Year round greenhouse

Not sure if this is the right place, but it seems to fit?

Anyone else had experience with doing this kind of year round greenhouse?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgs_cmCc-3Nczf6_RQpqmYg

Did it work as intended? What challenges did you face?

Andrew, I just saw this thread in our "Zero" replies.

I don't have experience growing in a greenhouse though I thought I would share some of my favorite greenhouse threads:

https://permies.com/t/154899/Year-Growing

https://permies.com/t/76165/Mike-passive-solar-greenhouse-design

https://permies.com/t/2098/greenhouse-suck-factor

I don't watch youtube though some other forum members might appreciate that one.

Not that kind of greenhouse, no, but I have used my passive solar greenhouse year-round. Or tried to, anyway.

The first few years I got good growth, and a growing season that went from early March to December. Fresh tomatoes at Christmas!

I thought I had it nailed, put up more insulation, and never got a chance to see if it made a difference because the next few years (including this year) we got a heavy unexpected freeze in September which killed everything in the greenhouse.

First "frost" date in my tiny greenhouse has been mid December, except for those unseasonable freezes. It has never frozen after March 1st. Temperatures inside range between 12 and 15 degrees F above the outside temperature--the colder it gets outside, the wider the gap, which surprised me. Only once has it gotten down to 20 degrees, and then it was 4 degrees outside.

I have not used frost blankets or any kind of external heat, as he does on his greenhouses, although I have one of those bubble swimming pool covers if it becomes necessary. I hesitate to use it because it would likely blow away unless I find a way to anchor it. I also find that snow makes an excellent insulator, and the greenhouse stays much warmer when there's snow on the roof. I also have some thermal mass in the form of two big tanks and a bunch of 1 gallon water jugs.

My main problem has been watering. I get the plants growing well during the growing season, but then I turn off the outside water and forget. If the plants are well established that's not such a big deal. Temperature becomes a problem in the fall because it's hotter in the greenhouse than outside, so greens and cold weather food crops don't do well, and when it gets cold enough that they're comfortable without opening and closing the doors every morning and night, it's too cold to start them.

This year life happened and I didn't start anything in the greenhouse.

At his temperatures I would use some kind of frost blanket, but leave it under the snow and make a way to roll it up only along the sides. I would also put one or two layers of straw or hay around the base, and seriously insulate the back wall--he said that was the coldest spot, which it shouldn't be if the greenhouse was insulated properly. I would try to dig the greenhouse into the ground at least two or three feet, and if possible set the whole back of the greenhouse into a hill.

My guess (and it is only a guess) is that these systems would bring the temperatures up another five degrees above what he's getting now and might approach year round growing for the less hardy plants.

Hi Andrew,
You asked a pretty broad question. Could you tell us what exactly you are thinking of doing? Passive solar greenhouses can work great! But there are about a gazillion different ways to build one depending on your needs, size, location, budget etc. etc. I watched a PBS documentary about 30 years ago. The lady had one on Martha's Vineyard. COLD, LONG WINTERS! I remember it was a low, wooden building, similar to an old fashioned commercial chicken house. She had glass on one side where she grew her vegies and a big water wall in the center (50 gallon drums) to capture heat. And on the north side she had rabbits. They also kept the house warm, ate the scraps and provided fertilizer. It worked great! After that I knew I wanted one some day.

I finally built mine about 5 years ago. It's very small but just what I needed. CHEAP! I built it mostly from scraps and free windows from Craigslist. I think I only spent about $50. on hardware and some insulation. I attached it to the south wall of my garage (which is insulated) close to my gardens. It is just big enough to start about 300 seedlings. I still want to replace the roof and a bit on each side whenever I find some more free windows that will fit. Because they're cheap, single pane windows I built insulated panels to put over them at night to keep the heat in. During the day I just open the windows to keep the temp. about 75-80* when I'm growing. I have enclosed pictures.

The back wall is full of buckets that hold about 120 gallons of water when they're all full. I just installed and filled my buckets yesterday. It was 29* last night and the high temp. today is 48*. But the sun is out, the windows are closed and it is currently 101 degrees inside. It will take about a week of sunshine for them to warm up. And it works great. Occasionally we get 3-4 days when the sun is not out so I have a very small portable heater inside which comes on at night to keep it 60*. I'll start my seeds around January 1st. And will begin planting out my cole crops on March 1st and my hot weather crops in mid to late April. But I don't need to use it in the summer.

Let us know what you are thinking about doing. Lots of people here can offer great  suggestions. Happy Gardening.

Debbie

Lauren Ritz wrote:

My main problem has been watering. I get the plants growing well during the growing season, but then I turn off the outside water and forget. If the plants are well established that's not such a big deal. Temperature becomes a problem in the fall because it's hotter in the greenhouse than outside, so greens and cold weather food crops don't do well, and when it gets cold enough that they're comfortable without opening and closing the doors every morning and night, it's too cold to start them.

I would love to set up some kind of a passive solar green house but I am stumped by the two problems you bring up. I love watering my plants by hand in the spring and summer but standing around with a hose or watering can in the cold winter (while it's pouring rain outside if the greenhouse) doesn't sound fun to me and a irrigation system would freeze on its way unless I trench the hoses. And then I have the dilemma of: do I set it up to extend the growing season a few weeks to October and maybe November for tomatoes and peppers or to get cold hardy greens in January or can I do both? But the cold hardy greens it would be too warm at first until it suddenly would be too cold to start them, just like you say.

