7 replies to this topic

[Margaret Thele]

I would recommend not starting to build a greenhouse in December. With that said. My Sage Advice Nursery crew and I have started to build one from a kit and are almost complete. We've been working in the snow and cold and just have to put the polycarbonate panels on and finish the sidewalls and roof. It has been quite a saga, but got some extra help yesterday and work went along much faster. Still have a kit coming for my yard - this one is in my friend Vicki Peterson's yard - Sage Advice Nursery Two - Hope to get mine up before the drifts get too deep. Can recommend a kit building project - but be prepared to spend some time with it and have extra help on hand.

[Nell Jean]

It's always exciting to see a greenhouse going up. My advice at this point has to do with reinforcing and securing. We often get high winds and found extra clips a must to keep panels in place. We also drove t-posts into the ground to hold it down. We made a foundation of treated 2 x 12 lumber. and used metal straps to secure the frame to the foundation. The inside frame has short lengths of perforated metal strap to reinforce joints.

 

Ours was the least expensive polycarb greenhouse we could find, an import. You may not need as much reinforcing as we did.

 

You can see my greenhouse here: http://dottypants.blogspot.com/

 

or here:

http://seedscatterer.wordpress.com/.

[Margaret Thele]

Loved the blog on wordpress - liked the post about falling for the buy one get one free orchids. Neat pics too!

[Margaret Thele]

The greenhouse structure is officially done! Had to get a friend who "engineers on the fly" to figure it out for me - but he did. Now for a layer of gravel in the house to keep the moisture down and bring the heater. We'll be putting plants in there soon!

[Margaret Thele]

The greenhouse is officially finished and bolted to the ground. Here are some pictures:

[Nell Jean]

Oh, and SHELFS!

 

I panicked yesterday when I realized that it's time to start seeds.

 

You have room for a tea table and chairs, too.

 

Does your greenhouse run east to west or north to south?

[Margaret Thele]

Back faces south so - south to north. Realized my seeds in the big greenhouse space I'm renting were too cold - so very low germination rates - so moved them to an interior bed in the house. Manager has the structure so bloody cold and insists if she turns up the heat we'll all have pest and disease problems! Aargh!

[Margaret Thele]

Another greenhouse built. This one was a 6x8 from a kit offered by Harbor Freight tools. Relatively simple to put together...just took a couple of days. Put the last panels in today and finished putting in the gravel floor. Here is a view from my kitchen window...