greenhouses, cold-frames, hoop-houses, winter-sowing, wha??????

[wyoDreamer]

I am going to be working on building a season extender this summer also. It will be a high tunnel hybrid. We changed out the cheap sliding patio doors on the house for better ones and I made DH save the old ones for a greenhouse. He is going to build these into the ends of the high tunnel as doorways. We will have the bottom 3 feet of plastic permenantly attached with wire backing to keep out the pests and the sides will roll up from there for ventilation. There will be vent windows on the end walls also.

I have a little "growhouse" that DH built for me a couple of years ago that worked great and was our first attempt at a season extender. I was picking tomatoes off the vine until early November and had spinach survive all winter (it grew horizontally, about 1" tall) and then the next March it took off growing again and I had fresh spinach in early April. I will snag some photos after this next snow storm if you are interested in the growhouse construction. I am doing the Square Foot Gardening technique in there since it is such a small area. I was using soaker hoses to water, but they stopped working so I added drip irrigation and that seems to be working now.

It is simply a 4x4 frame around a 3.5' x 7.5' raised bed - 3' high in the front and 4' high in the back. We made 2x2 frames for doors that come completely out of the openings for working in the garden. I put welded wire on the frames, then wrapped them in greenhouse fabric. The original idea was to have two sets of doors - one with plastic, one with just the welded wire to keep out critters. But the Wyoming winds are such a problem for growing anything greater than 2" high, that the plastic doors never came off. The top is a permenant plastic roof - once again, the original intent was to be able to remove the roof panels and just have it open. We are dry enough here (15" moisture per year) that having the plastic seems to help keep in the moisture. The sides have the angled roof line areas that are completely open for air flow so it doesn't get too hot in there. Last summer was so hot and dry that the lettuce bolted right away, but I got 3 months of harvests from the sugar snap peas.

I tried heirloom tomatoes and got a really bad infestation of aphids - not sure how I will manage those this summer - definately not putting tomatoes back in there again. But, I did get 1/2 bushel of tomatoes from 6 plants. Right now I have a single garlic plant that survived (I found some year lold cloves that I failed to plant last spring and planted in Nov.) and two onions that I somehow missed picking last fall.

 

[Thistlelady]

Do you have a ReStore in your area? That is where I got most my windows. Craigslist is a good place to find free/cheap windows to.

 

[adamroseman80]

Hello Thistlelady

I don't know if this is the right time now but I might suggest you a few cold frame greenhouses that are available at http://envirotechgreenhouse.com/coldframes , but you surely need to check out your budget.

 

[lazy gardener]

Craigs list, habitat for humanity store, local dump. Cruise the streets on trash day, especially in the spring. contact some local builders who specialize in re-modeling.

 

[aggiemae]

I built a great ~4X6 cold frame (3 1/2 feet tall in the center) for just under $34.00, including 6ml uv protected plastic (guaranteed not to break down for at least 4 years). This frame is made from PVC, it is amazingly wind resistant and even folds for storage when not in use. I plant stuff like winter peas, spinach and lettuce in January and get thinnings in late February and peas in March. I let the plans flop over so they wood fit but I used it for tomatoes this past fall and we had them ripening until just a few weeks ago when we had an unusually deep freeze.

I got the instructions for a short EBOOK called Build a Simple Low Greenhouse by Taylor Birch.I think the book cost only 99 cents or maybe $1.99.

I am building a cold frame using poly carbon sheets designed for greenhouses. I found this locally at a place that build greenhouses, it's 4 feet wide and sold for $7.00 per linear foot (4 sq feet). When I go there that had remnants so I I ended up paying $28.00 for two 5x4 pieces (40 sq feet).

 

[catw]

I live in a trailer park with trees so I don't have much room or much sun. The last few years I have been growing things in containers. I get them wherever I can find them. My neighbor was throwing some away. One year I bought some of those black containers they sell trees in. They have held up remarkably well. I got a couple of plastic bins when they were on sale. One year I grew a lot of lettuce in a bin late in the year. I put a window on top and took it off when it was too warm. I get windows on the street on garbage day. Someone in the trailer park bought a shed. She used it for storage. It's made of pipe with plastic over it. I think you can get them at Tractor Supply. They don't cost a lot. I thought maybe they wouldn't last but she had hers for maybe 4 years before she moved away and took it with her. The plastic seems to have held up.

 

[nocalroo]

More than anything else if you are putting up plastic remember to make sure it is tight. No folds or creases these will tear repeat will tear in any kind of storm or high winds.