My sons started building this (from a kit) last year and we finally got the roof on last month. I put the benches in yesterday and finally was able to get all of my trays in.
I have over 30 varieties of heirloom tomato seedlings, five of each one, and obviously will not need that many. This weekend I will plant over 30 varieties of summer and winter squash seeds. I like to grow the tomato and squash plants because it is so easy to collect seeds from them.
I am over a month behind, but hopefully when it gets warm enough, they will be of decent size. So if you are ever in my area, just stop by and grab a few! I will sell the remaining at the annual community yard sale.
My new greenhouse!
How exciting! That looks great. Sounds like you won't have any trouble at all filling it up. Sure wish I lived closer. sometime when I'm visitng my son in OR. I plan to visit with DG friends. I can hardly wait. Son's family is coming east this summer, so it won't be soon.
I should show this to my DH to add to his 'to do list'. HeeHee!!
I think I am already out of room, Jan23!
This thing was shipped to me from California. It was a "kit" that we put together. I bought it with some of the money from my husband's life insurance money. He was going to build one for me before he died. I knew he would want me to buy one instead. He would have been happy for me!
Beautiful greenhouse nf. That's what I tell my DH when he won't get me something I want, "I'll buy it with your insurance money". Said with love and a smile on my face.
Your greenhouse looks fabulous, I'm sure your husband would be thrilled. It sounds like your are having a wonderful time with it. Please continue to share photos as you fill it and things grow. Also, what you like/don't like about the kit. Maybe someday.... we'll have one too.
Neat! And it's so big. Aren't your sons handy? Your DH is smiling, knowing that you have something you love so much with his insurance money. It will be fun to see what you fill it up with.
That's a great looking green house!! And what a good idea to get something with the insurance money where you can go and spend time doing what you love, with beautiful plants around you and time for contemplation in the warmth of the sun on a Spring day..
You guys are so sweet. That made me cry.
Neo that's a great greenhouse. Speaking from experience, it will keep you happily busy for years to come. I'm sure your DH would enjoy knowing that.
Great idea. I'll probably just wear my iPod instead of dragging anything else out there. I want all the room I can get for the wee plants!
When my son was helping me build it, I told him I couldn't wait to get the hammock in there. He pondered it for a while and then proclaimed that he didn't think it was strong enough. I laughed and told him I was only kidding, but think how much fun that would be on a cold, windy, but sunny day. :)
It would be fun, but then there is the issue of the plants. If your greenhouse gets to be anything like mine, you will be lucky to find standing room. I started out putting a small table and a chair in my greenhouse. That lasted about a year before I recognized all the space that plants could have been using.
I have found small computer speakers, which can hang on the wall, to be great in the greenhouse. I use my MP3 player to listen most of the time, but I have trouble with ear infections and keeping the headphones on, or any kind of apparatus over or in my ears for any length of time can lead to an ear ache. I got my speakers for about 3$ at Goodwill and they work great.
Neo, that looks wonderful! I love my greenhouse, and rejoice in all who get to have one too! Enjoy enjoy. but as a greenhouse nerd, I need to know dimensions dimensions - I like to be able to put a footprint to the building. Wonderful. (May I make a suggestion - I found the fans in my greenhouse were much more effective once I took them off the floor and suspended them from the roof beams - remember, heat rises. Also, electrical appliances sitting on a wet floor surface, along with wet feet is slightly dodgy - lets not have you go out in a zzzzz of connectedness).
Thanks Laurie! It is 8 feet wide by 12 feet long, not huge but big enough for me. I actually have fans and heaters that came with the kit and mount into the frame, just was too tired to put them in. There is also an overhead misting system which I will get in someday.
I had baby chicks brooding in there and the heat lamp and fan were for them. :)
I love the height of the sides of your new GH. You will get so much enjoyment from it.
Hi Lynn, the sides are tall enough for me to stand right up to the edge. This greenhouse is a dream come true for me! I will have to take a photo so everyone can where I put it. Right outside my front door on the big deck! No more deck parties there, ha!
Congratulations! Looks like a great addition to your gardening efforts. It is always a great feeling to walk into a greenhouse in the dead of winter
I can't wait! I have a "herd" of Rex and Chocolate Satin rabbits and will be moving their cages in under the benches during the Winter. They will heat it for me and their droppings can go directly on the plants. There is some type of symbiotic relationships between the rabbits and plants regarding exchange of oxygen, or something like that, but I don't remember exactly what.
But I can pet the bunnies and enjoy the plants, too.
