greenhouse help please

[amme]

HI I am a florist and i want to start growing things like asparagus fern, gypsophilia etc, I am going to get a greenhouse to grow these in. Can anyone tell me the best one to get as i have been looking and didnt realise how many are out there. thank you

[Sean Straw]

I'm not the one to answer this question for you - I built my own small one (enough to sustain starts for my own gardening), and have collected much of the glass to build a larger one (big industrial double-glazed window panels, like you'd see on the side of a highrise). Whether you're looking for a kit or a from scratch type, you'll need to define what it is you need:

• total square footage (i.e. size)

• glass (heavy), polycarbonate (lighter weight, but panels will need replacement after 8-12 years), or UV hoophouse plastic (even shorter lived).

• wood framed, metal framed, or wood+masonry

• which is more important: form or function?

• permanent greenouse, or something you can disassemble and move (say because you might not own the property).

• purpose: doing starts for a nursery, or attempting to grow things year round.

• what is your climate like? Lots of high wind? Snow? Freezes?

• Do you need someone else to put it together, or are you confident you can manage it yourself?

Underscoring all of tha is the biggiet: what's your budget? It doesn't make any sense for someone to tell you about the best greenhouse solution they've seen if it's way out of your price range.

Other design considerations:

• water supply - could be a hard plubed affair, or could

• floor - direct ground, raised slats, poured concrete (with drain?) gravel, pavers, or wood elevated plywood (think subfloor in your house or in a standard wood shed). Slats, gravelm and pavers are more water friendly, as would be a poured floor with a centre sloping drain. Direct soil could get muddy, and wood, while easy, cheap, and level, isn't a good choice for water. You could put sheet linoleum on the ply flooring through (and still provide a drain point.

• auxilliary heat source (if needed in your area)

• automatic window vents, or other form of ventillation if it gets too hot

• power (say for fans, heat, grow lights, or for seedling heat mats) - use properly wired GFCI outlets, and ideally, the plastic rain covers, so that if you water plants nearby, there's no shock hazard.

There's also going more simple and constructing a "hoop house", which would be okay in an environ where you don't get high winds. I helped raise on of these for a local CSA last winter, and outside of the UV sheeting and the PVC framing, they did the entire thing using reclaimed materials.

You may want to watch your local CraigsList "Farm and Garden" section

- in my area (north of San Francisco), there's at least one person, if not a couple, who regularly post that they construct greenhouses on site, though they more appear like modified sheds - wood framed, with the bottom say 3' (about doorknob height) as siding, not windows.

In searching my local CL this morning, one of the hits was someone trying to liquidate gear from a "dissolved partnership", including a sizeable greenhouse (20x48), and a diesel generator. Hrm, wonder what he was growing...

[Sean Straw]

In followup to my own post, an example of the local CL Farm & Garden "shed" postings:

The first image in the sequence is 'greenhouse-y" - I expect anyone building something like that could manage to use glass or more of the polycarb material instead of having one half as acrylic and one half closed in.

For the larger greenhouse shed I want to construct in the next year or two, my design is leaning a bit more like a combination of the first image and the one below it (one large south-facing slanted roof instead of a peak), with a sliding glass patio door as the entrance (no swing radius when opening, and no suction when opening it either).

Obviously, these are smaller homeowner sized greenhouse structures, not large commercial ones.

[Gunner]

I'm sure there is a similar supply outlet in your area, but this US link can give you some ideas on what you might need and want :

houses are the one of the easiest to build and maintain.

Do note these prices are on the high side and you may find less expensive items by shopping the internet or asking around.

[mj]

Polycarbonite walls will not hold up as long as they say the will. Or at least here in the south east they didn't. Also you can 't clean them well. I am enjoying having glass windows and windex much more. MJ