperature correction,
- top dressing and loosening of the soil.
All residues of plants affected by rot or disease should be carefully removed from the pots. At least once a season, remove the topsoil, replacing it with a fresh mixture, which includes compost or manure.
But all the expenses of time and energy will pay off with interest - it is difficult to imagine something more pleasant than a morning tea party or a romantic dinner in a beautiful winter garden created by your own hands.
Winter Garden - Some Useful Tips For Arranging
If in the greenhouse most plants do not like bright sunlight, in summer the balcony will need to be shaded with curtains from translucent fabric, a canopy, blinds. Also, drought-resistant, photophilous specimens should be preferred.
On a balcony located on the north or west side of the house, it is better to plant deciduous plants.
It is advisable to choose flowers with the same requirements for temperature and humidity conditions for one composition.
For planting in the winter greenhouse, you should choose evergreens. They will maintain the decorativeness of the composition throughout the year. Seasonal flowers are best planted in window drawers.
Caution should be given to poisonous indoor plants and those that can cause allergies, especially if the family has small children.
If plants are planted in containers, then undersized should be planted in the center, and curly ones should be planted at the edges.
The vertical composition of bushy and falling plants planted in a cache-pot looks more impressive.
You can also resort to creating a semblance of an alpine hill, taking as a basis multi-level coasters and lining the floor with an artificial coating that imitates a lawn.
Compositions of curly flowers planted around an arched structure have a very attractive appearance.
Vertical flower beds
The design of the vertical flowerbed for the balcony is not at all complicated, to create it you will need to find the used pallet, cover it with waterproof material, and fill it with high-quality soil. Flowers are planted in holes, the structure is attached to a vertical plane, in particular - to the wall.
The basis for a vertical flowerbed can be made of foil insulation. The existing cloth is folded in two layers, stitched with pockets, cut through them and covered with nutritious soil. Then the flowers are planted.
Plants for such compositions are chosen with small roots. Since the soil in such pockets will dry faster than in pots, the beds will need more frequent watering. We should not forget about top dressing, any type of water-soluble fertilizer can be used for plant nutrition.
Experts recommend starting the creation of a home greenhouse from unpretentious care flowers, such as philodendrons, senpolis, rio, roullia. Caring for such flowers is a pleasure, even for an inexperienced grower.
