My New Digs!

[RobinB]

I haven't been around Tomatoville much lately, and this is why! We finally bit the bullet and had a greenhouse built this summer in our backyard! The size is 12' x 24'. The frame is steel, and it's covered with two layers of greenhouse film which are inflated by a fan that runs continuously.

The ground in our backyard is basically just decomposed granite. It took a day to level. Then, the frame went up. The frame is anchored to the ground by pounding in t-stakes and then bolting the steel frame to these. It is supposed to withstand 75MPH winds. Hopefully, it won't come to that, but it is usually windy around here.
2-frame.jpg

A neighbor and I built redwood raised beds to go inside while the frame was being put up. I'm really glad that I got a friend's husband, who is a contractor, to help. The project was way beyond my skill set!
3-redwood-beds.jpg

The front wall has a door and motorized shutter/vent which will be controlled by a thermostat. We didn't have time to figure it out, and it's only set up to control cooling. I won't need it until spring. The back wall has a 3-speed fan which will also be controlled by the thermostat.
4-doors-fan.jpg

Here we are putting on the first layer of plastic. We got the beds inside and filled before the plastic went up. Much easier than trying to fit them through the door later!
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After both layers of plastic were on, the end walls went on. They are a single layer. All the plastic is attached with wiggle wire in channels.
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Here's a shot inside the gh after both layers of plastic were on.
7-filled-beds.jpg

And, the outside.
greenhouse-ext.jpg

We purchased a shade cover, and since it was finished in early August, it went on immediately.
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It is definitely challenging so far. Next year, I'll be able to start my fall things when I should, but I tried starting everything in August anyway, just to see what would happen. We had such a warm fall that I couldn't take the shade cover off until mid-October. So, some of the fall/winter seeds that I started got leggy.

I've got a couple of electric oil-filled heaters out there. Lately, it's mostly been in the mid-20s overnight and high 40s in the daytime, so it's been pretty easy to keep it above freezing at night. I have had to turn the fan on most days lately if the sun is out, it gets in the mid-80s in there. We have had numerous cold fronts through and it's snowed twice. Two weeks ago, we got 10" of very heavy wet snow. Trees and branches were breaking all around us and we lost power for 27 hours. That overnight without power got down to 20.2 inside the greenhouse. Everything was covered and the only thing I lost was a few tomato plants. Five are still alive. Not happy, but alive.

Here's a shot inside, taken on November 17, and some of the lovely greens I've been picking.
GH 11-17-1.jpg
GH 11-17-2.jpg
salad greens nov.jpg

Next week, we are supposed to get yet another cold front through, but this time our lows are supposed to dip into the low teens with daytime highs below freezing. Who knows what will happen?! At some point, I'll probably lose most of it, but we'll see how far I can push it. We have now dipped below 10 hours of sunlight per day, too. I have added some incandescent Christmas lights in amongst the plants to hopefully help with a bit of heat under the blankets, and I put in two 55 gallon drums filled with water and painted them black. I also just bought a 12' round solar pool cover/blanket. Basically, a giant 12 foot circle of bubble wrap. I plan to cut it in half and install it on the two end walls.

Robin

[PhilaGardener]

Great project! It must be great to stand in there on a sunny day!

[clkeiper]

Oh... great job. I am so glad you did it "right" too. It looks fantastic. You will love it, too. I just picked a bushel of tomatoes out of my one high tunnel and I can't believe I still have them, either. We have had such a nice Fall, too. Otherwise they wouldn't have survived it. The plants look pretty bad now, but the tomatoes on some are still beautiful. It really extends the season of growing AND helps with the food bill so much. Way more than I think people realize what it can do. I haven't bought a tomato since this Spring except for 1 pint when I took my MIL shopping a few weeks ago because they weren't something I grow and they looked good (and they should have at 3.00).

[Labradors2]

Well done! I bet you will enjoy it and make the most out of it.

Linda

[kath]

Wow- that's a beauty and lots of work! Looks fantastic filled with all the greens. I'm sure you'll be having a great time figuring out what works best as the seasons progress. Congrats, Robin!

kath

[Cole_Robbie]

Very nice. I can see the quality in the workmanship of the structure.

