Building a Greenhouse - 9 years later...

I built my first greenhouse 9 years ago as a way to grow more of our own food on our 1/4 acre lot, who would have thought that I would be depending on it so much today to provide fresh food for my family.

Here is the greenhouse today. Everything is original, including the 6 mil plastic ...

It's been though a couple hurricanes and a some heavy northeast snow, but it's still holding up well. Right now it's full of seedlings waiting to go into the garden.

Tomato Seedlings

Winter Squash, Cucumbers and Summer Squash

Growing Sweet Potato Slips

Organic Ginger 

Nasturtiums

With everything going on in the world today, there has been a rush of people wanting to grow their own food. It's no wonder as it's been harder and harder to find fresh produce at the grocery store and farmers markets have been cancelled or are opening but are limiting the number of people who can attend. 

There has also been a huge increase in the number of people purchasing seeds from seed companies since March. Most of the companies I usually order from have had long delays in filling orders or have stopped taking orders all-together until June or July. I am glad that I save seeds every year so I didn't have to purchase any for this season.

Seedlings in the kitchen on my seed starting rack.

After building my first greenhouse, I wanted to encourage others to build one for themselves and take a part in growing their own food so I listed my plans in my ETSY store and the response has been very surprising. I have sold thousands of plans to people all over the world. Since March I have had people contacting me daily inquiring about my plans who are excited to build their own greenhouse.

Since listing my original plans, I have come up with several new designs for different sizes of greenhouses after getting many requests from people wanting to build one to fit their particular needs.

The most popular sizes have been the original 6'-10" x 8'-0" and the 8' x 12'

6'-10" x 8'-0" Greenhouse

8' x 12' Greenhouse

I now have plans for several sizes ranging from 6' to 8' wide and lengths from 8' to 16' long. I am also working on plans for 10' wide greenhouses. I have designed many custom greenhouses, greenhouses with chicken coops attached and lean-to greenhouses.

8' x 8' Greenhouse

8' x 16' Greenhouse

If you're interested in building your own greenhouse, visit my ETSY store and use the the code SAVE10 to receive a 10% discount from 5/3/20 to 6/3/20.

Mini-Greenhouse with perennials

We have added backyard chickens to our gardens for the benefits of having natural pest management and fresh eggs! I am finishing up the plans for the backyard chicken coop and they will also be available soon in my ETSY store.

~Rob~

Greenhouse Plans Now Available!

Plans for the 6'-10" x 8'-0" hobby greenhouse are now available for purchase!

The plans come as a 33 page, 8-1/2" x 11" spiral bound booklet that contain:

- Full Materials List

- Full Cut Lists

- Step by Step assembly drawings

- Detail drawings for greenhouse and benches

- Templates to help cut angles

- Sources to purchase the greenhouse covering and vent opener

All the information you need to build a greenhouse for yourself!

This greenhouse design was developed out of the necessity for an inexpensive, sturdy, functional and aesthetically pleasing alternative to the aluminum and plastic panel greenhouses kits on the market today. It is easy to construct and the plans are broken down into simple steps with diagrams so that anyone can understand them and build a greenhouse for themselves.

Visit my website to purchase the plans!

I hope you enjoy building your greenhouse and I hope you get the pride and satisfaction of doing it yourself!

Happy Gardening!

First Day of Spring!!

I spent this first day of spring at a greenhouse and high tunnel workshop hosted by the CTNOFA. It was held at Starlight Gardens in Durham, CT. David Zemelsky led the workshop as we toured his greenhouses and high tunnels and he shared his 13 years experience of organic growing with us.

John W. Bartlok, Jr. UConn Extension Professor Emeritus and Agricultural Engineer was also there to discuss greenhouse design and function.

What a great way to spend the first day of spring!!

Building a Greenhouse

I grew up living next to my grandparents and spent many days working side by side, starting seeds and transplanting plants, with my grandfather in his greenhouse. It was a fairly good size with a stone foundation and glass panels. It was attached to his garage which had a furnace to heat the garage and greenhouse and had running water and electricity. I have many fond memories of spending afternoons with my grandfather in his greenhouse.

Now that I am older I often dreamt of having my own greenhouse so I could start seedlings in the spring, extend the season in the fall and possibly relive some of those childhood memories. For several years I looked into purchasing a kit but was discouraged by the high prices and cheap plastic panels they came with so I decided to do some research and design and build my own.

Three years ago, after spending countless hours deciding what size to build, what materials to use and what accessories to add, I finally built my greenhouse.

My original plan was to build the greenhouse out of cedar, but because this was my first attempt I didn't want to invest too much into something that might not be exactly what I wanted, so I decided to use pine 2 x 3's for the framing and 6 mil greenhouse plastic for the covering. The entire cost for the 6'-10" x 8' greenhouse the was less than $150.00 including all the hardware.

Framed greenhouse.

Covered greenhouse.

The greenhouse has two work benches, the one on the south wall is 24" high and the one on the north wall is 36" high. There is a vent/window on the wall opposite the door. The floor is covered with landscape fabric which seems to work well for now. The late spring sun can really raise the temperature inside, so I have added an automatic vent opener to the window this year. The vent opener can be adjusted to open and maintain a constant temperature inside. It has been working perfectly and has saved me on several occasions when I would have forgotten to open the vent in the afternoon or close it at night when the temps dip below 50 degrees.

This greenhouse has held up remarkably well considering the framing is untreated and unpainted pine. The greenhouse film is rated for 5 years and hasn't cracked, ripped or yellowed despite being exposed to the northeast bitterly cold and snowy winters.

This fall I am planning on building a new greenhouse. It will be a more permanent one so I am going to construct it out of 2 x 4 cedar. I am planning on making a larger one- probably 8' x 12'. It will have a crushed stone and paver floor, running water with irrigation system, more vents, shade screens and possibly a propane heater. I am also considering using polycarbonate panels instead of the 6 mil greenhouse film to try and better control heat loss in the winter.

****** Update 9/29/12 - Greenhouse Plans are now available! ****** 

* ***Many sizes available from 6'x6' to 8'x16'! ****

You can purchase them from my ETSY store

and they are available in both PDF and Print.