We have finally settled into our new house, and we have a brand new Alton greenhouse which we have used for the first time this season.
This being so I thought it was about time I told you a little about what we have done with the greenhouse, The greenhouse itself is 18 feet by 10 feet in size and contains a partition two thirds of the way in. This is so that we can attempt to keep the small section at the end heating during winter to hopefully carry on growing some plants.
While the rest of the greenhouse is used to over winter our other plants. I have currently removed the partition door to allow easy access to all areas of the greenhouse during summer.
The greenhouse took 3 of us approximately 1 and a half days to build, It all went suprisingly smoothly. Partly due to the well constructed Alton panels.
As you can see on the picture the greenhouse has 3 automatic opening vents, These were an extra cost to have but save lots of time as you just set the temperature on the back and they automatically push the vents open and close when necessary without any intervention, They work by having a piston type mechanism with fluid which expands when the temperature increases therefore pushing the vent open. They even close automatically when the wind gets too much. (Not quite sure how they do this).
The greenhouse also contains 6 side vents which can be manually opened, Some thought has been put into the design of these as they can be opened from the outside which is great as I don’t need to interfere with the plants to open and shut these.
I have even got a system inside the house configured which tells me via speakers whether I need to open any of these vents in the morning. For more details about this check out my automation page.
To add to the natural ventilation I have installed two fans, One in each of the partitions. These are run most of the day as long as the temperature is not too low.
They also run sometimes during the night to make sure the air still moves during the night to avoid any mold or deseases which can occur on the plants due to stale air. These are controlled via a PC I have setup for automated things around my greenhouse and within our house.
You can also see in the photo the greenhouse lights I have installed.
I have also made up electrical outlets in each corner of the greenhouse, These are all weather proof ones which are ideal for the greenhouse environment. At each corner I have a timed connection available and constant power. This allows me to connect any pumps I require to run continuosly or timed for different types of Hydroponic configurations I might want to try.
