greenhouse Archives - Country Living in a Cariboo Valley

We built a greenhouse in our second year here. The amount of food we can harvest from growing in the greenhouse is definitely worth it. We can’t grow tomatoes in the garden here without this extra protection. Preparing the greenhouse for planting is one of the first things we do in the Spring.

Each season, there is some greenhouse maintenance that has to be done. Here’s what we do to open the greenhouse for the growing season (and also how we protect it for the winter).

Pepper plants growing in pots in a greenhouse. — Save this article to your Pinterest board!

Preparing the Greenhouse for planting

Each Spring, there is work to do in order to get the Greenhouse open and ready for vegetable seedlings. The tarp we put on for extra protection in late Fall needs to be removed, folded up and stored for the season.

We save and recycle used bleach jugs for a couple of reasons. We fill them with water (not quite full) and tie them to the tarp. This gives us the extra weight we need to make sure the tarp doesn’t come off in the winds of fall.

So in the spring, they have to be untied. Now we are going to use them inside the Greenhouse for the coming growing season.

Cracked jugs (from cold winter weather) get thrown out and the others get a new coat of black spray paint.

Small bean plants grow next to pole for climbing. — Plant several bean plants around each pole.

Then they get refilled and placed right alongside the new transplants. This way the water warms up in the daytime from the sun.

At night it releases that warmth and helps to keep the transplants warm. Here we have pole beans growing in the greenhouse.

Preparing greenhouse soil for transplanting bean plants. — Cleaning up the greenhouse beds before transplanting beans.

After the tarp is taken down and the jugs taken care of, I open up the greenhouse door and take a look to see how it fared over winter.

Amending the soil

Cleanup gets done, unless it had been completely done in the Fall (not usually). Any native plants that got in there after we closed the greenhouse up, are dug out and composted. Then I dig and loosen all the soil. We have pretty good soil in here because it gets amended.

Improving the soil is an important part of preparing the greenhouse for planting.

A red trailer full of compost with a shovel, ready for amending greenhouse beds. — Add lots of compost to the greenhouse beds before transplanting.

This load is all composted manure – each year I add more to these beds. I use one trailer load of well composted manure and shovel it onto the beds in the Greenhouse.

Then I lightly dig it into the existing soil and the ground is ready for planting. I always make sure to water the beds heavily before planting; this soil is very dry and it can take a couple days of watering before it is ready for plants.

Hardening off transplants

Since we don’t heat our Greenhouse, we don’t use it as a place for starting seedlings – but it is a great place for hardening off some plants.

I can tuck the Peppers and Tomatoes in here a week or so before they need to go in the soil. It frees up a fair bit of room in the house, so I can get the last batch of seedlings out of the basement.

Pepper plant seedlings in cups ready for transplanting. — These healthy pepper seedlings are ready for transplanting.

We started these Peppers in our basement seedling room. Now they have been hardening off here in the Greenhouse for 3 days.

I have been covering them with Remay cloth in the evenings, as it is still pretty cool here overnight. There’s a nice mixture of Red and Green Sweet Peppers and lots of Hot Peppers.

We should get a great harvest to use in making our homemade Salsa and pickles.

Transplanted peppers in larger pots on a greenhouse shelf. — These larger pots are perfect for these growing peppers.

Some of the Peppers are transplanted into large pots. They can spend the next few months growing right here on the long shelf.

We can probably fit about 2 dozen large pots on this shelf. It adds a lot of growing room. Plus, it gives me a handy spot for doing seeding or transplanting.

The rest of the Peppers are planted in the ground directly underneath. Since the plants don’t grow very tall, there is lots of room for them under here. And it gets full afternoon and early evening sun, even under the shelf.

A new door made of chicken wire and wood — Almost finished getting the greenhouse ready for summer.

Last minute maintenance for preparing the Greenhouse for planting

And Graham built a new sturdy door – it has chicken wire laid over it. We needed a new door, but it has to be “open” enough so bees can get in. Using the chicken wire allows that!

This new door will keep our free ranging chickens out, plus keep our cat, Ginger. She seems to like curling up in the corner in the warmth of the sun. We want her to stay out and spend her time down at the Barn chasing mice. And leave our plants alone!

Since we dug a water line and put in a tap right there at the Greenhouse door, we can just turn the water on. As soon as the weather is willing and the transplants are strong enough, we can start planting into the ground inside. We usually water by way of a drip system or a long soaker hose.

Peppers and pole beans growing in a greenhouse — Lots of healthy peppers growing in pots in the greenhouse.

Preparing the greenhouse for planting is an important part of beginning the gardening season here. We know that if we do the regular maintenance we have a much better chance of success in getting a large harvest of tomatoes, peppers and beans.

