Greenhouse Adventures: Part 1

What does every grower dream of having? 

Besides plants, silly. 

A greenhouse. 

A place to start ALL THE SEEDS, overwinter tender perennials, get a jump start on the growing season, and to be able to do grafts and cuttings. I could keep going, but you get the point. ;) 

Well, I can officially tell you, THAT I NOW HAVE A GREENHOUSE!

I'm not excited at all. :P 

For years, I've haunted the listings on Craigslist, poured over catalogs, and scoured stores looking for a greenhouse that was the right size and within my budget. Finding one the right size was no problem, but finding something that didn't cost a fortune? Next to impossible. Every time I found one that might be possible, there were some major no-go warning signs (like free, no paneling, or warped and twisted frames). So I kept haunting. 

Then, last fall (yes, fall), I found a listing that grabbed me. It was for a 8x10 greenhouse for $750. Ooh, that's tempting. I contacted the seller. It was brand new, unopened in the box, for less than what I was seeing, but over an hour away. But why are you selling it? Apparently, her husband bought it for her, but she didn't want it. (??????) I was majorly confused but said that we'd take it after some bartering to bring the price down. 

Little did we realize that the label LIED to us. 2-3 hours? Only 2 people? Pshhh. 

We picked it up, brought it home, set it in the side shed, and there it sat. I knew that we couldn't even think of touching it with the holidays, Christmas trees, and inclement weather. This was a project that would need to wait until things cleared up a bit. 

Fast forward to February, and I'm needing to get the flowers started for my sister's wedding. I didn't have a place to get them started, so my boss graciously let me use space in the greenhouse at work. That's been working fine. 

Until now. 

We're needing that space for the vegetable starts, and what's sitting there? Flowers. Their lease is officially up, and I needed a place to keep them until I can get them in the ground. That bumped the greenhouse project to the top of the priority list. 

First up: getting the site prepped. 

We did what we could during a dry spell in February. Then the 3-point hitch on the tractor broke. Then it rained and poured. Then it was muddy. Not just any mud - sticky, construction, compacted, clings-to-your-shoes-and-makes-you-taller nastiness. 

But it was eventually finished. 

Step 2: Building the Greenhouse

So last weekend, we had beautiful sunshine and a family crew (or pretty much family) that had an open day, and we set to work. Or at least, we tried to. The directions were less than helpful and rather vague. They were most likely directly translated from Chinese using Google translate. 

Somewhere along the way, we realized that we were missing hardware. A lot of hardware. Like the kit was missing an entire bag of hardware. So a volunteer went to the store to pick up the needed parts. But the first store didn't have what we needed. So they hit up another store. It ended up having the wrong thread on the bolts. So another car full went back to the store, returned the wrong ones, picked up the right ones with the assistance of the the really helpful employee. Then it was soon apparent that we still didn't have enough of the bolts. So back to the store to pick up the parts with 7 minutes to go before they closed for the night and for Easter. Got back home, and apparently there were MORE parts that we needed to pick up. Thankfully, the first store did have them. 

Day one: 4 trips to the store. 

A new crew came back from their day trip and jumped into the project with a fervor that we never had. THANK YOU! I was about to have many not-very-nice words for this greenhouse. With their help, the front and back were finished, the side frame assemble, and the roof up. All that it needed would be the paneling. That would have to wait until after Easter, but that was no biggie. That went together quickly. But I still need to pick up 2 bolts from the store to get the last piece installed. :P 

Next up on this bigger-than-expected project: floor. 

Me and math don't get along

I came up with a quick and dirty diagram, priced things out, did some math, grabbed help, and off to the store we went. First trip into town for the floor was for pavers, the next trip was for gravel. My brother and I were able to get the pavers in really fast, but I had done the math wrong. :face palm: So back to the store for more pavers. 

Flooring project: 3 trips to the store

And here is the finished flooring! We'll be building the tables to go in a u-shape. Another project for another day. 

And here it it! I feel like we need to name it with all the time that has gone into putting it together. Any ideas? 

Happy, rolling garden-buddy

And now that it is all set up and looking pretty, we have a potentially big (for this time of year) wind storm this weekend. We've battened down the hatches as best as we can, but I'm praying that it will make it. I don't exactly trust Chinese manufacturing or materials.

This is going to be a huge learning curve for me - it's a new greenhouse, I don't know what it is capable of withstanding, how it handles various temperatures, what quirks and oddities this little structure has, but it's all part of the process.  

Until next time!

SG