What does everyone here in the Pacific Northwest, that has a greenhouse, keep in them over the winter? Is there anything fragrant that blooms in winter?
I agree with everyone that your dear husband would love for you to enjoy this. Maybe the 'addition' could hold the hammock. ^_^ Oh, speakers sound like such a great idea. Added to my list.
Neofarmer, What a glorious greenhouse! I am sure that it will give you many hours of joy, and having used your husband's life insurance to buy it has allowed him to ensure you moments of happiness every day in the future as well as those he gave you in the past. You will find so much joy in your seedlings, as well as in a warm spot to enjoy blooms and playing in the dirt in the middle of a cold dark winter! And as you are already discovering and everyone has reinforced...there is no such thing as a greenhouse that is big enough!
The flowers that give me the most pleasure in the greenhouse in the winter are my gardenia, my star jasimine, and my brugmansia. They all add a wonderful scent and have different bloom times. I also adore having my scented geraniums in the greenhouse. Their leaves, especially if planted in an area where you have to brush by them when you enter, scent the air more than any flower I have found.
Enjoy your new retreat!!
I forgot to mention what a wonderful idea I think it is to share your space with your furbabies in the winter as well! Just adds to the pleasure (until they start taking up plant room!!).
Thanks for the kind words Rarejem! I was hoping that gardenia jasmine bloomed in the winter! Now that is something to look forward to.
I read about rabbits in the greenhouse on a sustainable farming website. When it starts warming up in late Feb/early March they quickly get too hot and are moved out just in time for the seedlings to start taking over.
Does anyone have a guess as to how much money you spend heating your greenhouse? Not that it matters, it is now my priority. ;) I'll rub sticks together if I have to.
This blooms in the greenhouse every year starting in the middle of March. I generally just stand and stare at it, completely enchanted. I overwinter all of my tender succulents and other zone denial plants. This year I kept the brugmansias in there. They took up quite a bit of room, but it was worth it because they were not set back a tick in their growth over the winter and, in fact, they put out a few blooms during the winter! The greenhouse was filled with an intoxicating smell. I also overwinter amaryllis (hippeastrum) in there and got a couple to bloom in early February. That was fun. Then, of course, there is all the seed starting.
Do you have twin wall polycarbonate siding? It appears that you do and that will help on the heating bills. I keep mine around 45 degrees. Not warm by any stretch, but well above freezing. I'm not sure how much it costs, because I don't pay the bill and I refuse to look!! I know it is way less than it had been when I had plain glass covered with bubble insulation. That also looked horrible.
So what is that amazing bloom? Your descriptions of winter blooming plants is making me actually look forward to winter! I did get the twin wall poly, because it made the most sense. I looked at the glass ones, but decided my greenhouse would be too viewable from the outside. I like it being a hidden place.
Reminds me of the glass front kitchen cabinets. Why the heck would I want to do that to myself?! I would have to organize everything and stack it all pretty like Martha Stewart. ;)
This is part of my setup. You'll find what works best for you over time, but I started out with large metal shelving units, the ones they sell at Costco that look like they are from a restaurant supply store. Those worked okay, but I find that having more shelves that are narrower works better for me than a few deep shelves. I cannot reach the plants in the back easily if the shelves are too deep. So I bought these units in the closet supply area of Lowe's and then bought hardward that would attach them to the sides of the greenhouse. They are adjustable and are plastic coated, so they do not rust. I can hang the lights from them and can easily move the lights around. I found that having things as easy to move as possible was a good idea because from year to year my needs changed in terms of shelf height, etc.
Another trick I learned somewhere, which saves on heating bills, is using a large heat mat on the shelf. This is very easy to make yourself. If you want information on how to do that just post and I'll do photos for you. It allows me to keep a low heat under the soil of tender plants without keeping the entire greenhouse heated too much.
The other thing I do to save on heating in the winter is I put long sheets of polycarbonate across the ceiling . I still get the same amount of light, but there is no need for me to heat the dead space at the top of the greenhouse. I don' t have plants hanging down from that high. Like yours, the walls of my greenhouse are taller than I am, so the polycarbonate is well above my head. I'm heating much less space that way and not wasting energy.
That's an Epiphyllum , a type of epiphytic cactus. The blooms are just glorious. I had that plant for probably 10 years or more before I even knew what I had, or that it bloomed. I got a start from a friend of mine about 15 years ago and kept it in the house for years. It grew and I thought it was unusual, but I didn't know anything about it. Then my kids knocked the pot over and it broke. I stuck it out in the greenhouse to repot it and it stayed there awhile. I noticed it was looking like it was happy out there, so I repotted it and left it there. That year it bloomed for me and I was astounded! Turns out it needs the cool nights in order to set bud. Who knew?