How to Build a Greenhouse Cheap (Outdoor Greenhouse DIY)

DIY greenhouses are surprisingly affordable and offer lots of options. Our greenhouse is unheated and it’s usually used from April to October.

And we’ve outlined just how we built it below, to give you some free greenhouse plans that will work for you! But first, here’s some general important greenhouse information you should know.

Is it cheaper to build a greenhouse?

In our case, yes it was definitely a LOT cheaper to build our DIY home greenhouse instead of buying a full greenhouse kit. Keep reading to see exactly how we built ours for some greenhouse ideas for your yard!

What is the best direction for a greenhouse to face?

Try to site your greenhouse so it faces south or southeast. This holds true if you live anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. The reason for this is to allow as much possible sunlight in, which is especially important of course in the winter months.

Siting your structure properly will allow that winter sun in, even in January and February.

Small greenhouse in a backyard — Small greenhouse in backyard

Do I need a permit to build a greenhouse in my yard?

Well, that all depends on where you live. Many areas do require a building permit for any structure over a certain amount of square feet.

Call your local town office and speak to the building department. It could be you don’t even need one, or it could be that the finished project can only be 10 x 10.

You won’t know unless you just ask how big a backyard garden shed or greenhouse can be before you need to apply for a permit.

What is a Cold Frame Greenhouse?

Cold frame describes a clear and insulated outdoor structure that can be used to shelter plants during the colder months. Instead of using gas or electric heaters, a cold frame garden depends on light from the sun to create solar heat.

They’re great for creating a more consistent environment, especially if you live in a climate where the weather can be unpredictable.

This kind of greenhouse allows you to start planting earlier and harvest later without having to worry about frosts, sudden dips in temperature, storms, or any other unexpected obstacles that gardening in colder weather may bring.

Cold frame greenhouses will typically offer a space that’s 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the temperature outside but also offer options for ventilation.

A cold frame garden is also a great option for transitioning any herbs or seedlings that may have been planted indoors but now have to come outdoors.

The environment it offers is stable and more controlled, which will allow your plants to adjust to the outdoors. They can then be transitioned to another garden, transplanted in grow bags for your patio or deck, or left in the greenhouse.

Here’s How to Build a Greenhouse

You already know that a greenhouse is a fantastic addition to any home and it can be built cheaper than you think.

We built ours stick frame but you can easily build hoop greenhouses, which would be less trouble constructing than the one we built.

Ours is very durable however and we are glad we went with stick frame. Our winters are severe enough here we need a steep roof on the greenhouse, so the winter snows will slide off.

Since hoop houses don’t shed the snow as easily, we thought it was best to go with the steeper roof.

Temporary Greenhouse ( One Season)

diy greenhouse in a backyard. — We love the way our greenhouse adds to our yard.

The picture above is a temporary greenhouse that Graham made soon after we moved here. That year, we grew squash, beans and cucumbers under that cover.

For the permanent greenhouse plans, Graham wanted to reuse those roof panels that you see in the picture.

roo panelling for a greenhouse made of wood and plastic sheeting — It doesn’t take much to make functional roof panels for a greenhouse.

The roof panels were in two pieces. When it came to deciding where to site the permanent greenhouse, we had some thinking to do.

In the end, we decided to build the new greenhouse right on top of the oldest compost pile. Why create extra work for ourselves?

This way it would be easy to rake out, take away the excess, and leave some really awesome soil underneath the plants.

Right next to the site, we had a second pile of well composted manure. Nice and easy to move into the new greenhouse!

DIY Cheap Wood Greenhouse Equipment List

You’re obviously going to need the very basic tools to build a greenhouse, such as:

hammer
tape measure
nails
screwdriver and bits
drill
screws and bolts
brackets, if needed and other hardware

But there are additional tools that you will need, or at the very least will make this backyard project a lot easier. These include:

a miter saw
a circular saw
greenhouse plastic

DIY Greenhouse Lumber List

Use this list to estimate your lumber costs, depending on the size of greenhouse. Ours is 12 feet long.

Your costs will vary, of course, depending on the finished size and lumber costs in your area.

4 – 12 foot 2×4
16 – 8 foot 2×4
6 – 12 foot 2×2 (for roof panel)
1 roll polyethylene sheeting
staples, nails, screws & the rest of the obvious!

Building a DIY Vegetable Greenhouse

The frame for the first side of the greenhouse.

First, we framed up the one wall.

Finished frame for a greenhouse. — Here’s what the basic finished frame looks like!

Then another and another and voila. The basic frame was ready.

Reinforced greenhouse frame. — We reinforced the frame with some more wood for stability.

