Perhaps not in South Florida. However, I live in north-central Florida where we get a handful of frost days per year and a greenhouse offers a convenient way to protect my outdoor plants. Weather aside, there are many reasons to want a greenhouse whether or not we actually need one. This has been my experience…

Here in north-central Florida in growing zone 9a, I can use my greenhouse through all four seasons. Yes, you read that correctly. I really did not expect to be able to use it during the summer when I bought it. Initially, I wanted a greenhouse to start seeds in early spring and protect fragile or out-of-zone plants during winter.

The Luxury of a Controlled Environment

My greenhouse is a modest eight by twelve-foot size with two small windows, a vent in the door, and a fan on the back wall. In the summer, I use a 40% shade cloth we installed on the inside roof peak that extends down across the south-facing roof panel and then unrolls down the south wall when needed. For the summer months, we add a 70% shade cloth across the entire outer roof.

During winter, the outer shade cloth is removed and the inner can be rolled away, although I prefer to keep it down for my own comfort during our sunny winter days. A greenhouse heater with a fan is plugged in on the back wall and set to kick on when the greenhouse temperature drops below 45 degrees. While I was tempted to add another space heater on a couple of nights when temperatures dipped into the low twenties, we managed on the one heater alone.

Pest Protection

I have had very few pest issues in my greenhouse. Quite a few lizards and frogs live inside and keep the insects to a minimum. They each seem to have their own territories and they manage to empty their feeding grounds. Florida lizards will eat ants, flies, grasshoppers, roaches, earwigs, and moths. Native tree frogs eat spiders, beetles, and roaches. Bonus: they are also cute, entertaining, and often even Instagram-worthy. (You may ogle mine on Instagram!)

Protection from Weather

Certain plants seem to do better inside the greenhouse and I’ll keep them in there year-round. Others that I’m pushing zones on will remain in there at least until they are mature enough to potentially survive a winter outside. I’ve had quite a few tropical plants that were thriving outdoors and one brief frost ended it all. (I’m still mourning my star fruit losses.)

How I Use the Greenhouse

During the summer rainy season here, I rarely need to water my outdoor plants. However, in the greenhouse, I need to water pretty much daily. Unless it has been cloudy and humid enough to maintain the moisture levels inside the greenhouse, the soil will dry out over the course of a day. I water deeply in the morning and allow them to remain relatively dry at night.

Permaculture Considerations

One aspect of a permaculture lifestyle is reducing consumerism and reusing whenever possible. My husband found our greenhouse on Facebook Marketplace. We bought it sight unseen and had it delivered. Other than the red color the metal was painted, I was very pleased and wouldn’t have changed a thing. I ended up painting it green and it is now a more subtle feature of our backyard. It came with all the extras at about half the price we would have paid for a new one. Everything was fully functional and in excellent condition. Win-win!

My greenhouse is located in what would be considered zone 2 in permaculture. It is part of my daily routine, so it brings me out past the areas closest to my home (zones 0-1) and into the thick of it all. I can check on other areas of the garden as I stroll by. It is a nurturing environment that reconnects me to nature and engages my senses throughout all four seasons.

Permaculture puts an emphasis on perennials, and a greenhouse can support this effort by allowing a greater degree of plant diversity to be grown in a zone that might otherwise limit options.

If I had more unused space in my greenhouse, I could have opted for filling barrels with water to help heat the greenhouse (they absorb heat during the day and release it throughout the night) and collect rainwater from the roof to use for watering. I chose to have my greenhouse hose connected to a well for a clean water source. There are plenty of ways to bring permaculture ethics into a greenhouse system though. Repurposing used items in the construction and organization is ideal. Greenhouses can even be constructed from or insulated by reused plastic bottles.

I leave the door open during the day to allow pollinator access. Nature is brought indoors, but I am still working with nature. My greenhouse plants get natural light and fresh air, but they are also protected when they are vulnerable.

Practical Considerations

Previously, I had owned a cupboard-style mini-greenhouse made with twin wall polycarbonate that I used for seed starting in North Carolina. These polycarbonate panels are basically made up of hollow tubes that offer thermal insulation. The tubes are open at both ends, allowing insects to get inside. Something got in the tubes and laid eggs, resulting in an infestation of wormy things within the panels. While they didn’t have access to the seedlings inside, I gagged anytime I was near it. Ugh! Not attractive. I will never buy anything made from that material again unless the ends are sealed very, very well.

