Backyard Greenhouses – If you have a love affair with plants and flowers, why not create an inspiring greenhouse structure in your backyard? Greenhouses can offer a range of creative ideas, from just a place to grow plants to your indoor-outdoor living room. They also can provide an eye-catching backyard focal point, a place to pot your plants and relax in a tropical oasis.
Enjoy your greenhouse year-round by adding a cozy nook inside. This backyard greenhouse can be right next to your outdoor gardens, adding the additional benefit of a potting shed. It can provide you with a garden paradise and light therapy at the same time – especially during the long winters.
Backyard Greenhouses
Greenhouses are a great idea if you live in areas with heavy snow, rain or other harsh environments. These greenhouse design ideas help you create your own greenhouse in your backyard. Whether you’re looking for a small greenhouse or a large greenhouse, you’ll find greenhouse inspiration in this post.
How To Build A Greenhouse
Here you will see easy DIY plans to create your dream greenhouse with a list of materials, including ideas for frame materials, roof panels and decorative elements. Enjoy great ways to use plastic bottles, PVC pipes, wooden frames, plastic sheets, and more, with a dedicated space for fresh greenhouse plants, fruit trees, and delicate plants.
Greenhouses create a microclimate that enables you to grow plants, herbs and vegetables, regardless of the elements outdoors. These enclosed structures can be DIY or custom-sized for your space so that they fit perfectly in your backyard. Get some amazing how-to ideas below to build your own backyard greenhouse!
Tell us: which one of these backyard greenhouse ideas most inspired you and why in the comments below!
1. Cape Cod Greenhouse. Potted plants and lush greenery surround this beautiful glass and steel greenhouse with a stone foundation. (via BC Greenhouse Builders)
Backyard Greenhouse Ideas To Upgrade Your Outdoor Space
2. Wonderful Greenhouse Space. This 320 square foot (16′ x 20′) steel frame greenhouse can withstand hail and high winds along with heavy, wet spring snow. A concrete foundation is topped with a gravel floor. The space allows for horizontal and vertical growing capability while providing ample area to sit, relax and enjoy what a greenhouse can offer. (via CSI Hobby Greenhouses)
3. Greenhouse with hanging plants. This greenhouse features hanging baskets with lush vegetation and raised beds with a water fountain. A stone floor for durability and low maintenance. There is also a sink for watering. (via BC Greenhouse Builders)
4. English Garden Greenhouse Shed.Upper hanging shelves have grow lights to supplement natural light for year-round plant growing. Slotted shelves allow water to flow through onto the brick floor. Hoses make watering plants a breeze. The exterior of the greenhouse has a brick-clad foundation. (by Karen Aitken and Associates)
5. Contemporary greenhouse shed. This magnificent greenhouse is custom-built, and offers abundant natural light for growing plants indoors. Beautiful gardens surround this greenhouse for summertime enjoyment in Seattle, Washington. (via Architectural Glass/Greg Carman)
How To Choose A Site For Your Greenhouse (and Create The Best Growing Conditions)
6. Greenhouses. A twin-wall polycarbonate greenhouse with corrugated metal raised garden beds. A truly productive greenhouse! (via BC Greenhouse Builders)
7. Garden room with spa and greenhouse. The greenhouse is connected to a garden room with a spa. In the greenhouse, tropical plants grow in the winter while vegetables and flowers start for spring. A plexiglass roof joins the greenhouse to the heated garden room. Plastic benches held up by concrete blocks make a simple benching system. Wire closet shelving adds extra space for plants. 3/8″ pea stone floor with a drainage pipe underneath helps keep the floor dry. (via Garden Tech Horticultural Services)
8. Greenhouse Solarium. Raised beds with rows of varieties surround a small sitting area, ideal for lounging or even working from home! Fans help to keep the room cool. (via Meridian Estate Greenhouses)
9. Backyard greenhouse living. This industrial-style greenhouse is custom built and its dimensions are 60′ by 20′, or 1200 square feet. The interior of the greenhouse makes a perfect place for entertainment or relaxation. (via Groundswell Design Group)
Backyard Greenhouse Hideaway
10. Greenhouse Shed Roof. A unique free-standing lean-to captures maximum available sunlight throughout the day. (via BC Greenhouse Builders)
11. Recycled greenhouse. A damaged pole barn has been converted into an eclectic greenhouse. Mismatched pieces of reclaimed windows dictated the construction of the greenhouse. The floors feature reclaimed brick from a turn-of-the-century fireplace, sourced from a neighboring homestead. (by Sarah Greenman)
