Winter Uses For Your Sunroom

Think a sunroom can only be used during the warm months? Think again!

Winter Uses for Your Sunroom

by Brett Freeman

Only a decade or so ago, you could only use your sunroom during times of mild weather. During summer, sitting in a sunroom could make you feel like an ant under a magnifying glass. During winter, you couldn't sit in the sunroom because it felt like being outside, albeit less breezy. Fortunately, the same technology--low-emittance windows--that has helped make sunrooms comfortable in summer by blocking much of the sun's heat has the opposite effect in winter, keeping heat from escaping from your sunroom. The milder temperatures give you more opportunities to use your sunroom in winter.

Winter Gardening
Setting up a winter garden on your sun porch can not only provide you with home-grown flowers and herbs throughout the winter, but it can also help you through the darkest time of the year, when most people get very little fresh air and sunlight. Potted plants such as dwarf citrus trees continue to blossom throughout the cold season, and herbs like basil, thyme, and rosemary continue to grow as long as they aren't subjected to freezing temperatures or frost.
Flowering plants like orchids and winter jasmine likewise bloom if kept warm enough during winter. You can also supplement the sun with grow lights; only a couple hours a day of artificial light can greatly improve your results. And when winter ends, you are already set up on your sun porch to get your seedlings started, giving you a jump on your outdoor garden.

Exercise Room
Plenty of people blame winter weight gain on an excess of holiday parties. But really, the parties are a minor contributor. The real problem isn't that you're spending a couple nights a week noshing mini quiches and quaffing eggnog. It's that the rest of the week is spent sitting on the couch.
Ice, snow, and frigid temperatures provide plenty of excuses not to exercise during winter. Counter by setting up an exercise area in your sunroom. It doesn't need to be much--a piece of aerobic equipment such as a stationary bike, treadmill, or elliptical machine is all you need. The cool temperature allows you to work out harder and longer without getting tired, and the sunlight coming through the windows helps you avoid Vitamin D deficiency, which afflicts many people during winter.

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