Oh LaLa
It is so cute! You will have such fun with it. I would be antsy with anticipation too. Congrats!
Introducing Myself
You guys rock! My folks are coming for dinner tonight so I will be sure to share all your input with dad.
I surely do bless the day I found Dave's Garden.
ME TOO Lala! I sure do love this place! ♥
Lala_Jane,
What wonderful experiencies your passions will bring you.
Best to you in everything you do.
A great place and a lot of great people and advice here for the asking.
happy new year.
KW
La...congratulations on the greenhouse!!! I love it!!!
Dahling, it is maaavolous.....It will be fatastic, I know you and your determination.
A small ramp up to the door and down inside? Raising it will give you more room!!!! We know how much you need that. lol. A kneewall about 2 feet? Love MollyD's idea and two feet works well with lumber lineal feet. Do ya want me to draw the specs for ya, huh, huh, HUH???!!??!!? twould take but a moment.
Crap, I am almost as excited (and jealous) as you are!!
i love it too! i don't have a greenhouse but i do have an atrium in the middle of the house that is enclosed with a sunlight--so it is just filled with plants but i don't think it would be good for starting seedlings (its a little cool--which i think is good for houseplants but not seedlings) any how i don't know anything about greenhouses but i really like yours--it looks cozy and fun to me! i have only seen the glass ones-i loved reading how happy you are with it!!
I've been lurking here and getting excited right along with LaLA_Jane!
I have a sunroom but REALLY need a greenhouse- my plants runneth over everywhere!
I think we need a new update- Jane, where are you???
so diane--it's a real jungle in that sunroom huh? must look a lot like my atrium! and i still just keep adding to it knowing somehow i will fit in one more plant--it has gotten pretty tricky to get in there to water tho!
I have the same problem in my sunroom!- And just about ever room in my house?! My husband has started saying that if we ever get to buy another house it will have a basement- no windows-no plants! You'd think after 14 years with me he'd know me better? Geesh- I have plant lights in two rooms already! Guess he forgot about that trick huh? LOL
Diane, just don't remind him until the time comes....LOL I'm reading this thread with great interest and excitement. I have a tiny, tiny one, but I want a big one badly! I too would have some issue trying to get electric and especially water too one, but I think we could figure out something workable. Right now we are having some problems with the county about installing one. This is for hobby, but we have a neighbor who is being a royal pain in the you know what. Nobody else cares. Anyway, I think I'm going to call our lawyer and see if he can suggest something to get these bozos off the dime. Otherwise, I want to see if there's someway I can raise the issue of the darling neighbor raising cattle on his property. He has more cattle than he has legal room for......yep, I am an evil old woman! He's made me mad.
very funny about the plant lights! no stopping us! i don't think we can pick our obsessions (if we could i would be picking getting in shape right now!)--but i am so glad that gardening is mine!!--and deep down our husbands know it sure could be a lot worse--still pretty funny tho!!
you mean to tell us some guy with cattle is worried about a little old greenhouse!?!
YOU GO DOCCAT! LOL Tell em cattle stink and flowers smell great! HE HE HE And look better, too!
(used to raise cattle myself, so not dishin em, just praisin flowers!)
Yeah, he's a jerk, and this isn't the first time we've tangled over something mundane. He's just one of those kind of people, got nose trouble and just has to be in our "business". We've lived here since 79 and he's always turning us in for something. There have been a couple of incidents that have back fired on him. The county now mainly just ignores him. It's just a pain in the tush to deal with.
not dishin on cattle raisers either (better not in texas!!) it just seems wimpy for some cattle guy to be so prissy about a greenhouse!!!!!!!! almost funny if it weren't so hard on his neighbors!!
He La, got another idea. Well, call Dad, since he does know construction pretty well, lol. Can the door be taken off, dropped and reattached? Then when the new sides are put on, put whatever material you use across the top. Ok, off to think more on this.
Oh, he said the R factor would be better with the wood frame than blocks. The heat would be trapped in between the insulation board as opposed to block which will "soak up" (his words) the cold air. Now why isn't he building me one? Shoot, why aren't I building me one. lol.
