Going to be starting a greenhouse ..

The Jan/feb issue of mother earth news covers this really well with photos etc of several different designs and lots of really helpful tips. Really worth the $5.00 to buy it. Also solar, gartening and lots more.

 

Northern tool and Equipment does have some nice greenhouses that are easy to assemble, and should only take a weekend to accomplish.

 

I just relocated my box gardens out to 'spot' this week end. We will build a green house out of round poles and clear Lexan panels. Tired of too much shade here and fighting the bugs. We have rain collection to irrigate the plants out there, plus well water.

 

this will be mine in 4 weeks, actually 2 of them, plenty of gardening ! there going to keep my veggies from the stupid contrails, and I can actually grow organic veggies of my very own!
I can not wait.
http://content.costco.com/Images/Content/Product/505064.jpg

 

[FONT=&quot]CANDY> Is this the pricing that goes along with that “greenhouse”, Costco - Grow Camp Ultimate Vegetable Growing System? If so….. I’m thinking you could make it yourself for like $250 in one day and that would include better quality materials. Are you handy with any tools like a hammer and screw driver? If you’re not…. would you be game to go for it and have some fun making this a family project>>>? I’ve got an idea for you and…. I’m thinking you could make your own “greenhouse” that would multi-task. If you’re interested…. lemme know. We’re buried in snow...they've shut down our local roads in and out of our town....the plows can't get to our neighborhood....our driveway is one big 200' drift and... it took me a coupla hours to get the snow away from our doors so we could open them. It's kinda dark toward the front of our house since the drifts are covering up the bottom halves of our windows. Nobody's going anywhere until at least tomorrow so I’ve got some time to play with modifying something I already made for myself that just might work for you. It’s just an idea that maybe the guys here could improve and customize for you is all…. an artist with drawings I'm not and... my skills with tools definitely aren’t the greatest but they’re getting better.
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I found it!!! I found the thread. Try these 4mm Twin-Wall Polycarbonate Sheets panels and build it yourself for a fraction of the cost, 4mm Twin-Wall Polycarbonate Sheets - FarmTek then go out and use all the money you saved buying goodies to dehydrate. They've got excellent UV resistance so they'll still be in place providing protection for your plants long after the poly sheets from that kit are torn to shreds from the elements.

adding- the poly panels afford much better insulation than glass and hail doesn't break em!!! Well.... I've never seen hail do em in but I'm sure someplace they were done in by golf ball sized hail.

 

Yeah, I used 16mm triple wall polycarbonate on mine.

 

I have 16mm but I can't remember if it's double or triple. That was for an actual greenhouse though and it replaced the glass. I don't think she'd need that for what she's doing do you?
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I'm thinking of creating a few cold frames that are 3 x 8 using those same panels I found at FarmTek... I'll probably price them out online to see if I can get better pricing than the $45 per panel they're listing. Do you use coldframes or is there little need for them in TN?

 

Man , am I glad I found this post. Im in the process of ordering this double wall poly sheeting. Thank you all!!!!! Kingfish

 

That farm tek walled suff is awesome!!! I will building my green house out of those panels. Way cheaper then anything remotely close. Kingfish

 

Ok FINALLY got started on the sucker.

Ok, I finally got all the materials together
windows (maybe 50 of varying sizes) Free Take outs
2 bay windows Free.
20 # of hot galvanized nails 20d (from preps 30.00)
1 storm door (curb salvage free)

And lumber (600.00)
My original goal was to use slab wood from local saw mill but decided that dimensional was going to make my life easier but would cost considerably more.

Pressure Treated (P.T.) for ground contact
8 P.T. 4x4's 10 footers
8 P.T. Landscape Timbers 4x4x72
16 P.T. 2x4x8

Dimensional for framing between posts , wall plates and trusses.
1 2x6x14
14 2x6x14
16 2x4x10
80+ 2x4x8

Roof is going to be steep at 45 degrees, should shed quite well.

Design has changed from my original because the wife requested a different location and it dictated a sq. building as opposed to rectangle.

14x14

This weekend besides loosing maybe 8 pounds due to sweating (85 with 90+% humidity)

I sunk 8 posts
built a knee wall at 18 inches level between the posts.
cut and leveled the post tops
tied the posts together with wall plates
and built a t-beam tied across central posts that will support the center of the trusses to be built later.

I am planning on building this with nothing more than a hand saw, level, string, hammer, nails and a post hole shovel. No Power Tools. This ought to be interesting. I'd have been further along this weekend with power tools but what the heck. This is a 'GREEN' house (with lots of recycled stuff).

Anyway, as soon as I find what my littlest did with the digital camera, I'll post pictures as the build goes along.

Now i'm off to find the aspirin as i'm not as young as i use to be.

 

im working up to a greenhouse
going to use recycled patio doors for the roof
thinking of putting drawers under the beds
that i can fill with fresh manure
as it rots over winter it should help heat the beds above it

 

Pressure treated wood lasts a lot longer, but can also leach stuff into the ground that I don't really want in my veggies... You might consider regular wood with a concrete footer in the ground, with the metal brackets for the posts set in it a few inches above ground level.

 

if you use plain wood, use the right type
white oak, cedar, cyprus and elm have the longest life when wet
but make sure you peel them
the bark lets insects hide under it and destroy your wood
it also doesnt hurt to clean the creosote from your chimney
mix it with oil, linseed works best, then treat your own posts
contrary to what you may have heard, creosote is the woods
natural oils for fighting off decay and insects