The purpose of a greenhouse is to try to control the environment for growing vegetables and plants and that is the aim of all gardeners and the greenhouse is the ultimate way of controlling the growing conditions for your plants.

Walled gardens have been around for centuries and they were a halfway house towards the greenhouse by protecting plants from some of the effects of the weather but a greenhouse puts you in control of what water, light and temperature your plants receive.

By giving your plants the ideal conditions for growing you can get the best results possible and grow the most beautiful flowers and the most productive vegetable plants.

There are several different types of greenhouses. There are free standing and lean-to greenhouses but all have large areas of glass of clear plastics to allow as much light in as possible.

Some greenhouses have all glass exterior surfaces while others may have a small wall of wood or brick and these are usually used where plants are not grown from ground level and instead are grown on growing platforms which are normally at a more comfortable working height. The deciding factor will depend on what types of plants you want to grow so if you want to grow tall plants you may need a greenhouse that has glass walls right down to the ground.

There are some problems with using a greenhouse and most are due to the fact that the plants inside are totally dependent on your care and attention.

Nature is full of fascinating creatures and many of them live by eating the plants you want to grow. They don't understand that the plant they are eating is your pride and joy, they are just trying to survive. So you will need to watch out for bugs in your greenhouse and treat them appropriately which can be manually removing them or using natural predators of chemical solutions.

Plant diseases can spread rapidly in the enclosed area of a greenhouse and you need to keep a close eye on your plants to look for signs of infections. Most diseases will be reduced or avoided by ensuring there is plenty of fresh air in your greenhouse but if you are trying to keep the temperature or humidity levels up this can be difficult. You have to find a solution that gives your plants the conditions they need while preventing disease promoting conditions.

One final problem you should consider is the problem of children and balls. Kids like to play and if your greenhouse is close to an area where your own or other kids play with balls or throwing toys your greenhouse could be damaged so to avoid this problem you might want to either locate the greenhouse in a different area or protect it with netting that prevents the balls hitting the glass.