Here's my greenhouse

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Author Message   Cahenry  My Favorite Photo My Weather Posted on Monday, February 03, 2003 - 12:03 pm:    We built it last September. It's 8 1/2 ft. x 12 1/2 ft. twinwall polycarbonate - plastic molded frame (assembles with one simple tool). The hardest part about building it was the base/foundation because of the grade. Hauling, sawing and drilling 6 x 6 timbers - pounding in rebar. This is how it looks inside the beginning of February. cahenry (Cathy) GA Zone 7   Diveanddig  My Favorite Photo Posted on Monday, February 03, 2003 - 12:41 pm:    Nice greenhouse! Everything looks very happy and cozy in there. I agree, the foundation is the most difficult part. I had my foundation assembled by some landscapers who were redoing my driveway. Mine is also twinwall polycarbonate. Bill Bird New York Zone 6   Rylaff  My Weather Posted on Monday, February 03, 2003 - 04:08 pm:    How much does something like that cost to build in supplies? I would love to have my husband build something like that for me. Lisa Tetzlaff Florida zone 8b   Monique  My Favorite Photo My Weather Posted on Monday, February 03, 2003 - 04:16 pm:    Cath..Did you not post many moons ago the progress of your greenhouse? I may be mistaken..I had loved watching the progression.You did fine job and I think you are most fortunate to have this 'winterholm' for your plants. It is well deserved as you take such good care and have such a keen interest. Mnique Québec Zone 5   Cahenry  My Favorite Photo My Weather Posted on Monday, February 03, 2003 - 06:04 pm:    Yes, Monique, I did post pictures of the building process. If anybody is interested I can do that again. Maybe I can use the new codes for left and right cuts around pictures. cahenry (Cathy) GA Zone 7   Monique  My Favorite Photo My Weather Posted on Monday, February 03, 2003 - 06:07 pm:    That would be a super idea..using imagelink left etc..I personally would enjoy seeing it again. Mnique Québec Zone 5   Diveanddig  My Favorite Photo Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 10:53 am:    Lisa, one supplier of many different greenhouses is Charlie's Greenhouse supply. Their web site should answer your questions. Price depends on size and style. One can build an inexpensive one with poly film and a framing kit - the kind where they supply the brackets and connectors for wood framing, and you supply everything else. It is best to get the fiber reinforced poly film IMO. Charlies carries all of this stuff. Bill Bird zone 6 NY Bill Bird New York Zone 6   Cahenry  My Favorite Photo My Weather Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 01:20 pm:    Lisa, mine is a Rion Greenhouse kit called Garden House from Aaron Creek Farms http://www.littlegreenhouse.com. I get the Charley's Greenhouse catalog http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com and I do order from them - equipment and supplies. cahenry (Cathy) GA Zone 7   Diveanddig  My Favorite Photo Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 03:48 pm:    Here is a word of advice to anyone thinking of buying a greenhouse. Go for the biggest one you can afford. One of the truisms you will discover is that the number of plants will expand to fill the greenhouse. Most folks find that they wish they had gone for the bigger model very soon after the first one is erected. Think about it. I had to buy a second because the first became too small very rapidly. Now we are a two greenhouse family ;-) Bill Bird New York Zone 6   Jak3  My Weather Posted on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 06:00 pm:    Ours is a reconstructed one. It was a double span Lord and Burnham attached to a city home. The owners had signed a contract to build a solarium and were just going to break the greenhouse down. We approached the solarium contractor looking for a greenhouse and he put us in touch with the client. DH disassembled the greenhouse and brought all of the pieces home. Then he spent 6 full months planning before he started our construction. Our greenhouse sits on the south side of our house, accessable from the house through an existing door. It is under a large maple tree, protected from hot summer sun by the leaves but open to the sun in early Spring, late Fall, and all Winter. It has an aluminum frame, Automatic temperature controlled venting, and is single pane recycled plate glass. It was a single pane high in its original design, two panes high in our design. The foundation was made by sinking sonotubes and filling with cement, building a large box and insulating it, inside the sonotubes, and using 6 x 6 BC red cedar as the base. The insulated box was filled with granite, excavated from an old cistern in our cellar. On top of the box