Clw, well done.

There are lessons to be learned from your post.

First, do your research ahead of time, it will pay off.

Second, proceed in the proper and logical order. Step 1 is decide what you will grow and what times of the year you intend to use the GH. When we neglect this part of the planning process, as is often done, there can be problems down the road. (See link below)

Third, safety concerns. You have built with safety in mind. I see the outlet wiring in conduit and "in-use" outlet covers in place.

Fourth, integration of the GH into the garden landscape. We just get a hint of this in your last paragraph, but it is apparent that you have considered this aspect which, IMHO, is too often ignored.

Nice job. Thanks for coming back and posting. SB

Here is a link that might be useful: Hobby GH basics

Rip it in half!

Come on, be the first....

Zinnngggg dingggy dinngyyy vrooommmmmm....

Thank you for the wonderful post!

Clwl - looks like a great job - very well organized! Thank you for sharing your pictures, ideas and experience. It's interesting to see the variety of ways people finish, furnish and use their greenhouses.

Diane

You did a very good job. I like the shelves and potting bench at the end. I wish I would have thought of that. I have plastic shelves that go both sides and back. We used concrete paving stones for the floor to keep critters out and used 6x4 pressure treated lumber for the foundation. I am still in the process of setting my up since I just got it in December as an early Christmas present.
My husband ran the water and electricity to just inside the door. And put on a door latch with a screw type closing mechanism to keep it shut on windy days. We had a real heck of the storm over the weekend and one panel got blown out. Luckily we found it and the clips so could put it back. We are thinking of a more permanate solution like screws or rivets. Have you had any problems with that?
Also I didn't see an exhaust fan. Do you have one? What one do you have, if you do? I will really need it as I stated in my post about fans. Though after that post we have had nothing but cold rainy windy weather. I got mine for the same reason as you, to grow veggie and flower bedding plants for my garden. Though I have 2 greenhouse books on order, I will have to look up the Elliot Coleman's Four Season Harvest philosophy. Thanks for the information.

{{gwi:310876}}

There are several postings about how to keep your panels in. Try searching and see what you find. I have found that there are two ways to put the clips in. One that I figured out and a different way my wife figured out. My wife's way works much better. Most people just calk them in with silicone calk. I haven't done that. Once I turned the clips around they stay in much better. I don't have an exhaust fan. I do have a air curculation fan. It is a small fan I picked up from Walmart that I zip tied upside down under the shelf above the potting bench. If it gets too hot I just open the door. With my weather station I have alarms set that go off in the house if it gets too warm. That is a reminder to open the doors. I can monitor the temps via the web from work and call someone also. Last summer I picked up a little self contained swamp cooler at Home Depo for $50 and put it on the lower bench on the north side. It cooled things down quite well.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Weather Station

Howdy! nice set up. I was wondering if you could tell me how much you like your HFGH. I was just looking at their page and reading about them. I know you cant beat the price on them, does it seem pretty sturdy and durable? I read about your modifications. I grow over 400 orchids and some of them could use the added warmth, so I am thinking of picking one up. Let me know please. Thanks a bunch
MIke

HI Mike;

I'm using mine for orchids also but I think your climate is just a tad warmer than mine...LOL. I love my HFGH!

I have 2 that I joined together and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. I use two electric heaters on seperate thermostats which seem to be working well. My temps generally run 40 to 70 this time of year. My collection is eclectic as I see your's is and everything looks wonderful as opposed to growing in my basement which was a struggle to say the least.

any other questions just ask here or email me.

milwdave_us "at" yahoo "dot" com

Dave
Milwaukee

Here is a link that might be useful: My Greenhouse under construction

how did you use the captive bolts to hold the insulation on? did you need to use any additional tape to hold it on to the wall?

There is no additional tape to hold it to the wall. Just 2 inch aluminum tape at the joints. I put 1 inch nylon bushings purchased from Home Dept on each bolt so that the nut and washer did not put pressure on the foam. Then I put a large washer and a nut on the bolt. The washer holds the foam. The two shelves on the north wall are connected to the frame as well. On those I put longer bolts, same bushing, one washer against the foam and then the shelf and then another washer and then the nut. The pressure from the nut is on the bushing and the large washer holds the foam. You need to locate the holes in the foam pretty close to where the bolt is actually going to be so the holes in the foam are not over sized. The foam goes below the level of the pea gravel at the bottom. The pea gravel holds the foam against the foundation at the bottom. The foam has been there 2 years now and is holding up very well. You must paint the aluminum or it becomes a reflector oven.

A couple quick questions:

1) Why did you choose to insulate the greenhouse from the ground instead of insulating the ground under the greenhouse from the ground outside (and thus getting a free heat sink)?

2) How did you manage to melt the trays? No, seriously -- sunlight alone shouldn't be capable of doing that. Your inside temps must have been off the scale.

Apart from that, a nice looking GH you've got there :)

I've cooked BBQ ribs in my homemade reflector oven, using sunlight alone. I don't have a hard time visualizing seedling trays melting, particularly at first when one is figuring out how the GH is going to "behave."

I built this greehouse specificially for starting bedding plants. I don't start heating it until the first week in Feb. At the time I didn't think a ground heat sink would have that much effect so I didn't do it. If I had it to do over again I would put the lip of the 2x4 base to the inside and put some foam board into a trench and up to the redwood around the base on the outside. The insulation on the north side just goes to the bottom of the redwood. The trays didn't melt uniformly along the whole shelf. It was just the 2 trays or so in the corners on the top shelf where the light would get concentrated. None of the seeds in those trays germinated however. Low angle sun reflecting from the top combined with the corner reflection against the dark plastic of the trays made for some real hot spots. I you look at my weather station at http://wx.uvci.com I have a temp sensor in a tray of soil on the soil heating germination mat. When the soil is dry and a bright sunny day the temp will get up to 130 easily.

Another change I would make is to have the potting bench in the end just sit on supports rather than build it in. That way it could be easily taken out when not in use. It would make getting to the last two feed of shelf much easier. It also gets a lot of water on it when watering which has caused the composit material it is made from to expand. I will probably replace it next year and when I do It will not be built in permanently like it is now.

Stressbaby is SOOOOOOO right. I would recommend that anyone, anywhere, purchase shading at the same time that they are erecting their greenhouse. I burned some plants pretty badly when I first put some in when I finished it last October. The Sun can be deceptively hot in these structures.

Dave
Milwaukee

Ah, uneven lighting creating hot spots -- *that* I can picture better.

I still am amazed why someone has not bought one and ripped it in half!

If the HFGH 10x12 was available 5 years ago I would have!

Look at what northern growers are doing with them. Insulating north wall and roof. Cut it in half, build a wood north wall and roof and make a 24x10 for a northern climate.

I am considering it Chris, but more as a leanto type of structure.

Dave
Milwaukee

My motivations are twofold:

1. To say 'THANKS' for posting this! I found the 2x12 'risers' to be very useful, and...
2. To keep this thread 'alive' - since I'm linking to it from my website!!!

Seriously though - very good, useful info here! Thanks again!

-Nancy