Next, we worked on framing in the walls.

greenhouse frame around a compost pile — Using logs as reinforcements was a great and free way to make the structure even safer.

Can you see where we laid logs inside where we needed to level the site out? You know why logs are good? Because they are FREE.

Then I started raking smooth all the compost and also adding the great soil from the pile in the back. The compost that wasn’t quite ready, I just shoveled onto the other compost pile. Siting the greenhouse right here was a LOT less work in the end.

Of course, we had put the piles in a good spot to begin with! Nice and close to the garden and far enough to the edge of the lawn that they weren’t under the trees.

You can really see the lay of the land we were working with. See the slope? And that middle hump inside the greenhouse is the left over pile of finished compost.

Over time, I raked that over to the edges to fill out the raised beds inside.

logs layered as reinforcement for a greenhouse frame. — This was a great way to make sure the frame was even and level.

Here’s a better picture of the log details.

installing roof panels on a greenhouse frame. — Though we used roof panels from a previous greenhouse, it’s easy to construct your own!

Once that was done, we started working on putting the roof panels in place. Graham added a ridge beam from timber we had here, then attached the panels to that.

Graham put a great pitch on the roof and it should hopefully be able to withstand all the snow in the winter.

Adding Plastic Poly to DIY Greenhouse Roof and Walls

Later, we stapled the plastic poly around the sides. We stapled it very well, so the wind couldn’t catch the plastic sheeting and start lifting it off.

For the greenhouse covering, , instead of buying the special plastic, we just used 6mm plastic off a roll that we had laying around for a building project. Some people prefer to get greenhouse weight plastic.

installing plastic sheeting on the greenhouse frame — Plastic sheeting is a cheap way to line your greenhouse frame.

Since the bottom areas of the front had open spaces, I played around with building rock faces on either side. Easy and FREE!

image of a greenhouse next to a shed. — The updated greenhouse has an even cleaner look and is just as functional, if not more so!

And here’s what it looks like from the porch – we are very happy with the way it turned out. It was a fair bit of work, but it will add a LOT to our homestead. And no tutorials or instructables were necessary; the structure was simple and easy to put together!

This greenhouse project has enabled us to grow peppers and tomatoes. If you live in a northern climate, you really can’t go wrong building a backyard greenhouse.

Using basic tools, you save a lot of money building your own, as opposed to buying a new greenhouse.

Build your own greenhouse for about $300, including electricity – extend your growing season, start your own seeds and grow your own organic food!

The cost for ours was well under $200, even if we would have had to buy that roll of greenhouse weight plastic.

A small DIY greenhouse with an open door and plants growing inside. — With a little bit of hard work, you can construct a DIY cold frame greenhouse in your own backyard!

What if the Greenhouse gets too hot?

Sometimes, in the heat of the summer sun, it does get really hot in the greenhouse, even though we have there is no plastic up close to the gables. You can see that in the photo.

If this happens with your greenhouse, you have a couple of choices, one being to install a greenhouse fan. Even if your greenhouse doesn’t have electricity, you could always run an extension cord from the outside of the house and run a fan.

You can also install greenhouse vents, the automatic vents make the most sense, because you don’t even need to be there to open and close them.

Or check out these solar greenhouse vents and fans!

What we do though, is we water the greenhouse – on the outside! I just hose down the clear roof and walls from the outside. If you do this, make sure your hose has been sitting in the shade.

Or, run the house for awhile so all the hot water inside it runs out. You don’t want to be adding hot water from a sun baked hose to the already hot greenhouse.

I spray it down a few times a day in the heat of summer and it helps a lot.

Framing the walls for a home made greenhouse — Framing part of the construction of a small greenhouse.

Other Ways to Build a Greenhouse

There are a number of other materials you can employ when putting together your DIY greenhouse plans.

PVC pipe is a fairly inexpensive material, and the piping is especially great for a mini greenhouse, for adding internal structure, or for cold frame gardening.

If you’re particularly handy, sometimes old windows can be upcycled and used in your greenhouse. This may also be more easy to work with on a smaller scale. Here’s a beautiful greenhouse made from old windows.

Build a CD case greenhouse! Believe it or not, CD cases can also be helpful for planting. Making a small greenhouse out of the plastic cases is a great way to repurpose them if you have CDs lying around that you’re no longer using.

You can also buy CD cases in large quantities. The sturdy plastic is a reliable material for planting, and would be great for DIY cold frames.

Plastic bottles in excess can make a fantastic outer shell for a greenhouse. Check out this guide for more detailed instructions on making a plastic bottle greenhouse.

Preparing the Greenhouse for Planting