Brrrrr in CB

[marvy]

Hi Folks

Thank you for your warm welcome, and as requested, here are a few photos of my most humble greenhouse project. After reviewing some that I have seen, wow. I started off with growing local store bought tomato plants and imported some chillie seeds from the UK, and received a rogue tomatoe seed in that bunch, and babied it through it growth process and now its a staple, the heirloom seeds from walmart, suprised me a bit , and there were a mixed bag of blacks, green yellow, pink, which really did well in the greenhouse, so, more of the same for this year, lord willing.
I have the prints for this greenhouse, if anybody would like them, let me know, and managed to get them from the internet, it is really economical to build, definately not fancy, but has survived 4 hurricanes with winds in exess of 120k, 4 noreasters, with about the same wind speeds, a couple of tons of snow, so far so good. The nice thing about this greenhouse, you can extend the length of it if you like, the most costly item on this house was the greenhouse 6 mil plastic, where here in CB you will get stung for it, cost me 185.00. You could buld this for about 300.00 or less, depending on how thrifty you are.
I would certainly like to take this to a higher plateau, and have been milling the idea of a commercial greenhouse, nothing huge, something around 30x70 would be nice, any ideas out there per chance?

[Zana]

Now that's a canny Cape Bretoner that finds such a thrifty way to build such a great green/hoophouse! Welcome to Tomatoville Marvy!

Are you heating this through the winter? And if so, how? Is the 6mm plastic doubled or just single layer? A friend did something similar and did it in two layers with a gap between. Essentially he built a regular framed greenhouse about 8 x 10 feet, then covered the outside with the 6mm plastic, and then lined the inside with a second layer. Creating a layer of insulation. He's toying with the idea of building another with a larger gap between - enough so that he can blow heated air through creating a heated bubble during the colder months....and since he's in Northern Ontario, he usually can expect 6 feet of snow on the ground by mid January or February. I'm intrigued with the idea, so am awaiting the pics from him.

Great looking job you did there!

Zana

[marvy]

Hi Zana

Aye Jimmy, Thank you for your kind words, and hope you are well. At the present time, I am not heating it, sort of using the greenhouse temporarily as storage for my winter wood. The barn is full and had to utilize the greenhouse for the exess, but understand exactly what you are saying. I have one layer on at the moment. The idea was to put a wood heater in there for the winter, but decided against it, for the reason, that next to the greenhouse, is a shed, which I will be dismantling shortly, rebuilding half of it, up to the peak, with vents, and a lean to, approximately a 20' extension outward, then utilizing a combination of glass, (old storm windows) and 6mil plastic. I have a spare wood heater complete which will be the main source of heat during the winter months, but do have access to plastic blue 50 gall drums also, which can be filled with a misture of antifreeze and water, painted black for passive heating, which would be perfect in there because of the position of the sun during the winter months, it would be facing to. There is a formula, which i can dig up for you, to estimate the btu's produced for a certain area. Actually where I saw this, the design was for a double layer of 6 mil and a small blower, and heated by these drums, lined up against a backside facing the sun. It certainly does work, for he was growing winter tolerant crops. and having no problams.

[Tania]

Marvy, these are very beautiful pictures, an awesome greenhouse!!! Thank you so much for sharing.

When do you start your peppers and tomatoes?

Tatiana

[marvy]

Hi Tatiana

Hope you are well, such a pretty name, must be of eastern european origin perhaps, lets say Ukraine no?
Thank you for your comments, it's not really special actually, just a starter, now that I have a knack for growing things I would like to pursue this even more so, I started some tomatoes and chillies about 12 days ago and have a sprouter, which now, are under the lights. I would like to get some more heirlooms, but it gets a little confusing with all the varieties. Your knowlwedge and experience would be most appreciated, being a grower here in Canada. Your recomendation as to type of tomato, which would work, for our climate would be great, before I make a purchase blunder. Please note, that the tomato that has sprouted is a greenhouse type, these fellows get to about 8-9' tall, and are very prolific, I haven't a clue as to what they are, but did come from the chillie seed factory in the UK, called them, no answer. Can't complain, for they have been a great producer.

[BigBrownDogHouse]

Wow!

Marvy...what a gorgeous spread!
Very impressive!

[ddsack]

Very nice, Marvy! I really enjoy looking at pictures of greenhouses, especially those designed and built from scratch. People have so many good ideas and ingenuity in achieving their vision.