greenhouse question

I hope to (real soon) get a greenhouse. I have been trying to read as much as I can of peoples opinions of different types of GH. I want to be able to grow plants in mine year around. The horse barn in the pic is 20' x 30'. I want one that big or bigger ( even if I have to add on at a later date) to go back where you see the birdhouse. Due East is facing the tree on the otherside of the fence (look to the right of the trumpet vine one the fence). You could say you are facing ENE in this pic. I want a place to work, store & grow plants. I know I would need proper ventillation plus heating. I'm just not sure what is practical and meet most of my needs. Any info or tips as to what to consider when buying. I can look at pics on line but I'd like to have some things in mind as to what I need. Can you tell I'm clueless here?

This pic was taken thru our bedroom window to show where our drain fields are.

Any info/direction would be greatly appreciated.
Dawn

Dawn,

Well, you certainly have a beautifully open and level area for about anything you have a desire for.
What you propose is quite a large structure and I get the feeling from your post that perhaps this is for more or less hobby use?
How about a little more information as to; what kind of plants you have in mind. How many you want to grow and if this is a commercial venture or a hobby?
A lot depends on what you propose to grow, large or small, tropical or not etc.

There is an awful lot of knowledge shared here by more educated members than I on this board but they will have to know your intensions of use to help out fully.

Good luck and you have a beautiful piece of property.

Paul, KW

Rats, I can't seem to open your picture...

Paul is right, Dawn, step one in considering a GH is figuring out what you will do with it. What will you grow?

Are there any aesthetic considerations with your GH?

What about $?

I couldn't be more enthusiastic about Shane Smith's book, The Greenhouse Gardener's Companion as a starting point. Get it! You will refer to it repeatedly.

Thank you both. Well, right now it is a hobby with dreams to one day to have a business. If I had to make a solid decision, I'd say indoor plants. I wouldn't be selling out of it like a garden center. I'd be creating/storing my inventory for later retail. $ is always an issue. DH & I are able to build it if needed. The cost would be the materials. I'm also thinking that I could start small and add to it later but I don't know if that is wise or not.

Dawn,

Why not start w/ stressbaby's post on getting started.
(Getting started with a greenhouse...links -- [Sticky] ). You will find this post at the very beginning of the forum, it's full of good information.

Stressbaby mentioned to you about " The Greenhouse Gardeners Companion" you can have a lot of fun reading and planning while digesting that book. Dawn, listen to that man he's one of the Masters.

Lots of luck and keep the dream alive.
Virginia, a beautiful state.
KW

Dawn, I am also not the master gardener/grower here, haveing just built my GH this year. The book SB refer's to is great! You will have a much better idea of what all is involved after reading Shane's book.

There is a wealth of knowledge here, The sticky that KW refers to is also a great source of invaluable information to consider before starting your project. There is so much to learn. You would think that all GH's are pretty much the same, and they are in many ways, but each one presents it's own challanges depending on what you want from it, how much you are willing to invest, and what you expect from it. And of course I should not leave out, location, location, location! I noticed that you are in the same zone as I am, 7b, but from your picture of wide open spaces, (no shade) you will have an entirely different set of issues than I have here. (Mostly shade in the hot summer)

Be sure to consider where you will get water from, electricity for lighting, fans, control valves, etc. Also what you will heat with, and what type of fuel you will need, and how far you have to run piping for it, etc.

A little extra work/reseach now will save you lots of time, money and aggravation later. Haveing to go back and re-do something because of lack of proper planning......I AM a master at that! :)

Good luck, and keep us posted with lots of pictures. :) We all love pictures, and don't be afraid to ask questions. There is tons of help here.

Nautical

Thank you everyone. This is exactly what I was looking for when I first posted. First step will be getting the book stressbaby recommended. This will give me starting point. I'm really excited but I don't want to rush and pay for it later. Now I have just have to be patient until I can go get this book.
Thank you again!

Dawn,

"DH & I are able to build it if needed. The cost would be the materials. I'm also thinking that I could start small and add to it later but I don't know if that is wise or not."

