Buying a tunnel greenhouse, tunnel greenhouse or glass greenhouse , advantages and disadvantages

Introduction

Do you want to buy a tunnel greenhouse or a glass greenhouse or order a glass greenhouse / garden greenhouse and you don't know what to choose? This article tells my personal experience and lists the advantages and disadvantages of both. For the sake of clarity, in the Netherlands and Belgium a different word is used for a glass or foil-covered space in the garden in which you grow vegetables and fruit. In Belgium, where I come from, we speak of a greenhouse and in the Netherlands they speak of a garden greenhouse or abbreviated ' tuinkas '. For the sake of clarity and in order not to discriminate against population groups, I always mention both in this article: greenhouse / garden greenhouse . A tunnel greenhouse or a tunnel greenhouse will be understood in both low countries, I assume

Tunnel greenhouse Elegant

With a tunnel greenhouse or glass greenhouse / garden greenhouse you can change your world

This is really everyone's dream, to be able to change the world around you. With a tunnel greenhouse or garden greenhouse you can do that. The heat of the sun is retained in a greenhouse / garden greenhouse or tunnel greenhouse. More heat allows you to grow vegetables that are more difficult to grow outdoors. Growing tomatoes outdoors is also perfect but your growing season becomes a lot shorter and therefore also more limited.

My personal greenhouse / garden house and tunnel greenhouse experience

My first steps in the vegetable garden

I have experience with both. When my hobby started about 5 years ago I only had a patch of poor soil at the back of my house. I grew some onions, carrots, some herbs, an attempt at cabbage, ... But 75% of what I had sown and planted was attacked by insects or got mold from too much rain. I immersed myself in the vegetable garden and was very motivated to start my second year. Winter vegetable garden in my glass greenhouse / garden shed of 2 meters by 2.5 (2016)

My glass greenhouse was a hit

In the second year I bought a glass greenhouse online of 2 meters by 2.50. This stood on a piece of extra ground that I had cleared . I grew this glass greenhouse for 3 years. The extra satisfaction that a greenhouse brings is immense. I am obsessed with the taste of home-grown tomatoes, cucumbers , eggplants , melons, peppers and bell peppers . I can no longer imagine life without it.

More space, so a larger tunnel greenhouse

When I got a larger vegetable garden of 357m² 120 meters further down my street I saw the possibility to replace the glass greenhouse of 5m² with 'something bigger'. Thanks to the fact that a tunnel greenhouse costs less per m² I could go completely crazy with my budget and filled all my available space in the garden at my house. It became a Splendid of 7.5 meters by 3 meters with two cultivation tables of 3.20 meters and sliding doors on both sides. An Elegant of 4.20 meters by 7.5 meters would also have just made it but then my garden would have been completely full, only greenhouse no garden anymore :).

My vegetable garden tunnel greenhouse on April 30th

My vegetable garden foil tunnel on April 30, 2018 salad bar - growing room and surviving winter crops

Using your greenhouse as a growing room

I also use my tunnel greenhouse Splendid to pre-grow my young plants in trays and pots from mid-March. The peppers and bell peppers not yet, I also germinate the tomatoes and aubergines inside my propagator and grow them under grow lights . But peas , snow peas , leeks , lettuce, beetroot , broccoli , cauliflower , ... and many other vegetables and herbs (see vegetable garden calendar March ). The young plants enjoy optimum light in the tunnel greenhouse or greenhouse .

What Happens on Most Windowsills with Seedlings

On a warm windowsill you are actually fooling your seedlings a bit. You are telling them: 'Hey, it's 20 degrees, it's going to be summer' (and it's only March). The plant imagines itself in summer and therefore goes looking for light. Inside on the windowsill the light does not come from everywhere but only from 1 side, the window. Yet the temperature is summery. The ratio of wanting to grow (due to the heat) and available light (which is not there) is not in balance and your plants become long and stretched and worthless. In a greenhouse or conservatory your plant will immediately find lovely cold blue light around it (not in temperature but in light colour) and in relation to the colder temperature as an indoor house a better balance between wanting to grow and available light.

