I'm finally getting a greenhouse

Y’all did a great job. It looks fantastic.

April is prep and planting month in my neck of the woods, so all of our projects are set aside starting in March until we're done. We have made a little progress on the greenhouse, however! First up is the beginnings of rainwater collection/thermal mass.



Still to do is to connect the barrels to the front porch gutter/downspout, and to finish the overflow drain.

I also now have lighting in the greenhouse.



This is a solar patio light that is proving to be quite useful. Not that I do much in the greenhouse at night, but there are occasions that a light is very handy. I chose this one specifically because it has a pull chain to turn it on and off.



Most of the ones I looked at had remote controls. While I'm sure people like the remotes, to me, it's just another gizmo needing a battery that must be monitored and changed. I confess that I prefer simpler alternatives when I can find them. Also, it was nice we could install the solar panel inside the greenhouse instead of on the roof.





Even though I don't have benches and shelves set up yet, I was still able to start some seeds early.



I have winter squash, tomatoes, lettuce, and Swiss chard growing, in addition to two tubs I planted of sprouting pantry potatoes from last year.

Cool that the pull chain is remote from the fixture - you don't have to fumble out reaching for the chain!

Love the double barrelled water butt! It looks high enough that you could attach a hose to it for watering and not have to carry heavy watering cans.

Jay, thank you! What I'm envisioning with the rainwater set-up is attaching a hose with a spray nozzle. Then I can water containers directly from the tanks.

We got the rainwater catchment set up in time for rain!





The cool part was that we didn't have to buy anything to make it. It was all made from materials saved from previous projects.

A few close-ups:





Dan was short one elbow, so he made his own from an old screws container.







The drain pipe empties out over an overgrown French drain that Dan dug years ago. It directs roof run-off toward our garden swale, which is downhill from the greenhouse.

Still to do: seal around the pipes going through the wall.

Still to wonder about: how well my two barrels will work as thermal mass next winter!

We've had a taste of summer with a high one day of 87 F (30 C), and even with the vent fan running full blast, inside the greenhouse is even hotter. That means my winter and spring greenhouse growing are wrapping up. As I mentioned earlier, I can't see using it in summer, although I plan to leave my volunteer cherry tomato as a bellwether plant for summer conditions.



Its parent was my winter bellwether and taught me that it would tolerate outside temps down to 20 F (-6.6 C), when it remained right at freezing in the greenshouse. But our lowest temp of 12 F (-11 C) did it in. All of this is valuable information.

Right now, it seems to be pretty happy with the heat in the greenhouse. It will be interesting to see what unfolds this summer.

Are the barrels only connected at the bottom where the water spout comes out? I guess that’s enough so they equalize out or am I missing something?

Joe, correct. They fill up at the same time.

I only have a few tomato plants each year and I keep them in the greenhouse.  The only adverse reaction seems to be they stop setting fruit when constantly overheated but start again as it cools off.

Hans, yes, I've observed the same thing during our hottest summer months with tomatoes in the garden. Tomatoes are said to be heat loving, but they have their limits! I'm wondering how much difference the variety makes. So often the focus is on cold tolerant. I'd like to know more about heat tolerant. My cherry tomatoes are Matt's Wild, which I am finding to be pretty hardy (as well as self-seeding). The greenhouse will be a good test for them.

Looking good Leigh!
I'm confused by the length of vertical pipe outside below the connection to the barrels. Seems to me this is just a dead end full of water and I'm worried about the weight. What am I missing?

Nancy Reading wrote: I'm confused by the length of vertical pipe outside below the connection to the barrels. Seems to me this is just a dead end full of water and I'm worried about the weight. What am I missing?

I'm guessing it fulfills two purposes:
1. First flush dirt collector
2. Remove the screw-on block and let the water come out there if the tanks are already full and more rain is expected.

