Growing in a greenhouse can not only ensure you a regular supply of vegetables throughout the year but also ensure that the quality is excellent and much better than traditionally grown vegetables. This is mainly because the vegetables are grown in a controlled environment with all favorable conditions that are required.
So, are such vegetables grown in a greenhouse good for you?
Well yes, absolutely! The vegetables that you grow in a greenhouse are good, both health-wise as well as with regards to their nutritional value and freshness. Especially if you are growing the vegetables organically, without any pesticides and chemical fertilizers, these vegetables will surpass all quality standards.
Why Greenhouse Vegetables Are Good For You?
1. All season growing
The vegetables inside the greenhouse can be grown in a highly controlled environment. You can have the desired temperature that is required for growth in any season notwithstanding the outside temperature.
- As a result, if you want to grow “summer vegetables” in winter when the temperature goes to subzero levels, you can do so with the help of a greenhouse. There are a lot of ways to heat a greenhouse so that the ideal growing conditions can be met.
So the resulting vegetables that will be harvested will be fresh and bountiful like the ones you’ll have in actual summer. This would not have been possible if you would have grown the very same vegetables outside in an ordinary garden.
So if you need to eat a particular vegetable for health reasons or just because it is a part of your diet, you won’t need to wait for any particular season to arrive.
- Similarly, there are some vegetables like Kale, Brussel’s Sprouts and Red Cabbage that can be considered as “winter vegetables”; they grow healthily in colder climate.
With adequate arrangements and controlling the temperature inside the greenhouse, these vegetables can be grown in the summer season as well. There are some highly effective ways of keeping the greenhouse cool during hotter conditions and making conditions suitable for these vegetables.
So it is safer and much better to eat these “winter vegetables” grown in a greenhouse than in an open garden during the hotter climate.
2. Better Nutritional Value
Independent research has shown that vegetables grown inside a greenhouse have greater nutritional value as compared to vegetables grown in a normal garden. (source)
The CO2 levels inside a greenhouse were found to be in much higher concentration as compared to the levels normally existing in an open vegetable garden. As a result, the photosynthesis would be better and the vegetables grown would be much better having a higher nutritional value.
Another thing contributing to better photosynthesis is that in a greenhouse the light received can be controlled and consequently the heat received by the plants can be moderated. Different stages of plant growth require light and heat in varying proportions.
So if the light and heat received is too much for a particular plant, that can be reduced by shading or other methods to reduce the heat and light. Eventually this results in better growth of the plant and hence in a better and more nutritious output of vegetables.
3. Better protection from pests
One of the biggest problems in growing vegetables is to keep them safe from pests and insects. Although there have been advancements in pest control with organic and safer pesticides, the vegetables still have to be treated for pests.
Within a greenhouse, due to the limited area of growth, you can be more in command of the pest control operations you will have to take. You will only have to deal with the insect variety of pests and the plants will be protected from the larger pests like small animals and rats, because of the enclosed space of the greenhouse.
4. Best conditions inside a controlled environment
As we have seen before, plants and vegetables can be grown in a greenhouse all year round. But what makes it even better is that you can have the most desirable conditions for growing within the greenhouse.
You can also prevent direct exposure to dust, storms, snow and hail which can damage your plants.
Wrapping Up
The environment we live is slowly changing even as I write this. While some of the changes in the environment is directly affected by man’s actions, like for example the decreasing quality of air and soil; other factors include climate change and its effects.
Under these circumstances it makes even more sense to grow vegetables inside a greenhouse rather than outside in the traditional way.