Jenny Wright wrote:I would love to set up some kind of a passive solar green house but I am stumped by the two problems you bring up. I love watering my plants by hand in the spring and summer but standing around with a hose or watering can in the cold winter (while it's pouring rain outside if the greenhouse) doesn't sound fun to me and a irrigation system would freeze on its way unless I trench the hoses.

I keep water from the sink inside the house for watering during the winter. The problem isn't HOW to water, but that I don't like doing it so I conveniently forget. As in, literally forget. Depending on your environment there are ways around this. Sounds like you have plenty of water, so if you have the overflow from the greenhouse roof run into tanks inside you can water from the tanks even when everything freezes outside. It doesn't rain much here, so I haven't gone to the effort of creating a system for watering.

Jenny Wright wrote:And then I have the dilemma of: do I set it up to extend the growing season a few weeks to October and maybe November for tomatoes and peppers or to get cold hardy greens in January or can I do both? But the cold hardy greens it would be too warm at first until it suddenly would be too cold to start them, just like you say.

Definitely both. Try and see. If you have passive temperature controls such as a vent (I have to actually go out, open two doors, then go out and shut them if it gets cold) it might not be an issue.

Lately I have been reading "The Winter Harvest Handbook" by Eliot Coleman and his greenhouse set up that he goes into great detail is something like what you linked to in YouTube.  You should take a look at it.  His farm is in Vermont and they grow great stuff year round in their passive greenhouses.

https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-winter-harvest-handbook/?gclid=CjwKCAiA-9uNBhBTEiwAN3IlNCoVN_sV2dq20e-vCi3a8BMQV2a3abFJ4M1Sz5nHtu2tFyAS8aUqjRoCRiYQAvD_BwE (This is the publisher's site but you can easily find the book used.)

Debbie Ann wrote:
I finally built mine about 5 years ago. It's very small but just what I needed. CHEAP! I built it mostly from scraps and free windows from Craigslist. I think I only spent about $50. on hardware and some insulation. I attached it to the south wall of my garage (which is insulated) close to my gardens. It is just big enough to start about 300 seedlings. I still want to replace the roof and a bit on each side whenever I find some more free windows that will fit. Because they're cheap, single pane windows I built insulated panels to put over them at night to keep the heat in. During the day I just open the windows to keep the temp. about 75-80* when I'm growing. I have enclosed pictures.

The back wall is full of buckets that hold about 120 gallons of water when they're all full. I just installed and filled my buckets yesterday. It was 29* last night and the high temp. today is 48*. But the sun is out, the windows are closed and it is currently 101 degrees inside. It will take about a week of sunshine for them to warm up. And it works great. Occasionally we get 3-4 days when the sun is not out so I have a very small portable heater inside which comes on at night to keep it 60*. I'll start my seeds around January 1st. And will begin planting out my cole crops on March 1st and my hot weather crops in mid to late April. But I don't need to use it in the summer.


Debbie

debbie - i have built 2 greenhouses out of discarded windows - they are late feb - dec greenhouses - 3 seasons and the overwintered hardy stuff explodes in feb/march.. etc etc.

but mine look like shit compared to yours - i LOVE it - so "bougie"  for a reduce/reuse/recycle - lol !

cheers!

Hi James,
Well my goodness. What a nice thing to say! I haven't gotten such a nice compliment in years! Thank you so very much. I built it by myself and I was just terribly pleased that I didn't break any windows while installing them.

I wasn't even thinking about what it would look like. I just really wanted it to work well. Since I retired I have worked on many projects that I've been wanting to do for years/decades and not all of them lived up to their hype. And I haven't even finished this one yet. I still want to put some kind of glass/window/plastic on the roof to get more light onto the back wall of the top shelf. And I'm still looking for some free Styrofoam insulation to place inside on the bottom of it.

But it's working far better than I had ever expected. I kept the windows closed all last week to heat it up and this week it has been staying at a steady 68 degrees all day and all night even though it's been cloudy and rainy for 4 days now. So I am thrilled. I mostly just want to encourage anyone to try a passive solar greenhouse. Does yours work the way you want it to? Perhaps you have some good comments and suggestions that you could pass on to Andrew.

Thank you again. You made this old lady's day.

Debbie Ann:

happy to have made your day ;-))) i have no doubt that exceeded your expectations - your plan to result is very well thought out!!

my greenhouses work well for what i wanted them for - i don't use them really say... dec-feb, but come 1st of march the cold weather stuff starts popping (green onions, kale, broccoli in pots and rappini)

in the summer they cannot be beat for tomatoes and peppers and strawberries spring-fall.. spring is cool and long here - summers even sometimes and it is windy a lot - the greenhouses are indispensable for seedlings.

but it isn't a year-round thing like Andrew's plan and your solution and mine are more on an individual scale... the you-tube link he posted is a very large commercial hoop house - i have nothing to offer in that regard,,

i have [posted on a few greenhouse posts so i think i will do a post about what i learned with pics - much like yours.

take care and stay safe!!

I have a high tunnel that I keep about 250 gallons of water in.  The temperature gain is around 15 degrees F.   I also have a small wood burner.   I don’t normally use the high tunnel in Jan, Feb, July, and August.  

John F Dean wrote:I have a high tunnel that I keep about 250 gallons of water in.  The temperature gain is around 15 degrees F.   I also have a small wood burner.   I don’t normally use the high tunnel in Jan, Feb, July, and August.  

That sounds pretty useful... Do you have a post somewhere with some pictures?  What do you keep the water in?