Advice if you've got it: Water storage or Greenhouse?

Hello,

We've got a budget of $2500 to $3000 and we're not sure which way to go: expanded greenhouse or water storage. Lots of pros and cons and several voices with differing ideas.

Current situation
• expansion of gardens is in year three and we're getting better at it. Still eating canned and frozen and dried food from fall of 2023. Will have more this year.
• The small greenhouse, 50 sq ft, made a big difference, but now seems small because we can see the advantage of making it bigger.
• Greenhouse was built with secondhand glass, lumber, doors, windows. Saved money but it took a LOT more time to build than if standard-sized stuff was used.
• We tended to over-water last year because only 1/2 the beds had drip and the rest was hand-watering and big sprinklers. Drips everywhere now, but also more growing, so cost might be similar.
• We're on City of Eugene (EWEB) water: $32.52 for the monthly connection plus $2.83 per thousand gallons. About $50 in water plus $32 for $82 in July 2023.
• Eugene is the largest city in the United States with only one source of water: McKenzie River. One toxic chemical truck in the river and we're screwed for however long. Continued reductions of snowpack in Cascades due to climate change and we're screwed (maybe.) Annual rain expected to increase in winters. Additional water supply into EWEB from Willamette River is coming "any year now."

Upcoming
• If greenhouse, then will use polycarbonate panels (fried too many starts under glass this spring) and cedar 2x. No greenhouse kits will work because yard is sloping and part will have retaining wall blocks, and the existing greenhouse is a shape that can't easily adapt to the addition of a kit.
• If water, do we get one big tank or a few smaller ones. Tank(s) can be situated to catch roof runoff and that can be stored and/or used to water some downhill raised beds and fruit trees.

Should we use the money to double the size of our greenhouse, or buy a water tank or two?

Your thoughts?

Thanks,

Charlie

I’d definitely go with water storage. It’s costing you money to use city water, plus the obvious concerns you stated about potential environmental disaster, plus chemicals in city water. Especially since you already have a greenhouse, I’d put water at the top of the list.

I suggest water. I'm on well water and have a pond for garden emergencies. We've had to do without water for 7-10 days at a time, waiting on money to fix the well. We store 100 gallons in smaller containers for drinking, because what if our awesome neighbors have well issues at the same time? We toughed it out for 10 days last time, without a hose from next door. Mostly to see if we could. We did.

I wish we had catchment. Do take a peek at the rain water catchment forum here, but start here with John Dailys thread.

Another vote for water, here. Some form of catchment system is higher on my list, than the much coveted greenhouse(s) I've been planning, for years. This is our first year in 3 or 4 that we weren't in drought, and it's been ouchie. Here's the thing - you're greenhouse will need water, too. So, even after you would set up the greenhouse, you'd need water. A greenhouse extends the growing season, but water sustains life, year 'round.

Yes, agreed, store water. You may still have to pay water/sewer connection charges, so it's not necessarily freedom. But there is a lot of peace of mind in a stash of water.

Consider also: water storage doesn't have to be in tanks. If allowed, it's way cheaper to install a dugout/big pond even if it needs a liner.

Hybrid solutions are often less than optimal, but...water tanks can be excellent sources for thermal mass in greenhouses.

You have probably already considered  somewhat reducing the size of the greenhouse expansion and using the  left over money for some food grade barrels and gutters that capture the rainwater off the greenhouse. But, just in case you had not, I thought I would mention it.

Jeff

The beauty of living in Eugene is that rainwater catchment can really provide you with an abundance of water, and just a little bit of season extension can go a long way. I’d go for investing in water storage, too. There’s lots of ways to do season extension without a greenhouse that are cheap, like cold frames.

Hi Charlie,
I'm going to go against the flow just a bit. I'm going to suggest the greenhouse AND water storage. Using some techniques I got from an Eliot Coleman youtube video, I was able to build a hoop house style green house for about $300. It was 20x30ft. That would leave plenty of money for at least another water tank, or maybe two smaller. With a hoop house, it doesn't need to be real flat... mine wasn't.

I think the whole video is pretty interesting, but around 11:29 is when he starts talking about inexpensive greenhouse builds.

Thanks for the insights everyone. I didn't expect the comments to be so resounding on the water storage side of things. Next step is to figure out which way to go. More research to be done.
Do we get 6 or 8 of those IBC tanks and connect them in series or leave them discrete or get one big tank or two smaller ones? We've got room for any of those variations, and easy hookup to downspout(s). Decisions, decisions.

The pond liner version is actually a leading contender. We've got a perfect spot for it at the very top corner of the property. I calculate about 3000 gallons is doable. But that's the spot where we have family dinners and parties during nice weather.

My wife thinks I'm crazy, but I'm thinking of doing the pond and then building a floating deck for it. Like a raft but one that doesn't go anywhere. It wouldn't be big enough for the parties, but big enough for the family dinners.

One big thing about the pond version of water storage is maintenance. Needing space to create a biofilter, to keep things clean, add water in summer if evaporation happens. Add shade for reducing evaporation, and probably more issues than I'm thinking of now.

Not much to do related to tank water aside from making sure critters don't grow inside, right?