Many green house gardeners take the gardening lifestyle to heart and extend the green living principles from the garden to other areas of life. Some of the green living ideas that originate in the greenhouse can be applied to your whole home.
 
1. Recycle. Recycling is a natural part of any greenhouse, but taking this practice indoors as well helps the environment. Even if you don’t have curbside recycling pick-up in your area, you can locate a recycling center that will take your cardboard, plastic, glass, and aluminum waste. If you transport it yourself, you can even make a little money from your efforts.
 
2. Natural Heating. Many greenhouse gardeners use water filled drums to help harness the heat from the sun to warm the greenhouse at night. By investing in a geothermal heating and cooling system in your home, you can save thousands of dollars over the life of your house, in addition to reducing your environmental impact.
 
3. Going Organic. Choosing organic fertilizers and pest control methods is very popular with greenhouse gardeners. Going organic in your home is a little more difficult, but choosing organic cleaning products, detergents, and fibers for your home can go a long way to helping you live healthier.
 
4. Eating Fresh. One of the best side effects of greenhouse gardening is the endless stream of fresh fruits and veggies that adorn your menu. By eating fresh, you help your body maintain a healthy weight, correct imbalances, and heal more quickly. For those ties when you have to purchase store bought fruits and veggies, try to select the freshest, purest varieties you can afford. Farmer’s Markets are a terrific source for fresh produce.
 
5. Saving Energy. Many greenhouse gardeners work during daylight hours, conserve water and energy in the greenhouse, and tend to reuse every organic material in sight from soil to dead leaves. Extending this practice into the home may involve selecting energy saving appliances and light bulbs, shutting off the water while you brush your teeth, or installing water saving showerheads and toilets. You can also opt for solar panels and windmills to help reduce your load on the power grid.
 
These green house living tips are just the start of learning to live out your greenhouse principles beyond the garden. For more green living tips, you can visit popular websites like TreeHugger (http://www.treehugger.com/) and Campaign Earth (http://www.campaignearth.org/index.asp).

If you have a greenhouse gardener on your holiday shopping list, you may be wondering what would make the perfect gift. Here are ten holiday gift ideas for greenhouse gardeners.

1. Live flowers. Any greenhouse gardener will be delighted to receive live flowers to add to their greenhouse plant collection.

2. Quality pitch fork for turning compost. Many gardeners prefer a wooden handle, but any quality material will do.  Read more...

If you’ve been gardening in the greenhouse this year, you’re likely to be overwhelmed with the bounty from your efforts. Fall harvest seems to sneak up on us all, and trying to store all those fruits and veggies for the fast-approaching winter months can be hectic! Here are a few fall canning tips to help you get your crops in quicker.  Read more...

Canning your fall harvest from the greenhouse is one of the best parts of greenhouse gardening for many gardeners. Storing those fresh fruits and veggies signifies the culmination of a long and ‘fruitful’ growing season. The love of fresh produce is a strong motivating factor for many gardeners. It’s why we spend hours pulling weeds, watering, and caring for fledgling plants month after month.  Read more...

It’s that time of year again when greenhouse heaters start to creep into the thoughts of serious greenhouse gardeners. As the last few warm days of summer fade away, you may find yourself eyeing those last few container tomato plants and wondering how long you can keep them going in the greenhouse with a reliable greenhouse heating system.  Read more...

“The Earth laughs in flowers.”~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Getting flowers going in the garden greenhouse is always a fun addition to your usual greenhouse gardening activities. There’s just something special about watching those delicate green shoots emerge, knowing that they will produce beautiful, vibrant flower blossoms.  Read more...

Starting your gardening season with the proper greenhouse gardening tools can make the experience more of a success. Specific gardening tools are made for specific tasks and can not only cut down on your gardening time, but help you yield better gardening results. Take a look at these greenhouse gardening tools you won’t want to garden without.

Cultivation Tools  Read more...

Many home gardeners order a greenhouse kit from their local home improvement store, gardening store or an online outlet. They automatically assume a greenhouse kit will be an easy solution to their gardening needs. Thus, they await its arrival and carve out a few free hours for construction. While many greenhouse kits are easy to assemble, most require more than one person to be present during assembly and many of them come with detailed instructions. All in all, they can take much more than an hour to install properly. Use these tips when putting together a greenhouse kit for your garden.  Read more...

Millions of gardeners consider the winter months to be a quiet and desolate time in the greenhouse. However, there is no reason a great gardener shouldn’t enjoy the cold weather with winter crops. Even during the coldest months of the year, gardeners can plant winter crops to enjoy colorful and delicious plants. Depending on if you live in a harsh winter climate or not, you may even be able to grow a multitude of plants even without a heated greenhouse.  Read more...

Cleaning Rituals Exposed

Clutter Removal
After covering the greenhouse with the new Solexx panels, it quickly became a haven for over-wintering plants through the snow covered drifts of December. A myriad of tools, supplies, books, pots, and bird seed were clumsily stacked high and piled in corners. Tropical plants crowded and jammed the floor covered in frost cloth. Plants were moved onto the patio and the spring ritual of cleansing began.  Read more...