12. Glass house in the garden. This modern glass house has a dividing wall (the opposite side has a gas fireplace) that separates a living area from the greenhouse. One side has a polished concrete floor, while the greenhouse side has gravel. The frame is painted steel with aluminum sliding glass doors. A glass roof covers the greenhouse, while the other side has a green roof with native grasses. (via Flavin Architects)
13. A greenhouse shed. A rustic greenhouse addition with a wooden trough for plants. Potted plants line the windows for additional sunlight. (via step3studio)
Best Tips For Building A Diy Backyard Greenhouse For Cold Weather Climates
14. A “green” greenhouse. A handmade aluminum greenhouse. The color of the greenhouse blends with its surroundings. A main entrance porch has double doors for easy access. The interior offers enough space to accommodate different growing areas. (via Hartley Botanic)
16. English greenhouse. This spectacular greenhouse in Greenwich, Connecticut features an abundance of hanging baskets and shelves filled with potted plants. (via Hartley Botanic)
17. Garden greenhouse. An urban farm in Austin, Texas features this small greenhouse next to a large garden with beds and walkways. Common 1/2″ PVC pipes are used to make inexpensive garden hoops to cover the plants from direct sunlight. (via B. Jane Gardens)
18. Potting shed greenhouse. A greenhouse can also be used as a potting shed. This one has hanging baskets with the constant sunlight through the glass ceiling. Wood flooring is used for durability. (via Affinity Builders)
Five Types Of Backyard Greenhouses
19. Cottage greenhouse. A greenhouse in Denmark forms the framework for a cozy outdoor space with an Olano Solseng sunbed in untreated natural rattan from ILVA. Plants and vegetables grow in this indoor-outdoor space, which is also used as a cozy nook to be enjoyed year-round. (via Bolig Magasinet)
20. Cozy DIY Greenhouse. This beautiful greenhouse took seven months to complete, the site is overflowing with lush vegetation. Tucked in the trees, it is a magical place that brings joy, reflection and healing. A boho fringe hammock is an idyllic place to curl up for an afternoon siesta. (via Vaughn House Greenhouse)
21. Greenhouse Conservatory. This amazing greenhouse would be the ultimate place to feel inspired – somewhere to paint and listen to music surrounded by beautiful flowers and sunshine. The large leafy plant hanging in the corner of the room adds a tropical feel. (via @beldicountryclub)
22. Greenhouse and raised beds. This 8’x12′ custom double glass greenhouse with a vestibule is so inviting and offers a beautiful anchor to the Pacific Northwest garden. Outdoor vegetable garden planter boxes add to the overall feel of this amazing garden zone. (via BC Greenhouse Builders)
Building A Backyard Greenhouse: 9 Things To Know Before Starting
23. Attached greenhouse. An old warehouse in Philadelphia has been converted into an indoor/outdoor recreation center with an attached greenhouse. (via World Wide Stereo)
24. Backyard greenhouse. This cool space is the perfect place to store all your container plants, especially those that are outside in the summer. They will survive and thrive in this unique microclimate. You can make your greenhouse functional by storing your garden tools and even personalize it with a unique light fixture and maybe even some artwork! (via @haarkon_)
25. Beautiful backyard greenhouse. A steel and glass-enclosed greenhouse with French doors brings you into this greenery-filled oasis. (via Pinterest)
26. Greenhouse with a potting bench. This gorgeous greenhouse features a potting bench for the enjoyment of year-round blooms. Brick walls add a rustic feel to this wonderful space. (via Ideal Home)
High Quality Glass And Polycarbonate Greenhouses
27. Freestanding work areas. Having a greenhouse means you can garden throughout the seasons. You can also continue to propagate seeds and cuttings to grow a wide variety of plants. A large bench provides a work area for potting plants, filling flats, etc. (via HGTV) Let me formally introduce you to the next major project we’re focusing on, the backyard greenhouse project. The green house project in a nutshell: Making a small structure out of old windows, across the front patio, in the middle of the daffodils.
After much consideration over all the projects on our 2024 list, starting with the greenhouse made the most sense. And I’m very excited about it for several reasons.
So before we get into all the tutorials for how we build this small, residential greenhouse, I thought it best to start with some background information. How we build it.
So many reasons, let me count the ways. But in general, since moving to rural Vermont, our family has embraced growing our own food.
Outdoor Living Cedar Greenhouse
Although we have an amazing local food system here, with an organic farm and farmstand within walking distance, there is something about learning how to grow our own food that is exciting yet comforting.
A greenhouse on our property could help expand the growing season here in zone 5a according to the updated USDA plant hardiness zone map (formerly zone 4b). After years of experience trying to start vegetables earlier in the spring and extend later in the