- Joined
- Jul 15, 2014
- Messages
- 265
- Reaction score
- 228
On top of planning the construction of our Cob home, we are planning to construct a Greenhouse using free supplies.
Greenhouses allow you to extend your growing season up into the Winter, and grow your starter plants earlier in the season. Plants like Tomatoes, peppers, and melons have a long growing season, which is why it is crucial to begin these plants as early as the beginning of February.
I have the fortunate opportunity to use my home (Mother's house) as a greenhouse. I started many vegetables indoors at the beginning of March, and had to keep these plants indoors up until April till I could sit them out during the day. Even then, I had to bring my starter plants back in every night until the beginning of May. You can imagine my Mother was shocked to have so many trays of growing plants taking up half the living room, utility room, and our bedroom.
Luckily at the beginning of May I have been leaving the starter plants on the front porch even at night. For two months, my morning ritual began by taking all of my starter trays outside on the porch, and at night I would bring them all back in the house.
I may have to construct a small greenhouse by myself due to all the other upcoming projects we have. My partner has recently taken on remodeling my Mother's kitchen, so the garden has been on the back-burner. I have been transplanting more Tomatoes in the garden but the last 40 I have planted have died!
The perfect Greenhouse would be large enough to house hundreds of starter plants, and even fruit bushes and fruit trees. I would even like to construct a greenhouse that was half underground and half exposed for growing tropical fruits. For now I would start small, 20'X20' Greenhouse. We have thought of many different designs, for example a recycled bottle greenhouse (like in the picture below).
picture source: Khakibos
Another cheap Greenhouse option is using transparent plastic with recycled wood, see below. Considering I do not drink water from plastic bottles, and because constructing with plastic bottles would take longer-- a 6'X10' greenhouse with recycled wood would also be a simple, cheap construction. You can easily find wood pallets (for free) at sawmills, factories, and behind other stores. Wood pallets can be deconstructed in order to use the wood to create the structure of the Greenhouse. I have posts on how we constructed raised beds out of wood pallets here and here.
picture source: Bepa's Garden
A third option are polytunnel designs using PVC pipes. Polytunnel designs are equivalent in efficiency and cost, it simply depends on the materials you can scavenge for free or have around your house. Piping is easy to come across, as you can ask many people if they have any around, or go dumpster diving.
picture source: Home design
There are of course simpler Greenhouse methods that need no construction, for example in the picture below, you can purchase a small, pre-fabricated Greenhouse at many store outlets. However these come at a higher cost. Even a mini pre-fab Greenhouse as the one in the picture below may cost as much as $40, the same cost for all the Transparent plastic you would need to construct a much larger Greenhouse.
The cost of a 8-ft L x 6-ft W x 6-ft H Metal Polycarbonate Greenhouse at Lowe's is up to $800. Similarly, Palram 6-ft L x 4-ft W x 6-ft H Metal Polycarbonate Greenhouse at Lowe's cost up $500. Much larger Greenhouses, Palram 16-ft L x 8-ft W x 8-ft H Polycarbonate Greenhouses at Lowe's cost more than $2200! What would possess people to pay that much money when they could construct the same size Greenhouse for a 1/20 of the cost?
Original post @ How to Construct a Greenhouse using Free Supplies from Vegans Living off the Land
Greenhouses allow you to extend your growing season up into the Winter, and grow your starter plants earlier in the season. Plants like Tomatoes, peppers, and melons have a long growing season, which is why it is crucial to begin these plants as early as the beginning of February.
I have the fortunate opportunity to use my home (Mother's house) as a greenhouse. I started many vegetables indoors at the beginning of March, and had to keep these plants indoors up until April till I could sit them out during the day. Even then, I had to bring my starter plants back in every night until the beginning of May. You can imagine my Mother was shocked to have so many trays of growing plants taking up half the living room, utility room, and our bedroom.
Luckily at the beginning of May I have been leaving the starter plants on the front porch even at night. For two months, my morning ritual began by taking all of my starter trays outside on the porch, and at night I would bring them all back in the house.
I may have to construct a small greenhouse by myself due to all the other upcoming projects we have. My partner has recently taken on remodeling my Mother's kitchen, so the garden has been on the back-burner. I have been transplanting more Tomatoes in the garden but the last 40 I have planted have died!
The perfect Greenhouse would be large enough to house hundreds of starter plants, and even fruit bushes and fruit trees. I would even like to construct a greenhouse that was half underground and half exposed for growing tropical fruits. For now I would start small, 20'X20' Greenhouse. We have thought of many different designs, for example a recycled bottle greenhouse (like in the picture below).
picture source: Khakibos
Another cheap Greenhouse option is using transparent plastic with recycled wood, see below. Considering I do not drink water from plastic bottles, and because constructing with plastic bottles would take longer-- a 6'X10' greenhouse with recycled wood would also be a simple, cheap construction. You can easily find wood pallets (for free) at sawmills, factories, and behind other stores. Wood pallets can be deconstructed in order to use the wood to create the structure of the Greenhouse. I have posts on how we constructed raised beds out of wood pallets here and here.
picture source: Bepa's Garden
A third option are polytunnel designs using PVC pipes. Polytunnel designs are equivalent in efficiency and cost, it simply depends on the materials you can scavenge for free or have around your house. Piping is easy to come across, as you can ask many people if they have any around, or go dumpster diving.
picture source: Home design
There are of course simpler Greenhouse methods that need no construction, for example in the picture below, you can purchase a small, pre-fabricated Greenhouse at many store outlets. However these come at a higher cost. Even a mini pre-fab Greenhouse as the one in the picture below may cost as much as $40, the same cost for all the Transparent plastic you would need to construct a much larger Greenhouse.
The cost of a 8-ft L x 6-ft W x 6-ft H Metal Polycarbonate Greenhouse at Lowe's is up to $800. Similarly, Palram 6-ft L x 4-ft W x 6-ft H Metal Polycarbonate Greenhouse at Lowe's cost up $500. Much larger Greenhouses, Palram 16-ft L x 8-ft W x 8-ft H Polycarbonate Greenhouses at Lowe's cost more than $2200! What would possess people to pay that much money when they could construct the same size Greenhouse for a 1/20 of the cost?
Original post @ How to Construct a Greenhouse using Free Supplies from Vegans Living off the Land
