Greenhouse Watering during Vacations
Gardening in a cold greenhouse is something that every gardener in temperate weather regions should try. It will extend the range of plants you can grow and will also extend the growing season. Whilst a heated greenhouse will give you an even larger range, it is quite costly to run and, because it will use fuel to heat it, will not be good for the environment.
Cold Greenhouse Gardening is much like outdoor gardening. With one or two exceptions.You are totally in control of the amount, and frequency, of water your plants receive. Your watering system can be straigtforward and low tech, or more complex with high tech controllers. The traditional watering can, or hose-pipe is the simplest solution. If you don’t have a friend to water your plants when you are away on vacation, then an automatic watering system may be needed to maintain the health and vigour of your precious plants. It is worth considering a good watering system when you are planning to build your own greenhouse
The amateur greenhouse gardener will find a number of watering systems currently on the market, all of which do the job well. Two of the least expensive and most accessible are a system which sprays water over the whole greenhouse and can be put on a timer and a system which continually drip feeds water to your plants.
The sprinkler watering system.
Sprinkler systems can be sourced from a number of suppliers. Several suppliers make individual parts which you put together to get exactly what you want. This is a very good system and does the job admirably. However, it can be wasteful on water since you water the whole greenhouse rather than just the plants.It tends to be an all or nothing system, in which the whole area receives the same amount of water during the timed sessions, and individual plants may be overwatered.. More importantly, it can lead to uneven watering on tomatoes which causes the bottom of your tomatoes to go black and hard making them inedible.
The drip watering system.
A number of supplies produce drip watering systems. {A typical system consists of a water reservoir which feeds through increasingly smaller pipes until it reaches your plant where you have a small valve which allows you to control how often a drip goes onto you plant}. This means that you can vary the amount of water from plant to plant depending on their individual requirements. Since this sytem does not have a mains water feed, you will have to get a friend to fill the reservoirs when you are asay. So you just need to tell them to keep the tanks full, and not worry about individual plants
This system is almost foolprof. It does not have any clcoks or controls to go wrong and is not subject to pressure changesfrom the tap. However, it does take time and patience to set up in the first place. It can become your permanent watering system, once set up, so you need never worry about keping your plants watered. You just top it up once a week or so, and forgrt the daily task of watering. Since it onlu places just the right amount of water for each plant, the system is good for water conservation.
As you tend to go away for your holidays in the midst of the fastest part of the growing season (and the hottest), then an automatic watering system become necessary. Automatic watering systems are one of those greenhouse gardening tips that you should carefully consider You no longer need to depend upon friends and neighbours to tend your precious plants. If they forget just a single day, your plants caould be irrevocably damaged. Either of the systems discussed here will repay their cost very quickly once set up, and both will do a good job. Both systems will last a number of years provided you look after them.