If you are considering building the greenhouse yourselves, the book "How to Build Your Own Greenhouse" http://www.amazon.com/How-Build-Your-Own-Greenhouse/dp/158017647X/ref=sr_1_1/104-6501776-6799953?ie=UTF8&s=books was published just last year, so its information is "up to date". I'm going to build a kit 8x16 lean-to, but I found the information in Roger Marshall's book to be quite interesting.

MM

Ok, we've decided to build me a 12X20 greenhouse. DH is in construction so "do-it-yourself" is our only option. I am by no means complaining. I do believe that it will go out by the barn for the following reasons:
#1 maximum breeze there
#2 maximum sun all year
#3 electricity is in the barn
#4 I will be close to my compost pile now
We will be updating our elec panel to accomodate the well we want to put back there plus the other electricity needed.
These things are not cheap. I think i'll be insulating it with plastic. The shelves will be off the walls so you can install and remove the plastic. This is readily available to DH. He is going to do either 2 or 3 cinder block high wall then raise it up inside with dirt. We have some huge storm windows that were given to us (DH never throws anything away) Those will be incorporated also.
This is the first step anyway. I'm sure things will change until (and porbably during) we start building. Either way I am excited.

Your husband sounds like me, I want to do it the best way I can without spending thousands of dollars. I purchased the Harbor Freight Tool 10 foot by 12 foot kit for
$ 650 because I thought the plastic in the kit would cost more to buy by itself.

It has worked out very well for me. I have constructed the kits walls as seperate
parts and assembled them on my patio. I used both 12 foot wall sections to make
one double wall on the east side. Like wise I am using both the front wall parts and the back wall parts to make my double south wall. I used their entire roof kit as designed
but I placed all 4 roof vents on the East side of my Greenhouse. Check it out on my web site at http://www.rader.org/garden/my_garden.htm

the new catalog just came out today and they have the kit for $629
http://www.harborfreight.com item 93358-4rwh
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93358

Well, we broke ground Saturday morning. It was really hot yesterday. I did end up getting 4 more feet. So my greenhouse will be 12x24. Site is marked...

By then end of the day, this is where we're at... It was 98 yesterday. I had to quit before noon, DH kept on going. I don't know how he did it.

This is what I'll see from my bedroom window.

Wonderful pics pdoyle. I am so envious of the flat ground that you have to work with. I live on a hill side at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and our yard is so uneven. I want to keep up with your progress here. Things so far are looking great. You have a great hubby for helping out so much.

Good luck with the project.

Ruby

Thanks Ruby. Yes, I am very thankful for my DH. I will be putting more pics up later as the frame is almost complete.

Hello - I sat down yesterday afternoon and wrote out a very long question for this group. I was trying to post a picture of my greenhouse and lost the whole email. Shoot!!! Anyway, I will try to write and post a picture later.

I know that I am going to be full of questions as we prepare our greenhouse for the winter.

Ruby

You and me both! I'm looking forward to it but a little nervous. I'm gonna go slow with this. Here it is today

Got anxious Sat and wanted to see it with the front windows in. DH induldged me. I'm so excited! Have I said that before!?!

It is really loooking great!!!

Ruby

Any advice on "must have's" when building the benches and shelves and stuff?

Dawn, we ordered the benches with my gh (hasn't arrived yet) but a friend of mine said if I were going to make them myself that I should use rabbit fencing, it is stronger & sturdier. The benches (shelves) I have are all cedar wood, tops included. I guess it just really depends on what you want :o)
BTW your gh is coming along great. Once my gh arrives and dh starts putting it to gether I am going to be taking step by step pics. Will post when it is all completed.

Connie

Dawn, your greenhouse looks wonderful, and that setting is to die for. What a lovely view you'll have.

We're now building some benches for our Harbor Freight 10x12, but I learned a ton about bench ideas by just doing a search here on the Greenhouse Forum for "bench" and "benches." There are a lot of good ideas and different approaches, from stuff you can build to stuff you can buy.

I was leaning towards something simple made from pine 2x4's with hardware cloth tops, or tops made from those white vinyl coated closet racks at the big box stores. (I liked those for good air ventilation, good drainage, and ease of construction.)