I have cattle and a greenhouse.. Tiny little greenhouse it is.. I use my cow manure for some great compost... :)
Kathyjo
Sounds like someone has a real peach for a neighbor?!
I don't know how I would heat a greenhouse either. For the water- what's wrong with a hose attached to the outside faucet? Am I missing something here that I should know about or haven't thought about? Other than the inconvenience of having to drag a hose around that is... I want to put up gutters so I can do the rain barrel thing..
The hose is fine as long as you don't get much freezing weather--that's how I get water to my greenhouse but our temps rarely go below freezing for more than a few hours so outside water is still usable. If you live somewhere that the hose would freeze up though you have to come up with other options. Some people also don't like watering their plants with ice cold water because it shocks the plants too much and prefer to use warmer water. Personally I water my plants with cold water from the hose and haven't had any problems with that, but the water temp coming out of my hose is typically 50 degrees or so, if it was in the 30's I might feel different!
I have a very shallow well, so I have to be really careful about running the hose. We have 3 rain barrels on order and may add a 4th one, which will help with part of the problem.
He's prissy, but he gets off on causing trouble and does not like being told no. Rather like a 2 year old in some ways, it's all good. If he gets too wound this time I'll call his daughter again. I helped raise his 2 kids, who are much nice human beings than he is.......LOL
Oh OK didn't think about colder weather watering. And while it's colder up north we do have our share. However I have watered my sunroom from the outside faucet on warmer days before as it is right outside the sunroom. Of course the hose wasn't frozen on those warmer days either! Hmmm... if I kept a hose curled up in a greenhouse and drug it out to water on warmer days...
Does anyone with plastic covering ever have hail storms in your area ? WOndering just how tough that stuff would be. Of course I'd RATHER have solid panels but plastic would be a start.
Diane, I will let you know first ice or hail storm we get! Hope I will have a good report for ya!
Dianne in your climate a hose would most likely be fine. Here in the frigid north (okay mild today but that won't last very long) not only does the hose freeze solid but also any outside faucets. You can't run them so the only way to use a hose in winter is to open a window or door and fill up from an indoor sink. Not something you want to do in cold weather!! Outside faucets here are drained and shut off and covered for the winter so they don't get damaged by the freezing and thawing action of water in winter.
MollyD
"Does anyone with plastic covering ever have hail storms in your area ?
WOndering just how tough that stuff would be. Of course I'd RATHER have solid panels but plastic would be a start."
Yep, so far so good too. Of course mine is a cattlepanel hoophouse which makes the surface a bit stiff than just the regular hoophouse. I'd love to have a house made of rigid plastic! Too expensive I'm afraid. Everytime there's a storm I cringe thinking this is the one that will put a hole in the GH but so far I've been very lucky. I think that rounded top helps shed the hail so it hasn't punctured the plastic.
MollyD
I think I might be building a greenhouse this summer!
Oh you guys thank you for sharing my excitement! I've not been back to the thread for a few days as there have really been no updates to report. It's cold and snowy here and I should imagine that the greenhouse is not at the top of pop's thought process right now. (Not so with me of course. LOL) I'm going to call the former owner again this weekend so I can get an idea of what I'm going to need to purchase for repairs. My mom talked to her on New Year's eve and the gal said she'd located some information in one of her catalogs for me.
I have a wonderful vision of the atriums and sunrooms you all are talking about. Would you mind posting some pictures of them sometime? I used to dream of adding one of those as well and looked into it when I borrowed money to buy my house. For years I called it my "Wendy's Addition" because I first wanted one so badly after seeing them in the restaurants of the same name.
Doccat you have GOT to be kidding about the neighbor with the herd? What in the world is his beef? (No pun intended although it WAS pretty funny.) Ironically the lot in which my new acquisition will sit was grazing land for a tiny head of cattle up untill about 10 years ago. I had cows not more than 20 yards from my back door and I always wondered how or even IF that was exactly legal. My little burg is no more than a small blip on the map, but it IS a town for Heaven's sake and surely there are some kind of zoning laws regarding livestock in town? But not being "that kind" of neighbor I never pressed the matter as it never really caused any problems. Now I just try to think of it as extra fertilizer for my flower beds. :-P
Traci my dear friend we must talk. I know you are almost as excited about my new project as me and it warms me so that you've picked the brain of your own pappa on my behalf.
