What was your first greenhouse like???????

My first greenhouse was made in 1982. My DH got me into gardening when we marrried in nov 1981. We had an old homemade tractor and a small set of harrows. In the early spring of 1982 he decided I needed a greenhouse. With money tight he took an old chevy truck frame that we had and cut out the roof. Then with scrap lumber built sides onto the bed and covered it with plastic. he built me shelves inside and i stored pots etc. inside the cab part. It was quite a site, I wish I had a pic of it now. I used it for about 4 years. I will never forget the stares we got when we moved and had my uncle pull it there with his wrecker.-

mine was made out of some old 1/2 inch pipe that i had hualed off from some where and pallets, plastic, and duct tape use it for two or three years

here is my Garden pages and the greenhouse is in there.
http://www.geocities.com/me_24472/ravensga.html


This message was edited Friday, Jan 4th 6:33 AM

This message was edited Friday, Jan 4th 6:34 AM

This message was edited Friday, Jan 4th 6:35 AM

This message was edited Friday, Jan 4th 6:36 AM

This message was edited Friday, Jan 4th 6:39 AM

My first green house was made of PVC pipe and plastic with a wood stove for heat and a window fan for cooling. It was 12 X 25 and 6 feet high.

Our first greenhouse was a hoot! made of fiberglass, glass and wood and other materials...I remember when my husband and our friend(a builder of huge log homes)..he insisted the vaulted roof space would be large..large is right!!!!!around 20'high!!! great place for birds to fly around and make nests, which is exactly what happened...I kept my tropicals in there and believe it or not..it was full????? Now we just built a glasshouse and garden room attached..this is much simpler as I or we don't have to trek to it outside.. today the old greenhouse is ussed as a storage shed..tha cost of heating is going up all the time!Elaine

We lived in a trailer for several years with a backroom attached and a woodshed made of slightly transparent (ends with several different colors at one end where they were changing over - very cheap) fiberglass panel. I put up shelves against the fiberglass wall and had a pipe for hanging work clothes which also was used for hanging pots. It was unheated, so only used in the spring. I killed a very large number of plants in there.

My first greenhouse is still my only greenhouse with dual purposes>........ In the spring and early summer, it guards my young plants until they can survive on their own.
And during the late fall and winter it serves as a cover over the spa.
Made of PVC pipe and plastic sheeting ( renewable every two years) it has served well, and I hope that it will last many more years.
In the fall my husband removes the shelves and we move it over the spa, he has built the deck around the spa large enought so that the greenhouse fits. Really nice when the temp outside is 20' and your in the warm water, and the heat from the water raises the temp in the greenhouse by 30', so the air is 50'
A great way to unwind.
And the starter seeds like the heat and moisture.

this is a link to a picture of the one DH and I made this spring-My get away!
http://davesgarden.com/showthread/175521.html

My very first greenhouse was one I "built" of four discarded water heater crates, some other miscellaneous crates and some old windows. I sort of leaned it all together, the windows supported by the crates on each side of them, nailed
to 1x4s in a few places where it was possible to fit pieces together, and floored it with pine straw about 12" deep. I scrounged everything that would hold a tray or flat of plants, such as wooden fruit crates and various wire racks, and set them freestanding inside the makeshift structure, which measured about 8'x8'. I couldn't see a way to build a door, so I leaned a tall window against the back of a wooden chair at one end, and it took about five minutes to set it all aside to go inside. It was never heated or lighted, but I did successfully start seedlings in it. This was in central Louisiana, where the winters can be as mild as the Texas coast one year and drop to 6°F another. That year, we had ice and snow, a month before I planted. Natural gas supplies were so low, our heaters inside the house wouldn't work. I almost didn't plant, for fear of a late freeze. But the tomatoes we enjoyed in May were worth the effort.

Great stories about first greenhouses. I got my firt greenhouse about four years ago, and it's still in service. My DH used plans from the Cooperative Extention, a barnstyle building. I get good sun from all angles, and the slanted sides covered with fiberglass allow the low angled sun of early spring to touch even the lowest spots in the greenhouse. I can grow plants on three different levels, so my greenhouse is solid green by transplant time! We have a much larger greenhouse in the works now, but I think I'll always have a soft spot for this one!...WZ