I was going to mention the idea of roll-up sides or side vents, but the shade cloth should solve the problem of it getting too hot.

If you're trying to grow in freezing weather, the more layers of plastic you have between the plants and the outside, the better. You've got two layers on the outside wall. The ultimate in freeze protection would be low-tunnel type hoops over the beds, and frost blanket laid directly over the plants on the coldest nights. There's a guy on gardenweb/houzz I follow who overwinters his high tunnel in Kansas, and that's what he does. He has pics of his stuff growing when there is a foot of snow on the ground outside. It is obviously a lot of work to take those layers off and on as needed. But trapping the heat radiating overnight out of the mass that is your raised bed soil is the key to keeping those greens from freezing.


Also, speaking of mass, some paver stones would make a nice floor. Anything you can do to add mass like stone or water is going to help you maintain a consistent temperature.

[Salsacharley]

Its great to see you here again Robin! I was wondering what was up. Your greenhouse looks great.

Have you considered getting a propane heater with fan? That might get your plants through the really low nights.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...rtable-heaters

[AlittleSalt]

Cool Robin

A couple of ideas that I have pondered when thinking about a greenhouse are a backup generator and an evaporative cooling system.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

Cool Robin

A couple of ideas that I have pondered when thinking about a greenhouse are a backup generator and an evaporative cooling system.

Robin the greenhouse looks fantastic.
I wish I had one like it.


Salt an evaporitive cooling system/swamp cooler only works at very low humidity.
At 50% humidity it can only lower the temperature of the air coming into the area about 10 degrees.
At 10% humidity it can drop it 20 to 30 degrees.
When I lived in Crane zI would come home from work and it would be freezing in the house with one.
Everybody used them.
Another thing to thing about is mosquitoes love them.
You have to be on a constant look out to make sure they aren't living in them.

I wish I had one here for the hotter dryer months.
Just something to think about.
Worth

[KarenO]

How exciting! It's a beauty and lot of room to grow all kinds of things!
KarenO

[ChiliPeppa]

That's just beautiful!

[ddsack]

Robin, I'm so excited for you! It's so great to finally have the dream of a greenhouse come true! It will be a fun learning experience to see how far you can extend your season, and how your gardening routines will change. The high raised beds were a great idea!

[RobinB]

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone

SALT, yes a backup generator would be good to have. If we have a really wet winter as they are predicting with the whole El Nino thing, it could become a necessity for the house as well. When we don't have power, we don't have hot water or heat. I hope the power doesn't keep going out, generators are expensive! I wish I could afford a propane heater or somehow power it with a solar system.

COLE: I do cover everything with polyester cloths. Every night lately. The ones I have are "GardenQuilts" from Gardener's Supply Company. I've had them for about 8 years and was using them in the garden. They were so dirty that I didn't want to bring them into the gh, so I put them through the washing machine and they came out great. They really do make a huge difference. I have a motley collection of fiberglass poles, bamboo, discarded tomato cages, etc. to suspend the cloth over the plants. I think that I would have experienced a different outcome on that one night with no power when the temps got down to 20° if I didn't have it.

I don't know how roll up sides could even work with the inflated walls. The shade cover did make a big difference in the heat of the summer (it's 70% shade), but it was TOO dark in there and most plants got really leggy. Dwarf tomatoes looked like indeterminates! It is attached via yet another set of wiggle wire in the same channel as the plastic. I wish I could make the shade cloth roll up somehow and only have it down during the middle of the day. The fan on the back wall works really well to pull large quantities of air through and cool things down, but when the air outside isn't particularly cool, the help is limited. The front door has a screen door insert which I open and I also have the shutter in the front wall.

Here's a photo of the inside this morning before I pulled off the cloths for the day:
ghostlycloths.jpg

[Cole_Robbie]

Good. You've got the right idea, covering things up like that.

You can't inflate roll-up sides. That's the trade-off, better insulation versus better venting. My greenhouse originally had an inflated double layer that ended at a hip board about 4' off the ground. The inflated part ended at the hip board.

[Ricky Shaw]

Very nice. A cot and radio, I'd just stay out there 9 months of the year.