I will be back my fellow nurturers as soon as I have anything new to report .... or just as likely as soon as I have anything new to ask!
La
Can't wait for an update, La!
On the lot behind your house-it could have been included when the city took over to be left as a 'farm' property. The town I used to live had this and I always wondered the same thing until I asked someone. It was then I learned that when the city limits moved, it was 'grandfathered' in so that the land could still be used as farm land.
I don't have a green house so I don't know much about the temps. Does it stay warm enough inside the greenhouse to keep the hose from freezing if it's in there? You could roll it from the faucet to the greenhouse when you finish with it. Just wondering.
CajuninKy are you talking to those of us up north? If so the hose would stay dry and flexible but where are you going to connected it to get water from? All outside faucets are now off or frozen solid (if people forget to drain and cover them). Only place to hook them up is inside your house and I for one am not leaving a window or door wide open (not even cracked) when it's freezing cold outside!
Believe me we don't carry water for lack of ideas on other ways to get the water to the greenhouse!
MollyD
Hi LaLa!
Like you I too dreamed of a greenhouse...and last year (2006)my boyfriend bought me one. When I heard a truck outside Christmas Eve I thought someone must have gotten lost and pulled into a wrong driveway....when I went outside and saw what was the truck I cried like a baby....if you read my diary on here you will see why gardening is so very important to me...Mine was built by a local wood shop and is 10x12 with one side slanted and plexiglassed...looks almost like a playhouse and I guess in a way it isLOL cause I have certainly played in mine...I started many seeds this past spring in it and took great pride being sure everyone who visited my home knew that the Cosmos, cockscomb, zinnias, bellflower, moonflower etc all came from the greenhouse... :)~
anywho! Congrats on yours and I wish you all the best with yours!
Molly
I was speaking in general wondering if the inside of the greenhouse stayed warm enough to keep the hose from freezing in there. I would think if someone lived with really cold conditions as a yearly norm for winter, the outside faucets would be wrapped. A popular thing here is a freezeproof spigot. When it's turned off it automatically drains back down the pipe. We have one so all we have to worry about is keeping the hose unfrozen. I keep 11, 30 gallon horse tubs filled. It's likely I use more water each day than a green house does so I'm no stranger to watering. Shutting off our outside water for the winter is not an option.
CajuninKy we have a horse too but Paul carries hot water out to the barn (about 1/4 mile from the house).
MollyD
Molly's right. My outside spiggot has been off and (hopefully) drained for the last 6 weeks. I say "hopefully" because about every 3-4 years it freezes anyway and I have to end up replacing it.
This year water won't be an issue. By the time I get the GH operational it will be warm enough to turn it back on, but I've still not figured out what I'll do if/when the time comes that I'll be able to use it year round.
I guess I'll tote water. ;-)
Lala how deep is your frost line? If it't not too deep maybe you can dig a trench this summer and run water lines out to it? If I were 20 years younger I would try it myself :-) but I'm afraid trying that now would land me in the hospital!
MollyD
oh it sure sounds complicated living in such a cold winter spot--i grew up in chicago and thougth that was cold!! but our summers are unbearable!
Is there anyone in your area that has a fairly large number of livestock? It's likely they are feeding from outside water lines and you may find they are using some neat new product you haven't heard of. Might be worth asking around. It would beat packing water. Been there, done that when the water at the old farm froze off for 21 days last year. The place was rented so we couldn't put any money into it to update a very antiquated system. We packed water for more than 20 horses. 200 gallons a day. It was miserable. We have our own place now and we are in much better shape. Have you ever tried that heated tape you wrap the pipes with? I have not tried it but have seen it advertised. What breed of horse do you have? What are hay prices like in your area?
They also make a insulation for water pipes in the house, don't know why that wouldn't work on a hose. It's split and just rolls over the pipe. And you could secure it with the wonder of the world-duct tape! LOL
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