DH placed hardware cloth and 6 inches of crushed rock. On top of the crushed rock we have patio stones for our floor. To hide the sono tubes and the box, DH built a raised bed all around the base, so we can have flowers there all summer. I heat it with an old milking shed heater that we bought from a farmer for $5. The cost of hydro is just too high to run it all year, but I do start it up in March to start my seedlings. DH has run pipes through the base and installed cement blocks to direct air that he blows from a fan from the top of the greenhouse through the base. This provdes circulation and also the air from the top is warmer and recirculating it helps the granite to act as a heat sink. Before the tree leafs out, it is often very warm in the greenhouse, 35 degrees C. We have a mister attached to our garden hose that can run in there and add humidity and keep the temperature down. We also run a fan to keep the air moving. DH really enjoys thinking up new innovative approaches to greenhouse problems, and leaves the plant growing to me : "I do the hardware, you do the software" is his motto. Note the top and side vents are open in this photo. Here is a bit of the raised bed in the summer, planted with coleus I will post some photos in the Spring when I have things up and growing... Needless to say, I love this greenhouse. The previous owners gave it to us for $200 Canadian, which included all of the frame, glass, motors for the vents, shelves, and whatever structural stuff we could take away (some bricks etc.) We replaced glass after the 1998 ice storm with recycled plate. We added all of the foundation material, patio stones etc., benches, water barrels etc. I am sure we spent less than $3000 Canadian all told, over about a year, for this permanent structure that is considered a structural part of our house. Don't regret a cent! Julie; Merrickville, Ontario, Canada, Zone 4   Gto  My Favorite Photo Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 06:55 pm:    nice looking GH Tahenry Julie, nice GH.....what is "a milking shed heater".....I have a micro furnace that heats my GH (8X12 lean to), but this winter has been too cold and temps have gone down to 26 degrees....recently I put in a coil heater to try to keep the temp above freezing and it has worked.... Tecumseh, Ontario z.6   Jak3  My Weather Posted on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 05:02 am:    A milk house heater is a small electric heater that you can set to come on when a certain low temperature is reached and to shut off when a certain high is reached. They were, and maybe still are, used in milking barns on farms. When the cattle generated enough heat to keep the building at a certain temperature, the heater would shut off, but if it got too cold, it would come on. A bonus for some poor farmer who had to go out in the wee hours to milk his cows - the dairy barn would be warm. They have been replaced for the most part with more sophisticated heating systems, so sometimes you can find one at a farm garage sale for a few dollars. Works very well in my little greenhouse, but the electricity is still very expensive. Julie; Merrickville, Ontario, Canada, Zone 4   Gto  My Favorite Photo Posted on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 10:28 am:    thanks Tecumseh, Ontario z.6   Mcqlet  Posted on Friday, July 14, 2006 - 08:55 pm:    My husband and I were married in Hawaii and I ordered the Hawaiian umbrella tree from a reliable site at http://4bonsai.com that was referred by a friend. This Bonsai Tree was an anniversary gift to him. Because of the weather I wasn't expecting to see it for awhile. When I got home yesterday, it had arrived.....on our anniversary! It is the most beautiful Bonsai Tree I have ever seen. We look forward to buying many more trees from that site for a remarkable service. I do have interest in buying Bonsai Seed kits, Ikebana, Specimen Bonsai and Bonsai specimen. There are other interesting items found in their site such as Bonsai Figurines, Feng Shui products, Feng Shui, Lucky Bamboo, Lucky Bamboo pots, Lucky Bamboo kits, Bonsai humidity trays and lots of Bonsai under $30.00. I think they also offer Bonsai tree wholesale, Bonsai trees wholesale and Bamboo wholesale packages for those who wants to have a business venture for all types of Bonsai. Or is there anyone who can recommend a better site that offers more bonsai products? Mcqlet - illinois, Zone "?"   Charles  My Garden Posted on Saturday, July 15, 2006 - 11:15 am:    Hi Marc and welcome to GB! You may have better luck asking those questions in the Bonsai and Bamboo forums. You may also want to introduce yourself in the Social forum. Again, welcome! Charles - Wisconsin, Zone "4b"

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