Building the Greenhouse

Building a greenhouse is an essential part of our urban, multi-plot gardening plan. It allows us to give seedlings a headstart and make more efficient use of the available garden space.

Our starting supplies. We're doing our part to support Lowe's and Home Depot!

The footprint. There's a concrete RV parking space on the south side of our house - a perfect spot for the greenhouse!

The long view.

Next we built the door and window.


Our own custom (aka improvised) peak roof design. Our original plan called for a hoophouse, but we couldn't get pipe that was long enough. So, we adapted and asked for Dad's help (the high school math teacher) to try and get the angles and lengths correct. Thanks, Dad!

It was a cold day!

Wrapping everything in 6mm plastic.

My favorite part of the back is the window, which flips down. A big help when the greenhouse gets cookin' mid-day!

And now for the tables. We decided that stacking tables were our best shelving option....


...so we made a LOT of them. 4' x 2', and both 4' and 2' high versions. The shorter tables are a little less wide, so they can slide under the taller tables.

Ta-da!!!

During the day the short tables can be pulled into the aisles to get more sun. The greenhouse is 11' long and 12' deep, and it can hold 61 planting trays with the current setup.

Artie is checking it out.