Grow young plants quickly indoors in a propagator and/or grow lights

If you still want to grow strong young plants indoors, do it in a propagator , which is a greenhouse in which you can regulate the temperature, humidity and growth light. How to work with it you can read in the articles below:

https://youtu.be/6XX4CCSBB_M

The general advantages of a tunnel greenhouse tunnel greenhouse or glass greenhouse garden greenhouse

You can extend your growing season and even eat vegetables from your own garden year after year
You can grow a much wider variety of vegetables
Very ecological, you can grow vegetables that would otherwise have to be imported
You will have less trouble with weed seeds blowing over
Your plants are protected from driving rain, hail, birds, ...
When working in your polytunnel or glass greenhouse , you won't get wet.
Do you know any more? Post them at the bottom of this article.

Advantages and disadvantages of a tunnel greenhouse versus a greenhouse / conservatory

Before we list the pros and cons, I will give you something about the quality of tunnel greenhouses or garden greenhouses. Buy something solid and durable. Moestuinweetjes prefers the products of Filclair, a Belgian company that offers the best price-quality. Foil houses from the supermarket are often fodder for the recycling center (NL) or container park (BE) in the very short term. You can reinforce them, but then the second weakest link breaks. If you really have no budget or do not know whether you want to continue the hobby, the choice for such a cheap solution can be something.

In 95% of cases, people make a choice based on their budget for either a tunnel greenhouse or a glass greenhouse or conservatory . But it is still important to know what the pros and cons are of the two when making your choice.

Read below about the advantages of this Splendid tunnel greenhouse

Advantages of a glass conservatory or greenhouse	Disadvantages of a glass conservatory or greenhouse
Can last longer Better for growing exotic plants (greater light intensity) Looks nicer in the garden decor Retains heat better (useful for night time in winter) Better light transmission	Is more expensive to buy The glass is expensive to replace. When one breaks, more usually follow The clips that hold the glass are less convenient Glass greenhouses or garden sheds are more difficult to install yourself A level surface is a requirement. Difficult to move (when moving). You can opt for safety glass, but it remains glass that can be dangerous
Advantages of a tunnel greenhouse or polytunnel greenhouse	Disadvantages of a tunnel greenhouse or polytunnel greenhouse
Cheaper More space for your money Larger doors are possible on both sides for more air circulation More space inside gives you the possibility to create a sowing, transplanting and potting area With more space you can also grow late summer vegetables and the valuable space is not taken up by the fruit crops all year round The cross tubes make it super easy to build climbing structures against, grow on cultivation rope , hang hanging pots , ... less space is lost. The foil is less transparent than glass. You do not need to use shade cloth or sun protection paint to prevent sunburn. A tunnel is easier to place yourself You can place it on a slope or on more uneven ground A leather ball, a piece of toy cannot damage the foil The wind will also cause less damage to your foil tunnel than to a glass alternative. A vegetable garden tunnel is very easy to move In the event of breakage, a torn tunnel is less dangerous than broken glass.	The foil needs to be replaced every 5 to 10 years and still costs 1/4 of the cost of your tunnel. There are no roof windows so more often there is more condensation on the foil. It is more difficult to collect water. There are tricks with gutters in a longer foil on the sides, but they are not standard.

Finally Hopefully this article has helped you make a better choice. If you have any specific questions, please email us at webshop@moestuinweetjes.com, we will answer your question quickly. If you found this article valuable, consider purchasing your vegetable garden supplies and in particular your tunnel greenhouse or greenhouse / greenhouse at Moestuinweetjes in our webshop . You make a lot possible with it. Many greetings, Tom

Myself in my vegetable garden

Buying a tunnel greenhouse or glass greenhouse: pros and cons