My current greenhouse is made with corrugated polycarbonate on a heavy metal frame. It’s not exactly beautiful, but it is highly functional and very sturdy. Dunnellon has an unusually low incidence rate for hurricanes by Florida standards. If one hit this area, it would be slowed by the substantial marshlands of our coastline — and it would take some pretty powerful winds to damage this greenhouse. Regardless, this greenhouse is heavy and solid.

In my greenhouse research, I found recommendations that a greenhouse should be on the south side of the yard facing north and south. That’s obviously not true in all situations. Of course, it should be placed in a sunny, level location. If it will be located close to or against a house, some of the structure would probably receive too much shade if it was located on the north side. That said, if it will be located a distance from the house, it won’t be affected by the shade cast from the building, so its orientation won’t matter. I would have preferred for the door to be facing east toward the more scenic area of my garden, but my husband wanted the electrical components to be closest to the electrical source, so that resulted in a west-facing doorway. The longest walls are on the north and south sides, which I find to be ideal. I place my most sun-loving plants on the south-facing wall and my shade-loving or fragile plants on the north wall.

Recommended Amenities

In my opinion, having screened windows are a must. I leave them open all summer long, night and day. I believe that having that extra ventilation and air circulation (when the night temps are cool enough that the fan won’t run) is beneficial for keeping fungus and mustiness at bay. The fan is also critical. Once the inside reaches a set temperature, vents open on the (front) door, and an exhaust fan on the back wall pulls out warm air, while also pulling in fresh, cool air through the door vents. If it’s not possible to order the greenhouse with a fan (or you manage to acquire a used one without it), there are fans that can be added later.

An inside hose is another must for me. I do my potting inside the greenhouse for the convenience of working with seedlings and potting up plants as they grow. I keep storage bins under the shelves on the north wall and on one, I keep a portable potting tray.

I also enjoy having the fluorescent lights on the center ceiling ridge. While I don’t use them often, they are nice on winter evenings when the days are short and I want to keep working on a project after it starts to grow dark.

The greenhouse came with metal screened shelves that are about waist-high and run on the two longest sides. I initially wondered why they didn’t also cross the back wall, but now I enjoy putting taller plants against that wall and I’m glad that there are no shelves there. I ended up adding a second higher shelf on the upper part of the north wall. I use the ceiling rafters for a few hanging plants. A few specialty plants stay in there year-round. One of our local hardware stores discontinued an aisle of loose nuts/bolts and got rid of their drawer organizers. I bought a couple of these and they’re perfect for storing things like small tools, garden ties, grafting supplies, etc. (again, reuse!)

I keep a thermostat in the greenhouse that has a remote display I can track from inside my house. While I haven’t found this to be completely accurate, it does allow me to track temperature fluctuations throughout the day which is helpful during extreme weather and for season changes.

During winter we put strips of foamboard into the roof vents to prevent too much heat from escaping, and sponges into other areas near the roofline where air escapes. When the temperatures rose during mid-afternoon I could open the windows for a bit of fresh air.

I’m not sure a greenhouse would be too functional without the vent and fan here in Florida, that should be a priority when shopping options. I would also encourage greenhouse buyers to get the largest that budget will allow. Mine is full to overflowing year-round.

So, do I think a greenhouse is worth it for Florida? Absolutely! I have found it to be helpful for collecting plants I wouldn’t normally be able to grow outdoors here, to extend growing seasons by starting seeds early and keeping container plants healthy off-season, and for offering a protected environment for seedlings and more delicate plants. My (reptile) garden assistants keep it pest free and all my greenhouse plants have benefited from the nurturing environment. The fact that I was able to use a greenhouse throughout all four seasons in Florida was an amazing surprise.

Beyond that, it’s just my happy place!

In an upcoming post, I will cover the benefits of an indoor greenhouse. Visit again to learn more!

Copyright © 2022 Fruitful Food Forestry & Lauren Lynch. No portion of the original content on this website may be reproduced, in any language, without express written consent.

Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, we may earn an affiliate commission if you purchase through the links on our site.