Seeking Greenhouse Suggestions

[Daisy8s]

Here's the situation: Right next to my coop is a large area that might be perfect for a greenhouse. If built in this space the greenhouse's east wall would be the wall of my garage, the north wall would be the wall of my coop, and it'd get full southern and partial western sun exposure. The greenhouse could be as big as 12x18 if I wanted to use all the space.

The benefit to using this space is that it'd double as a winter time run for my chickens when there is deep snow and they won't free range.

My first concern: will putting a greenhouse next to the coop make the coop too hot in summer? I'd be reducing ventilation through the coop by building up against it, though I could try to mitigate that with good ventilation through the greenhouse and perhaps shade cloth during the hottest parts of summer.

An option: build a semi-portable greenhouse that could go out to the garden during the summer and sit over top of one of my existing raised beds. If so, the greenhouse would have to be about 4x13 ft since the beds are 3x12.

Concerns: will a portable greenhouse be too flimsy to hold up to potentially 1-2 ft of snow? Will a portable greenhouse fall apart over the years requiring a rebuild? (I'm picturing PVC pipe and heavy plastic when I say portable--but am open to suggestions.)

So, to all of you who have built greenhouses: what materials would you recommend? Have you built a near a coop and if so were there factors I should be aware of? Can you get good ventilation through a greenhouse--if so, how so?

Finally, for a permanent greenhouse we were considering stick frame and Suntuff walls and ceiling. If anyone has a better material, I'm all ears.

I'm really interested in hearing other's stories about what materials people used, how those held up, how they got ventilation through it, if they used shade cloth, etc.

Thanks!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Here is my suggestion:


Not what I have, but what I would like. Add a door to get in though, lol!
I have a 4 foot high growhouse that DH made for me. It is 3 1/2 feet by 7 feet of raised bed inside a frame with doors that come off so I can work in it. The doors are covered in 1/2 inch hardware fabric in an effort to keep out wildlife. then I covered them in plastic to keep out the wind and protect the plants.
I am using a greenhouse plastic that I got from Charley's Greenhouse online. It is a woven poly plastic that allows 80 or 85% light transmittal (I don't remember which). It is just a single layer of plastic, so it doesn't have an insulation factor for winter. I have been having great luck with it. It is on its second year and doesn't show any wear or sun degredation. I managed to keep spinach alive all winter, not growing, but alive. As soon as it warmed up in March, I had fresh spinach to harvest.

 

[Daisy8s]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting. This is very similar to how it would look because it will be a shed roof/lean-to building.

I'm interested in your greenhouse fabric--I'll be looking it up. I see that you're recommending some ventilation windows that'd be propped open. Do you have any specific recommendations for sources to find this kind of ventilation?

Again, thanks!

 

[wyoDreamer]

I will just be making a wooden frame for the window, covering it in the greenhouse fabric, and using hinges to attach to the building. They will have wooden supports on each side of the window for propping them open. The supports will have holes in them so I can open just as much as I need. The holes will fit over a post with a hole in the end for a clip to hold it in place. We have incredible winds here in Wyoming, so I will need to build mine extra strong. 50+ mph gusts are not that uncommon in the winter time.

If you would like, I can send you a sample of the fabric that I used, I still have some leftovers in the garage I found when cleaning last weekend. Just PM me your address.

If you are interested in buying auto opening windows, there is alot on the Charley's Greenhouse site that could give you some good ideas.

 

[erinszoo]

We built a lean-to greenhouse for my dad against the side of his coop. We built it out of pvc pipe using L-brackets to attach it to the house. Because it is so hot here in the summer, he rolls up the sides of the greenhouse anyway which allows for ventilation just fine. The pitch of the roof will determine how much snow load you can handle on yours. If the roof is too flat even a couple of inches of snow will cause it to warp badly let alone a foot or more. We have a "removable" greenhouse that we build over our raised beds for winter gardening. We have 3 x 10 raised beds and simply use a pvc system and heavy plastic for the structure. We keep a heater in for those night that get really cold but have to vent most days even in the coldest part of winter around here. Last winter we grew lettuce, spinach, peas, cabbage, carrots, and brussel sprouts. We had enough lettuce and spinach during the winter to feed our birds and our ourselves as well as sell a bit too. And the peas early in the spring were amazing. We pulled the plastic off for the summer and will put it back on sometime in October when we get our first frosts. However, we left the frame in place. We used netting around the base of it to keep out critters and then used shade cloth over the top for when it was over 100 degrees for such a long time this summer. It helped some but nothing really works when it's 113 out. Lol.

Our biggest issue with it was that it sagged under the weight of rain and snow and we would have to go out and knock the puddles off the roof. We're going to rebuild and make the roof at a steeper angle to hopefully combat that problem. My dad's was already steeper and he didn't have any issues with snow or rain pooling on the roof plastic. His is 6 x 10 and is 7 foot at the top.

 

[wyoDreamer]

It is amazing to me to how fast just a little sun will melt the snow off my growhouse. It can be 10 degrees outside, but the snow on the growhouse will be melting and sliding off the roof - and its not very steep, I think it drops 1 foot in 4 feet of roof. We put machine fabric under the plastic to help support the plastic for wind and snow load. Luckily for me we don't get very deep snow falls out here, most of the snow blows straight through to Nebraska. lol

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

It sounds like you have some great ideas. It will be interesting to see what you come up with. One style of greenhouse that I would point out is a hoop house. You can make the frame from the top rails used for galvanized chain-link fencing and skin it with polyethylene (or whatever you want). They're relatively inexpensive, easy to construct, incredibly durable, very scalable and shed snow too. Michigan State has a great public outreach program that helps getting started with larger hoop house projects. While most of the projects on that site are geared toward commercial endeavors, it shows that such structures are useful in your climate and has good discussions on greenhouse issues (including ventilation). Here is a site that has plans for building both smaller and larger hoop houses. I bought a hoop bender from them and am nearly finished building a 12' X 20' greenhouse. The plans were excellent and easy to follow. Right now the frame is up and covered with scraps of shade cloth that I had laying around. Sometime in Nov. (when it cools off here) we'll cover it with polyethylene. I am super pleased with it so far. That company also has benders for 3', 4', or 6' widths that use either 1/2" or 3/4" EMT. Something like that would be perfectly sized if you decided to cover just the 3' X 12' beds. Whatever you decide, keep us updated!

 

[Mattemma]

I like those hoop covers. I just might build something like that in my back back yard once I can get rid of the rabbits and squirrels. I would love those 6 foot hoops,but no way can I fit 10 foot poles in my car.8 is my limit.

I was going to get the harbor freight greenhouse for 250,but I think I will play around with building my own structures.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Well, now you did it.
My husband came in with the typical "what ya looking at?" and checked out the pipe bending video with me. Now he is planning to make me a hoop house with a 4' wide raised bed on each side. We'll see how it holds up this winter to the 60 mph wind/100 mph gusts that we get.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Well, now you did it.
My husband came in with the typical "what ya looking at?" and checked out the pipe bending video with me. Now he is planning to make me a hoop house with a 4' wide raised bed on each side. We'll see how it holds up this winter to the 60 mph wind/100 mph gusts that we get.

Congratulations! Good timing too, I see they have a significant sale on the benders. Also check out how folks in the north double the layers of polyethylene and install a small fan designed for inflating the space between the two layers as is seen in this video and this one too. From what I've read it only costs about $15/year for power and adds an extra 8-10 degrees to the interior temperature (depending on how cold it is outside). I'm still amazed that you could keep spinach alive all winter long in Wyoming! I was thinking about you as I planted spinach yesterday. Let us know what you end up building and how it works for you.