Best Greenhouse for Beginners
Outsunny Walk In Greenhouse
Updated 2024.07.31. This post contains affiliate links and Useful Roots will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links.
Whether you want to extend your growing season, create the perfect environment for your plants to thrive, or simply create a special place to grow and display your plant collection, an at-home greenhouse can be very useful and rewarding.
Instead of using window sills or setting your plants out in the open to battle the elements, a greenhouse can be a big advantage for growing your plants to their greatest potential.
When you have one that is easy to set up and break down, filters the sometimes harmful direct sun, blocks unwanted exposure to rains, provides ventilation and closes up on colder days, it allows you to mitigate errors and control the environment.
Some problems with hobby greenhouses in the beginners market are their overall sturdiness, strength, and their susceptibility to collapse in a bad storm, or even deform over time after heavy use.
It also includes optional built-in shelves, along with ropes and stakes to secure it to the ground.
The poles inside easily fit into one another to create the frame and come labeled with an included easy to follow diagram. You can put it together in an hour or two, and it goes quicker each time you do it.
One reason we like the lean-to style is the design is meant for the greenhouse to live next to a wall. This allows you to secure the greenhouse to the wall for the ultimate tie-down and as a supplemental precaution going beyond the standard rope and stakes that comes with the greenhouse.
For beginners, having a structure that isn’t susceptible to collapse or being blown away is a good foundation to start with, as it allows you to focus on crafting your growing environment inside, and not worry about it surviving Mother Nature.
We find that using standard eye-hooks with strong weather-proof zip ties and tent cord works really well to attach the greenhouse to the nearest wall. The zip ties allow you to slowly adjust and tighten as the plastic stretches out over time.
Inside the greenhouse, we like to take heavy rocks, cinder blocks, etc. and place them at strategic points along the exposed pipe base of the frame. This adds solid weight to the bottom of the structure, and in addition to the many tie down methods, secures it to the ground very well.
Below are a few photos of an Outsunny Walk In Greenhouse after three years of use:
Outsunny Walk In Greenhouse
Outsunny Walk In Greenhouse
Outsunny Walk In Greenhouse
Outsunny Walk In Greenhouse
We added gravel to this greenhouse’s floor plus stone and bricks along the outside to create an elevated boundary for it to sit on and keep away any pooling water from heavy rains.
In addition to building and securing the actual greenhouse structure, we found these additional products very helpful:
Clear Poly Tarp
While the greenhouse as it comes can stand alone and function, we find this clear poly tarp is a must have. It not only adds an extra light filter when layered over top of the greenhouse, but most importantly it adds extra protection from heavy rains seeping into the stitched seams of the greenhouse cover over time. The grommets offer yet another way to secure the structure to the wall and ground even further.
The tarp comes with spaced out grommets all over its edges, which allows for extra tie-down points, sandwiching the greenhouse between the wall and the tarp, pulling it toward the wall and down to the ground. It is even more secure with this now fourth element of stability combined the string ties inside, plastic loop ties outside and weights on the inner frame.
One final benefit of the outer tarp is the extra layer of frost protection, and its oversized dimensions creates a small awning on either side of the doors to keep downpours out.
Bio Green Palma Greenhouse Heater
You can set this heater to turn on at your desired temperature setting.
VivoSun AeroWave Clip-on Fans with Controller
When the winds die down and the plants still want air flow, these VivoSun fans pick up the slack and oscillate in a natural breeze mode to mimic what your plants would experience in the wild.
When the doors eventually get closed during the colder months, the fans circulate the still air and keep the plants happy. Another added benefit is when a heater gets used, we find the circulating air helps move the warm breeze to all four corners of the greenhouse.
The controller allows you to monitor temperature, humidity, and connect to the Vivosun app to view these elements remotely. You can also set the cycle of when the fans turn on and off, what speeds you want, as well as coordinate other Vivosun products that can be tied into the system.
To operate these fans you do also need the matching USB-C splitter, found at VivoSun.
Overall we feel this greenhouse is a great start for those that want something trustworthy and sturdy, big enough to walk into, and allows proper air circulation with large open ended zippered doors and an inner zippered window. And all of this at a friendly price point.
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