Inexpensive Greenhouses

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Hi,

I have a few questions about making cheap greenhouses.

Probably should start off by stating I live in Maine and we receive a decent amount of snow annually. I saw a post a while back about making a greenhouse for $50.00 or somewhere around that price. We'd really like to see those plans if possible.

Also, we'd like to make it approx. 9x12 or so, and use it yearround. However, the only way to attach it would be ontop of our existing deck. Am I being realistic about putting one on my deck?

Thanks, Lew

-- Lew Ricker (hsppub@aol.com), August 18, 2001

Answers

there is a good article on building a greenhouse for under $100 in the new issue of Countryside that you could modify to work on a deck.

-- TomK(mich) (tjk@cac.net), August 18, 2001.

I did a small one using two swingset frames amd some clear tarpoleon plastic with hay bales for insulation/tarp weight last season.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair@yahoo.com), August 18, 2001.

Tom & Jay,

You think the swingset will work yearround? I saw the $100 idea in the latest issue, but I wonder whether that would also work yearround as well.

Thanks Lew

-- lew ricker (hsppub@aol.com), August 18, 2001.


This might not work for you but for several years I used a old station wagon from late Jan on through the spring. Folded the back seats down and left several light bulbs on for heat when it really got cold. Started all my plants that way and had some growing in pots and flats for salads. Have to watch when a hot day comes along and roll down the windows or you'll burn the plants up.

-- Bill Porter (porboy298@yahoo.com), August 19, 2001.

If you have it up on a deck, you'll have to think about insulating from the bottom. We built a "greenhouse porch", 8x8 ft. on our back deck, using 3 sliding glass patio doors we got from yard sales (2 matching on the sides, one big one at front). Filled in around with 2x4s and that plastic window sheeting from Home Depot, the roof is that corrugated roof used for porches and sheds. On the floor we put 2 layers of that dense styrofoam, heavy plastic sheeting, then some old carpeting over top. The deck is only a foot high, but the wind can blow under there in the winter. As soon as there's snow on the ground we'll shovel it up around the deck, helps to keep out the wind. So, if the deck is high up, you may want to think about some kind of "skirting" around the deck, and insulate the floor either directly underfoot, or if it's way up off the ground, go from underneath and nail up a few sheets of styrofoam.

You also don't mention if it will be separate from the house or directly entered by a doorway from the house. Ours is built like a porch, so we go straight into it from a sliding patio door, which is always open so it's heated from the house. (The 2 side doors are barricaded with 2x2s at the bottom and locked, the one to outside has a working lock and flip-down security bar.) That's something else you'll have to remember if it's open to the house--security.

The nice thing about ours is that I have shelves on either side, full of houseplants and geraniums in the winter. I love sitting out there in the mornings with a cup of coffee, surrounded by greenery and blossoms while it's snowin' and blowin' outside.

-- Chelsea (rmbehr@istar.ca), August 19, 2001.



Thought I'd also mention in this forum in case anyone's interested that there is an egroup for greenhouse gardening. Not the most active, and I just got on there, haven't read many of the posts yet, too busy in summer. It's at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GreenhouseGardening

-- Chelsea (rmbehr@istar.ca), August 19, 2001.


After spending years trying to do things cheap I have decided (through lots of experience) that somethings are not worth doing. Greenhouses are one of those things. We built ours for around $400. It has held up through the "Ice Storm" Maine faced a few years back and through a ton of snow this spring. All around us buildings were falling in, several barns, and those half a tin can buildings caved, but our greenhouse stood strong. The $400 we spent was worth it.

-- Mary R. (cntryfolk@ime.net), August 19, 2001.

Hello Lew, Incidently, there is an article on a pvc greenhouse in the most current issue of CS. I chose to build mine, using 2x4s split in half and nailed into an a-frame shape. Then I coved the whole thing with rolled plastic, (the clear kind that people use for closing in porches and such). I put the frame over a shallow pit and filled the pit with flat field stones. During the late winter/early spring it managed to keep 20 degrees above the outside temperature most of the time. Durning the summer I just kept the door open as the temperature soared to 120 degrees or more. As I harvested my outside gardens I learned that the green house made an excellent place to dry my herbs, sunflowers and such. I took an old window screen and suspended it in the center of the greenhouse and it dried out all my cuttings in no time flat. As cooler weather is beginning to approach I am planing on planted a container salad garden in the greenhouse with hopes of producing fresh greens and tomatoes in December/January. Oh, one more thing. The total cost of my greenhouse was $20.00 and I have a couple of pictures of it on my website, if you want to take a look. Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), August 19, 2001.

I know it's not quite related but the stationwagon idea (LOVED IT!!) made me think of how hubbies grandma dried berries in on the dashboard and back window of her car in summer. Good, no?

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), August 20, 2001.

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