This is my first post. I live in Austin and I have finally convinced my husband that it is necessary to my existence to have a greenhouse in spite of the fact that we live in Texas. I have been reading on the green house forum about the best location. I am getting some conflicting advice. Some say it is necessary to have it on the south side. Other say put it under deciduous trees. Other emphasize the need to put it where it will get the most sun. The manufacturer's all stress the need to put it where it will get blocked from the wind, so I would assume that means tree cover? In my case, it will be far from the house so another building is not available for the wind block. Most of my available area is on the west side of my lot. The other areas have too many evergreens (i.e. cedar) to get much sun in. I will not be using it during the hot summer months so I am not sure if west facing is as bad in that case. So, would you put it out in the open, with less tree cover, or amonst deciduous trees where the sun will reach it in the winter months? Thanks so much!
location for greenhouse
Welcome to the forum, wish I could help but I have never been blessed to have a greenhouse - dreamed of one but never got my dream! There are a lot of greenhouse people here so I know they will be by after awhile and check everything out with ya - Mitch
Annie Jo, I am by no means an expert on this, but I have had two greenhouses for years and have learned a thing or two. Many by making every mistake in the book. I grow orchids in the small greenhouse. So I need to heat it in winter and keep it cool and humid during the summer. The larger greenhouse is used mainly to overwinter cold tender plants although, I have begun to use it year round. Controlling the interior heat during the summer is a big issue. Providing humidity is another. Keeping the temperature at 45º or 50º inside the greenhouse in winter will require a heat source. I have the thermostat in the large greenhouse set at 45ºF as a compromise with my DH. I would prefer to keep it at 50º+, but being a realist, I realize that would use more propane and we use the largest tanks that can be carried already. Having a large propane tank and paying to have a fuel company come and fill is is not cost effective because of where we live (17 miles from town) and the fact that everything else is electric.
The suggestion about wind protection is about providing a wind barrier, but not under a tree. That doesn't provide much protection. You need a wall barrier. That wall can be a building or a solid line of evergreens. Then there is always a danger of damaging the tree. Once you have the greenhouse, you'll find ways to grow plants in the greenhouse during the summer and there may been too much shade under the tree for what you plan to grow. The amount of sun that is allowed into the greenhouse can be controlled by shade cloth. Shade cloth comes in various sun blocking densities. Which one is used depends on what is being grown in the greenhouse. Having the greenhouse in full sun will help warm the interior during the winter. During the summer, having an evaporative cooler (swamp cooler) helps to keep the interior cooler and more humid.
Having a wind barrier helps keep the greenhouse warmer. That cold wind coming through just sucks the warmth out of it quickly. Had I known what I would encounter, I would have made the orchid house larger so it could be heated by a vented propane heater. As it is, it is too large to heat with just an electric heater. The temperature fluctuates too much on a cold night so this year I am using large dark garbage cans filled with water to provide more heat mass on cold nights. It seems to have helped with the freezing nights we are having, but I think it need a few more cans of water. I also plan to add bubble wrap to the inside to help insulate the interior.
I think it would be better place the greenhouse where it would be the most protection from the cold north winds and with as much sunlight as possible as this helps to keep the greenhouse warmer. Ideally, that would be on the south side of the house. If that is not possible, choice the next warmest and sunniest spot. Because winter temperatures vary so much, plants in a greenhouse do not go completely dormant.Therefore, sunlight is necessary or the new growth will be spindly and weak. Would it be possible to place the greenhouse on the south side of the cedar trees and to remove any cedar that grow south of it?
bettydee, thanks for all the info. I feel like I am getting in over my head. Who would have ever thought a greenhouse would be so complicated? My greenhouse is a Rion 8X16 so I do not know how small or large this is as to the type of heater I will need. I am hoping to start seedlings in February so I am going to have to have it fairly warm in there. Is your suggestion to try and have an electric heater versus propane for that size? One of my problems is that I live on a pie shaped lot about 3.5 acres on a hill. It is pretty much your typical hill country type setting with cedars, yaupons and scrubby persimmons, etc. No where is there a large hedge of evergreens for a wind break. Because of the shape of the lot, the widest being at the bottom, that is where the greenhouse has to go which is farther away from the house and electricity, etc.. There is no way to get it close to the house for a wind break. As far as cutting trees, they are on neighboring property, and/or greenbelts so I can't mess with them. Rion sells shade cloth that supposedly goes with these greenhouses. I wonder if I should spluge and order it now because if I am going to end up in the west sun, it seems I will need it. So tomorrow we will work on the base for the greenhouse. Since we live on a hill we have to get it level and I think I am going to use pea gravel to place it on. Wish us luck!
Annie Jo, I just discovered your post on adding a greenhouse. This is my first post and I thought I would share my experience so far on our new greenhouse. My experience may help other small greenhouse owners in residental areas more than you, however, we live in close proximity and therefore could benefit from sharing information, our successes and disasters. I will watch this thread and see how you are coming along.
I purchased a ACF greenhouse (6 x 8) in Nov, 2008, much smaller than yours. I live in a neighborhood in Cedar Park. We have the greenhouse located on the SW corner of our house and it worked great this winter. This location receives direct S sun during the winter months and to date my Max temp inside has been 108.9 and my Min. was 38.9.
Due to the size of your greenhouse an electric heater likely won't be the answer but mine is a Dayton electric/convection heater (120v 1300/1500w). I purchased it a couple of weeks into November and now have it set to where my minimum temp is around 46 degrees. I do have tropicals (hibiscus, bouganvilla, croton), tomato plants and various other flowering plants and herbs that have done quite well in our moderate winter.
My husband and I are thinking that this location may be too hot of an area for our Texas summers. If it gets a Max. 108.+ degrees during the winter afternoons I can only assume that in the summer the temperature will be much too hot. (It does have an auto vent in the roof and a hand manual vent in the lower front.) Therefore, we have prepared a foundation on the opposite side of our house.
The new location is on the SE side of our house protected by a fence and our house. We decided to use crushed decomposed granite for our foundation. This I understand will help with heat retention, drainage and hopefully weed control. (However, I do know from experience that plants seed easily in it but are easily removed). This could be an added benefit when volunteers seed. We considered water drainage (away from our foundation) and allowed up to a degree slope.
This location is also best for potting since it is in the shade in late afternoon. This foundation will accomodate not only my greenhouse but room for a potting bench, gardening tool sheds and a place to store planters. My intention is to use the greenhouse in the summer to seed plants and propagate. I'll know by next year whether this was a good move or not. Time will tell. Your other post was right, many mistakes will be made while you figure it out. The other comment I hear alot is whatever size you buy it likely will be too small. This was our mistake also for I was just happy to have something - crowded as it may be. I had wanted to put it on the SW side due to having electricity there, however, that area was limited to only a 6 x 8. Now that we have decided to move it to the SE side of our house I could have easily had a 8 x 10. Too bad I hadn't settled on all of this before we began our foundation. Yes, I can see already I would like a larger one and my husband, well he's done.
Good luck with your project. It helps to know someone else in my area is mulling over all the same issues I have and can be a source of future information.