I would like your input on a greenhouse idea...

I have noticed that many of the greenhousers on DG have very nice-sized greenhouses, huge ones in fact, but I don't have the same type of space. What I would like to do is have somewhere large enough that I could start annuals from seed, and get a head start on my vegetable garden.

I have a space roughly 10' x 8' where I currently have a small vegetable patch. I'm thinking about welding up a steel or aluminum house shaped frame and dropping it over that area. I have a lot of 1/2" thick plastic, about 600 square feet of it, that I am thinking to use to cover the frame with walls and a roof. For the floor I would lay down something like palletts that would also be made of plastic, and be removable. I would like to use the GH to start seeds and keep seedlings alive until May when things get warmer.

My plan would be that I could take the sides and roof off and transplant the seedlings all around the yard, grow a pole bean or something else all over the frame, and still use the ground below for transplanting the seedlings into the food garden.

WINTER: As far as heat goes, I know that I would have to hook up some kind of thermostat in there, and probably vent it as well. The other thing I know I would need to take care of would be insects, but I think that should be manageable.

So tell me, is it too small of an area to be worried about? Is there something more I should be aware of? What other concerns am I leaving out?

Mine is only 12x16 and its just right(for now)
my floor is carpet layed upside down-cleans up very well!
If you go to my home page-there are pics there of it!
Make sure you have some kind of ventalation!

SquareRoot, the only problem I see with your idea is that you are probably going to find "competing interests" at planting time - your cool-season veggies (if you grow them) are going to need to go in the ground before you're ready to push those tender annuals out of the warmth and protection of the GH.

Regarding size, an 8x10 GH is a great size - mine is only slightly bigger at 10x12, and holds 50+ flats on the benches when it's completely full. Plus the floor space for bigger pots, etc. I think you'll find you can get quite a bit of stuff in a GH in this size.

If you really want to do a greenhouse-over-garden, you might consider something more portable - a hoop house can be picked up (by two people) and moved around fairly easily. It'll act to warm your garden soil in the spring, and if you have another area you could move the GH to, you could move it out of the way when you're ready to use the garden area.

Thank you both for the advice.

Go_vols, good point. I should be able to dedicate a different part of the back yard to the cooler growing veggies and keep the greenhouse up a little longer.

Notmartha, who has an incredible garden site and web site BTW, what kind of ventillation is appropriate? A simple roof vent, or something more elaborate? What do you have on your GH? Maybe I'll treck through the greenhouse post archives before I start asking more questions.

I have 4 crankout windows with screens in the roof and then one at each end of the greenhouse.
You could make a window at one end and a door at the other!
Thanks for your comments!
you can always put a fan in the window to move the air.
GOOD LUCK!

For anyone wanting a small set-up, check out the Better Homes and Gardens issue for June. It has pictures of several really neat puttering sheds. We want to try to build one something like the one on page 32 and 34. Cool!!!!

One thing I would suggest is a gravle floor,for drainage.

Our current green house is 10x16 with 3 shelfs on each side, we can get about 140 trays and 24 hanging baskets in it. So its pretty tight.

Next week the roof truss' start going up on the new GH which will be 20x32.
...............................Dennis.....................