I also keep these in the greenhouse and they are in constant bloom. They are so cheerful during the winter, although there is no smell. These are carnivorous plants in the Pinguicula genus. I am happy to share some with you if you like. They are very easy if you water them with distilled or rain water. They help keep the bug population down as the leaves are quite sticky. Since they reproduce easily, I am always looking for people who would like to try them.
Wow, you are a wealth of information! The greenhouse came with the benches, but it doesn't make much sense to me. I found shelves for across the back on craigslist for a few bucks. I have the lights that go under the shelves, but it will be a while before I get them wired in.
I have seen heating pads advertised, but never imagined that you can make your own. Cheap electric blankets? ;)
I would love some of those pretty bug eaters, but no rush on that.
Are you coming to the roundup in August? I thought I saw a post indicating you would be there. If so, I'll bring you some pinguiculas then. If not, I can send them to you with no problem.
I'll take photos of the way I did the heating pads and post them. It's cheap, easy, and effective. Plus waterproof. The lights I use are plain florescent lights with one cool bulb and one warm bulb. That gives you a full spectrum of light without spending a huge amount of money on 'grow' lights.
http://www.jungseed.com/dp3.asp?c=652&SKU=53395
That link shows the kind of soil heating cable that you need to get for this kind of project. I'm not recommending you buy from that website, but that's the kind of heating cable I have. It has a thermostat built in so that it does not overheat. I bought mine locally at McClendon's Hardware. I don't think there is one of those up your way, but there is one close to where the roundup is going to be held, and you won't really need one before fall anyway. You may be able to get it more cheaply online.
I sure plan to be there! I'll bring a load of Jmaples for trading.
The guy at the hardware store told me about the cool bulb/warm bulb idea. I bought the shop lights, but will have to wire in the cord/plug myself. Someday.
I like the thermostat that kicks on if it drops too low. That makes a lot more sense than trying to heat the air.
It's too bad your son cannot wire the greenhouse for you. I think I would be tempted to use a big orange extension cord if I had to do those things myself. Using a lot of light and heat can pull some current,, so you may want to get someone who knows more about electricity to take a look at your breaker box. My dh ended up putting in a breaker just for the greenhouse, but that's because our house is old and there was only one breaker for everything used outside. It was too much.
Here are some photos of the heat mats. It's basically a sandwich with two sheets of heavy plastic used on flooring and the heat cable in between. Electrical tape is used to hold the cable in place on the bottom sheet of plastic. I got everything I needed, except for the cable, at Lowe's. The clear plastic is the kind used to protect carpet. The black plastic came on a big roll and I had it cut.
1. You'll want to be sure you have the right length of cable. Measure the square footage of your shelf and get the cable that corresponds to that much square footage. Plug the cable in to make sure it works. I learned this the hard way. You have to make sure the wires do not cross each other for some reason. Makes no sense to me, but there you go.
2. Cut the plastic to fit the shelf.
3. Using electrical tape, attach the cable to the bottom piece of plastic in the S pattern shown in the photo. Don't skimp on the tape because you want the cable to stay in place. The cable itself is actually a circle, so it takes a little fiddling with it to get it right. I make sure that the plug end of the cable is conveniently located close to the plug in the greenhouse.
4. Now just put the plastic and cable piece on your shelf and cover it with the other piece of plastic. Voila! You are finished.
These cables are meant to warm soil and have pots put on top of the warmed soil. I have found that sitting the pots directly on top of the mats makes the soil dry out too fast. It works better if there is a cushion of air between the mat and the pots. I use these drying trays, from an old fruit drying unit I got at Goodwill (seems like I find them all the time). They work great because they are about an inch tall and are perforated at the top, allowing the warm air to rise around the pots.
You are quite the clever one! I am glad I won't have to figure this all out myself. Thanks!
Love the snazzy greenhouse. Live long and happy in it:)
D
A greenhouse forum?! cool. I have a lot to learn.
Thanks Denise!
Post a Reply to this Thread
More Pacific Northwest Gardening Threads
-
Looking for Hymalayan Honeysuckle starts
started by Newlife2025
last post by Newlife2025Jul 11, 20252Jul 11, 2025 -
what type o\'flower??!
started by louis13
last post by louis13Jun 27, 20251Jun 27, 2025 -
Ultrahuman Discount Code April 2026 [SAVEULTRA] - 20% Discount For Fitness Lovers
started by irisha53
last post by irisha532h ago02h ago