My concern is that I have been told in the past the the tank "overflow" outlet has to be as large or larger than the filling pipe, and it looks like the inside vertical pipe that is beside the tanks and goes out the greenhouse wall is smaller than that.  So much depends on ecosystem. My sister lives in thunderstorm country, and a heavy summer downpour fills and overflows her barrels quickly. We rarely have that sort of high-volume storm, so I'd be able to deal with the barrels filling before they'd flood a green house like this one.

Nancy Reading wrote:Looking good Leigh!
I'm confused by the length of vertical pipe outside below the connection to the barrels. Seems to me this is just a dead end full of water and I'm worried about the weight. What am I missing?

Jay Angler wrote:I'm guessing it fulfills two purposes:
1. First flush dirt collector
2. Remove the screw-on block and let the water come out there if the tanks are already full and more rain is expected.

Jay has it exactly right. This is the roof washer / clean-out plug. It fills up first and catches any debris washed off the roof when it begins to rain. After this pipe is full, rain flows into the collection barrels. The cap at the bottom unscrews to clean it out. So that is somewhat of a routine chore after it rains.

As far as weight goes, it doesn't really hold that much water. It holds a volume of about 4 inches by about 36 inches, which according to an online calculator is less than 2 gallons.  We have seven rain collection set-ups just like this one on our house, carport, and barn, and all work very well. If the clean out plugs aren't emptied before the next rain, then we get leaves in the tanks. Also, the clean-outs have to be emptied before freezing weather or they'll crack and break. And! It needs to be low enough to empty it from the ground. Our first experiment required climbing up a ladder and I got drenched every time I cleaned it out!

My concern is that I have been told in the past the the tank "overflow" outlet has to be as large or larger than the filling pipe, and it looks like the inside vertical pipe that is beside the tanks and goes out the greenhouse wall is smaller than that.

So far we've never had a problem with any of our catchment overflows, and they all have smaller outlet pipes. We rarely get a true gully-washer, however. For most of them, we just keep a bucket under the overflow pipe and empty as needed. I agree, though, that each system requires adaptation to one's environment!

Considering how hot and humid our summers are, I never planned on using the greenhouse then. It's for fall, winter, and spring growing. Even so, when the outside temp reached 91 F (33 C) for the first time this month, the greenhouse became uncomfortable.

Max-min temp analog thermometer

Since the greenhouse is a lean-to design off the side of the house, the adjacent room (my sewing room) was hot because of the transfer of heat through the old single glazed windows. This is a concern because we don't use air conditioning. Every little bit makes a difference!

I wanted to see if I could mitigate that, and my idea was to cover the greenhouse roof with shade cloth.

90% shade cloth tied down with hooks

So far this is working very well! Our temps have been in the upper 80sF (low 30sC) all week, but the greenhouse has stayed in the low 80s (upper 20s). That's a wonderful difference for us ,and my sewing room hasn't been as uncomfortable.

Next week will be the real test, as we are forecast to move more solidly into the 90s (mid 30s). This is a typical summer for us, which makes the shade cloth a good investment.

Leigh thanks for taking us along on your journey. Your greenhouse is lovely.
Do you love it?  I always wanted a greenhouse, and was hoping it would be a useful tool I didn't realize how much I would enjoy spending time in it when the weather was crummy outside, but nice and cozy inside.
This is the first summer mine has been functional. No way I can use it. When it was in the high 80's  it was around 109 in the greenhouse. That's with all the vents, windows that open, and the door wide open. I don't have a fan, and didn't get shade cloth yet I think I will show my son your post and see if we can do something like yours.  I would  think the fan is not only great for keeping the temp down, but also creating air flow. It's to hot to do now, but you have inspired me to get a fan of some kind.
Thanks for sharing. I hope you continue to share not only the greenhouse, but what you learn about growing in it.
Happy growing

You and Dan have done a wonderful job on finishing the greenhouse.  It may be too warm to enjoy or use for much now (maybe to cure onions and garlic on hanging racks), but just think how nice it will be to have winter greens and veggies in Jan and Feb!!

Enjoy all the hard work, and I am sure that you will see what changes you need to improve the greenhouse to make it even better.


