Section 2: Structures for Producing Plants

Glossary

Lesson 1: Types of Structures


Producing plants can be quite simple. Almost anyone can grow a good garden in the summertime. But should plant production be confined to summer months only? There are good reasons for wanting to grow plants year round. Who would not want to pick fresh vegetables or herbs out of a garden in mid-winter?
Of course, year-round gardening efforts may not be practical in northern or far southern latitudes, but the need or desire to grow plants locally still exists. If only there were a way to lengthen the growing season!

Control of an area's natural growing season is beyond our possibilities, but the creation of mini-climates that lengthen the growing season for the plants we wish to produce is definitely possible, and has indeed been practiced by humans for a long time.

 

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Structures devised for plant production all have the same intent - to protect plants from inhospitable environments, such as extreme cold or heat, or destructive storms.
We will consider the following structures, from simplest to most elaborate:

  • raised beds

  • cold frames

  • hotbeds

  • greenhouses
Efforts of creating structures that present desirable mini-climates for plant production range from very basic to very elaborate. Each of these structures has its own design features which determine how it's operated and maintained. Each also has safety features as well as safety concerns, and the economics and costs vary from nearly nothing for the simplest, to very significant for the most complex.

We will learn about each of them in this section of the course.


Image Source: Pixabay

The Eden Project

Located in Cornwall, England, this project consists of a series of bubble-style domes that house a collection of plants from across the world.

Taken together, these bubbles make up the largest greenhouse in the world. The massive structures are powered in part by wind energy and fed in part by rainwater collection systems.

To read more about The Eden Project, click here.