My husband came up with a different design he really wanted to try, so we're building them in place using 4x4's concreted into the ground, and redwood slats on top. So, I did a total U-turn, LOL! I had to do lots of scribbles on graph paper first, since mine will not be movable without major uproar. I'll be posting pics after we make a bit more progress...I just wanted to let you know there are many options, so hopefully you can have fun looking around and "trying on" ideas to see what appeals to you, depending on what you're growing.

Good luck, I'll be watching for more progress reports! :-)
Sheri

Sheri & Connie, Thats the kind of ideas I was looking for. I didn't think about those racks. That would be good to keep in mind. I plan on benches along the sides but thinking of leaving 1/3 of one side open to put my tall plants for the winter (ex; palms) I want to maximize my space. I think I may have enough room to put a bench down the middle. I didn't eve nthink of searching benches in DG .. duh
Thanks ladies!
Dawn

Whatever you decide to do now will be different than the way you want it next year, will be different from the way you want it the year after that.

Thanks alot stressbaby!:) From what i've been reading... that the norm isn't it?

I wish I would have taken photos after I built the benches and before I covered them up. These benches are very simple to build, and the movable slats give you some flexibility to grow under the bench or to just be able to get at things under the bench.

Here is one more.

Electrical question

I am about to add 2 each,15 amp curcuits to my greenhouse but am undecided where to put them. Those of you who have your greenhouse in production, where do you wish you had an outlet ?

My guess you will answer "hanging down from overhead"

or do yhey work well in the walls arount the sides ?

how high up the wall ??

jim- first thing about placement-away from where you will be watering. Anything that you plug in, you will probably not want to get wet.
Second-what are you going to use your outlets for? Heating pads? I would put them in the propagating section under the shelves. I have several outlets on the ceiling 1/3 and 2/3's down the grhouse where I hang fans. The rest of my outlets are right by the doors of the grhouses that I seem to only use for radios. I use an extension cord with a 3way on it if I need something extra like when I need the seeding machine. But my tables on right near the door as well.

Saturday p. m. - posted backwards
sorry

This message was edited Sep 9, 2007 7:10 PM

Saturday a.m.
DH would shoot me if he knew I had a pic of him on the interenet in those socks - :)

and today....

one more - I'm pooped!

Got the trim and gutters ups this weekend. Gonna get another barrel for the other side for water also.

Here is the fan. It draws really good. it will be on a thermostat.

Dawn, it's looking great!

Buying an exhaust fan is next on my list. Do you mind me asking...did you purchase yours through a greenhouse supply website?
Sheri

We bought a 24" fan from Home Depot. Alot cheaper. DH calls it a job fan b/c jobsites us them while working construction. Had a handle on it and a frame with wheels so you could roll it. About $100. Has hi/low. DH came across a 24" fan w/ shroud(sp?) with the motor burnt up in it and used the shroud in that to put the HD fan in. If you don't have that you he said you could use plywood just the same.
edited to say: The louver thingy on the outside cost about $65. I looked at alot of fans in greenhouse magazines/wesightes and they are not cheap.

This message was edited Sep 16, 2007 7:55 PM

Thank you Dawn, that's helpful. Lol, you're right, none of them are cheap! Sounds like you did well to get that nice 24" fan with louvers for that price though. Usually we are pretty good at scrounging/combining to save money, but it looks like we may just need to bite the bullet and write the check on this one. At least my smaller GH doesn't need a fan quite as large as yours, so that helps a bit.

I appreciate the info. Keep up the good work!

Just noticed the rain barrel under the gutter downspout...boy, you and your DH are doing a good job of thinking ahead.

I showed it to my DH and explained if I had a larger greenhouse with a bigger roof it would generate more rainwater, and then I could justify a rain barrel too.

I don't think it worked. ;-)
Sheri

Cute Mudhouse. Alright, gonna throw this out. PDoyle, how do you plan to heat this this winter? I am about 4 hours north/west of you, so not a whole lot of difference in the temperatures.

I have a green house that is about three years old and has never been used to house plants yet. Since three years ago, my house plant collection has grown way, way big. I am thinking of heatini GH this winter to store them and hopefully NOT kill them.

You seem so ogranized about this project that I hope you have already researched the best heat supply. Thanks in advance for any suggestions that you may send regarding heating the GH.

I hope that everyone reading will have a great week coming up.

Ruby