Once you have chosen a contractor, your involvement in the building process is far from over. There are several things that you should be diligent about when your project is underway. Please read “Choosing The Right Contractor For Your Greenhouse Project Part 1” for helpful information to consider before you decide on a contractor. Current…
One of the most important aspects of building a greenhouse is hiring the right contractor for the job. You want to make sure your project is going to be done correctly, on time and within your budget. Building a greenhouse can take weeks or months and it’s imperative you hire a contractor that you can…
Summer is almost here! As outdoor temperatures begin to rise, greenhouse temperatures rise as well. Luckily, there are a few methods for reducing the amount of heat that enters your greenhouse. Here at Ceres, we think that shade paint is a great way to reduce greenhouse temperatures. Shade paint can be applied once your greenhouse…
For most people, tending a garden is a pastime that has therapeutic benefits and yields tasty and fresh rewards in the Spring and Summer time. For six-year-old Kaiel Morritt (pronounced like “Kale”) and his family, their garden is tremendously more than a pastime. Kaiel’s life depends on home-grown produce. Kaiel and his family live in…
Owning your own backyard greenhouse is an investment that can elevate your gardening experience beyond just providing a year-round growing space. A backyard greenhouse creates a slice of Costa Rica in the middle of a blizzard, it provides a natural therapeutic escape to stretch your green thumb, and can even be an incredibly convenient produce…
Innovation plays an important role in every industry. Bulky, inefficient methods are catalysts for new-age technology. Since traditional greenhouses lack insulation, thermal masses can provide extra heat. Thermal mass materials absorb heat during the day and release the heat back into the greenhouse at night. Water barrels are widely used to maintain temperatures in…
In the spring of 2017, the Ceres residential design team collaborated with a passionate environmental science professor at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania to integrate Soliculture photovoltaic roof panels into our 12x16 DIY greenhouse design. The goal was to create an energy efficient campus greenhouse that produced its own electricity and enhanced the incoming light spectrum…
The following is an excerpt from The Year-Round Solar Greenhouse, with additional content provided by expert greenhouse grower Paul Alaback. Year-round greenhouse growers, and all gardeners, often wonder whether plants are getting sufficient light. As we’ll explain further below, whether your garden gets enough light is somewhat subjective -- it depends on your expectations. Fortunately,…
Below is an excerpt from The Year Round Solar Greenhouse. We live in a plastic-laden age, so when it comes to choosing a material for a year-round greenhouse, the choices can get overwhelming. Polycarbonate, polyethylene, Polygal, Lexan…? Knowing how to navigate the array of ‘polys’ – and other materials like glass – is a major…
With demand for local food continuing at a strong pace, a year-round greenhouse is often a good business venture. You can greatly improve your chances for a successful greenhouse business with proper planning. Planning for a greenhouse business requires basic business planning -- thorough research and usually spreadsheets. Here are five essential tools to aid that process, based…