Peace

We didn't do anything with the greenhouse over the summer because it's too hot in our southern climate. But I did spend a lot of time thinking about how I wanted the interior finished. I confess it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted. When we first got serious about plans for the greenhouse, I collected all sorts of ideas for greenhouse interiors. Some greenhouses have lots of shelves for pots, others plant directly into beds dug into the ground. I spent a lot of time trying to envision our greenhouse and what my goals were.

I was initially assumed I just needed shelves, until I started thinking about how I actually want to use it. For one thing, I want cold weather veggies for fresh eating in winter. I also want a place for spring seed starts, and someplace to store pots, potting soil, and compost. For spring starter trays, shelves make sense, but I knew I didn't want to plant lettuce and broccoli for the winter in small pots. It made more sense to use larger pots to give the roots some room. For those pots, Dan built me a raised bed.

Raised greenhouse bed filled with pots for growing veggies

The lumber is repurposed from an old mill and was given to us by a neighbor. The bed holds 14 one- and two-gallon pots plus 3 half-barrels from 55 gallon drums. There's enough room on the end for more pots if I want. To help insulate between the pots, I stuffed bedding straw from the goat barn between them.

pots in the greenhouse insulated with straw and mulched with leaves.

All of the pots were planted outside, late last summer. When to start them and when to move them into the greenhouse are things I'm still experimenting with.

Besides the kale, I have pots of lettuce and chickweed growing

and a broccoli plant.

It's not a lot, but it's a start.

On the other side, I got my potting/growing/storage bench.

greenhouse bench

The shelves are made from the old tongue-and-groove boards Dan tore out of the front bedroom for a future remodel project.

The last thing Dan wants to do is put gravel down on the floor.

Next month, I'll start some seeds.

It looks great.
I didn't use my new greenhouse last summer either.  I was going to put up shade cloth up and get a solar fan, but it never happened. Maybe this year.
I did enjoy putting around in it when it was cold and miserable last year. I hope you can do the same.
Enjoy

Jen Fulkerson wrote:It looks great.
I didn't use my new greenhouse last summer either.  I was going to put up shade cloth up and get a solar fan, but it never happened. Maybe this year.

Jen, thanks! That's the way life is, isn't it? Always more to do than time to do it in.

I'll add that while the shade cloth worked great, the one I got deteriorated more quickly than I'd hoped. I didn't even get a full summer's use out of it. I'll try again next summer, but likely splurge to buy better quality.

I did enjoy putting around in it when it was cold and miserable last year. I hope you can do the same.
Enjoy

It's wonderful, isn't it? On sunny days I can open the door to the house and take advantage of the greenhouse warmth. Win win!

Leigh Tate wrote:I'll add that while the shade cloth worked great, the one I got deteriorated more quickly than I'd hoped. I didn't even get a full summer's use out of it. I'll try again next summer, but likely splurge to buy better quality.

You just need the shading in the summer right? Could you plant some deciduous vines  - like grapes or kiwi (I don't know what might suit you climate) that would give you shade in summer but let the light in over winter? These could grow on a pergola outside the greenhouse, although you might need to sweep the roof when the leaves fall I suppose. If you grow them inside, the leaves would be handy for mulching your pots.

Nancy Reading wrote:...You just need the shading in the summer right? Could you plant some deciduous vines  - like grapes or kiwi (I don't know what might suit you climate) that would give you shade in summer but let the light in over winter? These could grow on a pergola outside the greenhouse, although you might need to sweep the roof when the leaves fall I suppose. If you grow them inside, the leaves would be handy for mulching your pots.

It would need some sort of framework, and if it were me, I'd try a fast growing pole bean. One of the heat tolerant ones that won't grow in my ecosystem because it never gets hot enough. If you have access to free or cheap bamboo, it is light and easy to work with, but plenty strong enough for beans.

I do know of someone who grows vining tomatoes over their greenhouse in the summer, but they'd be a pain to pick and leave a splatted mess if they weren't picked! His greenhouse was a different design.

