Greenhouse orientation

The more daylight your greenhouse can be exposed to, the better. Where possible, avoid any plants, structures or any other shadow-casting obstacles. This will mean it’s possible to grow a greater range of plants, for more of the year.

If you want to grow some plants that require some shade, you can add this in later – it’s much easier to create shade than it is to get rid of it. Getting the maximum light exposure it will ensure you extend your growing season as long as possible.

Cultivar offer a practical and stylish shading solution for the entire range of greenhouses.

If you want to grow plants out of season, visit your greenhouse in the evenings or have running water, you’ll want to ensure you’re able to run your utilities into the greenhouse. This is best achieved during the base construction by laying a conduit under the concrete. This is simply a pipe that allows you to feed electrics or water into the structure from the outside.

Electricity, plumbing, and even gas can make a big difference to your plants and to how much use you get out of the greenhouse. The closer to your house the greenhouse is placed, the easier and more economical it will be to run services out to it.

If your greenhouse is placed somewhere out of the way or awkward to get to, it’s going to affect the amount of time you spend in it. If there’s a position near to your house, that’d be ideal.

If you keep gardening supplies and the like in a shed or other outbuilding, then siting your greenhouse nearby would be particularly convenient. That said, Cultivar greenhouses have openings wide enough for most wheelbarrows, so it’s easy enough to transport materials from other points in the garden if needed.

Will you have children playing in your garden regularly? Running around kicking a football can be an expensive activity when near a greenhouse. The reinforced 4mm safety glass in Cultivar greenhouses will stand tough against most knocks, but it’s best to avoid the potential for damage where possible, and site your greenhouse where it’s not in the way.

For added safety, the glass panels in our greenhouse won’t shatter into shards if you do manage to break them, but into small crystals that can be easily swept away.

Is your garden level? In an ideal world you should choose a spot with even ground to avoid too much heavy work when constructing the base. When you order a greenhouse from cultivar we will provide a base plan for you or your builder to work to which will specify that the ground be flat and level. As with all things in life a firm foundation will set you in good stead.

Our selection of bases will help you plan for your greenhouse installation.

Where possible, avoid siting your greenhouse near any trees. Whilst you may think that the trees provide good protection against wind, greenhouses work best when they receive uninterrupted sunlight throughout the day. Even if the area you’re thinking of isn’t shady now, as the path of the sun changes throughout the year, you may find your trees affect the amount of sunlight your greenhouse receives.

Let’s not forget that in Autumn leaves can find their way into the guttering so the less trees in close proximity the better.

With a good free draining soil comes the option to grow from the ground or beds within your greenhouse. Alternatively, adding staging and shelving will afford you more space for growing plants in pots or other containers at a more convenient level. A popular set up is to have staging and shelving on one side and an area to grow from the ground or from pots on the other.

Set up your greenhouse with our selection of staging & shelving options.

The direction your greenhouse should face is a matter of some debate amongst gardeners. In practice, the optimum orientation of your greenhouse depends on your garden, and what you want to grow.

Positioning the greenhouse with the ridge oriented North-South means that both sides of the greenhouse will receive the same amount of light. East-West oriented greenhouses will have the South-facing side receiving more sun which in most circumstances is preferential. Should you choose shading for your greenhouse in this instance it will only require shading on the south facing side.

Although not essential, where possible you should aim to have about a metre of clearance space all the way around your greenhouse. Aside from the benefits during construction, having this clearance will make access and maintenance much easier.

Leaving this clearance space has the added benefit of reducing the amount of shade that can be cast on your structure.