Nancy Reading wrote:...You just need the shading in the summer right? Could you plant some deciduous vines  - like grapes or kiwi (I don't know what might suit you climate) that would give you shade in summer but let the light in over winter? These could grow on a pergola outside the greenhouse, although you might need to sweep the roof when the leaves fall I suppose. If you grow them inside, the leaves would be handy for mulching your pots.

I tried this with my hoop house, which was my first attempt at a greenhouse.

Hoop house shaded with vining plants.

Every summer it's covered with hopniss and Chinese yamberry vines, cherry tomatoes, and morning glories. The difficulty is that vines want to grow straight up instead of following a curve. They want to grow toward the sun. Considering the roof angle of my greenhouse . . .

greenhouse front end

I think I'd have a heck of a time trying to get the roof covered, which is where most of the heat comes in.

Jay Angler wrote:I do know of someone who grows vining tomatoes over their greenhouse in the summer, but they'd be a pain to pick and leave a splatted mess if they weren't picked! His greenhouse was a different design.

Which is another good point because it would be impossible to get up on the glass roof to pick anything or clear away dead vines.

For that front end of the greenhouse, though, it would be a great idea! It gets the hot late afternoon summer sun.

Jay Angler wrote:It would need some sort of framework, and if it were me, I'd try a fast growing pole bean. . . If you have access to free or cheap bamboo, it is light and easy to work with, but plenty strong enough for beans.

I think this is very doable for me!

Leigh Tate wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:I do know of someone who grows vining tomatoes over their greenhouse in the summer, but they'd be a pain to pick and leave a splatted mess if they weren't picked! His greenhouse was a different design.

Which is another good point because it would be impossible to get up on the glass roof to pick anything or clear away dead vines.

I had figured with the beans, you'd pull them down in the fall and pick any dry beans for winter eating.

However, your point about the roof shape is very valid. Could you make 2 bamboo panels that rested on each side of the house roof? Maybe tied to some sort of hooks, so they can't blow off? Then sloped down until the hit the front of the greenhouse? You might need a vertical support at the front edge to match the height of the roof. Having an air gap between the "shade" and the "glass" might actually be an asset, but I'd have to check that with my engineer.

This could either be a panel for bean plants, or simply be enough shade from the bamboo alone depending on how it's built. Even if it too only lasts a season (I suspect bamboo would be good for 3-4 seasons, but that's my ecosystem) it is at least biodegradable and won't shed microplastics which is my concern with shade cloth.

Bamboo being so light weight would be an asset.

I installed this gate and the fence in spring 2022 and it is still vertical, but has been infiltrated with weeds at the bottom. That project stalled as the rabbit pressure went up to the point that I figure Fort Knox is my only hope. That said, the rabbits are being assisted by rats and deer and it's really the combo of all three that have at least temporarily defeated me. The rabbits could push through the springy bamboo at the bottom of the gate.

More pictures here.

Jay Angler wrote:However, your point about the roof shape is very valid. Could you make 2 bamboo panels that rested on each side of the house roof? Maybe tied to some sort of hooks, so they can't blow off? Then sloped down until the hit the front of the greenhouse? You might need a vertical support at the front edge to match the height of the roof. Having an air gap between the "shade" and the "glass" might actually be an asset, but I'd have to check that with my engineer.

And I'd have to check with mine, lol. It's something to consider, for sure. I always knew summer shading would be a challenge and the shade cloth was our first try. I only wish I could have gotten at least a couple of summers out of it. I agree about the plastic, though.

Bamboo (the tall kind) is plentiful around here. Possibly some of my neighbors would be happy to share. Getting something over the greenhouse roof would be a big project, however. So far, Dan hasn't been very enthusiastic about trying anything like that.

I installed this gate and the fence in spring 2022

The gate is really clever. As is the waddle looking fence panel using rebar to support the bamboo.

Maybe some kind of thatch panels on my greenhouse roof would work.