Cheapest greenhouse builds? Gardening shouldn't cost money

Hi all, just wontering what people have gotten anyway with when making greenhouses and the limits, recycle, upcycle alls welcome

I've acquired 3 aluminium and glass greenhouses for free.. not particularly imaginative I'm afraid! All of these 3 situations were older people who no longer wanted the greenhouses or couldn't manage them, but felt it was a shame to put them in the skip and were quite happy to let me dismantle and take them away.

That is awesome to acquire, did you manage to also get the clear panels or use something else eg tunnel house film? The price of greenhouses Here in nz is extremely off putting, almost criminal since growing food for your family is almost a big finger to the throwaway world we live, would love to see someone who had managed to turn plastic anything into clear film to grow vegetation (:

Unrelated to the glass house topic but made out of old  damaged drum cymbals

Patio door glass is free in many areas. When thermal units fail, they can be split into two perfectly good pieces of tempered glass which are suitable for overhead situations. If you find that plenty are available in your area, design the entire building around them  If there is a shortage, use them overhead for greater safety.

That is an incredibly good idea!! Have never thought of that! Build frames to house the reused safety glass ?  Could wash with a water based chalk solution to turn the clear glass opaque?

My greenhouse came with glass, but where I've broken things I've managed to get replacement glass panels easily enough- local window-fitters were quite happy for me to take old panels away, and I work with glass so cutting them to fit the greenhouse was easy for me.

Cutting glass is mainly the reason I have only gone for offcut tunnel house film, no prior experience with glass at all makes it a bit tricky, do you have a problem with clear glass getting to hot in the sun

I used an old swingset and scrap wood to make mine 4 winters ago. It's still there. I'm patching the plastic now with that sticky red construction tape, and when I finally am forced to replace the plastic, I'll build a frame for the sunny side, as I mention at the bottom of the article here:

http://novascotiaphotoalbum.com/blog/2014/11/old-swingset-greenhouse/

Hi Folks,
   We built our greenhouse out of a machine shed (so it has a tin roof), using scrap glass from all over. We used two bays of the 48 foot long shed, and I was thinking about using the north bay for raising chickens (a la Solviva). But now I'm thinking about turning it into a small "cabin in a shed" (a shabin). We'll see this summer what happens.
   I got a couple of solar water heaters that I've built into the south facing wall. We're far enough north that in the winter the sun isn't really overhead, anyway, so I didn't mind having a tin roof. I haven't hooked them up yet, but am thinking about heating large tubs of water inside, as thermal mass, running the piping through some car radiators.  
   This ran into a few thousand dollars (mostly for the Rocket Mass Heater inside, and the OSB for the walls, paint, etc.).
   We had tomatoes until November 9th, I believe, which I thought was pretty good. If we insulate the ceiling, we'll do better -- so I'm hoping to do that this year (especially if I can find some scrap foam insulation). Right now there's just house wrap between the greenhouse and the tin roof.
   I got all the pink insulation from a fellow who had bagged it in black garbage bags for a project of his own, which never materialized.
   Have fun, whatever you're doing!
Andy

http://ceadserv1.nku.edu/longa/Canada/greenhouse/

I've build several greenhouses over the decades from a stack of large tempered glass display windows taken from a store that was demolished. These 4' x 7' windows are easily set with caulk into a frame built with 4x4's, 2x4's,and plywood.

My husband an I turned a shed we had previously built into a 200 sqft greenhouse.  We used some of the windows from our 1920 craftsman house as the show piece front.  Then put clear poly panels up.  I think it cost maybe 1000 US dollars for the conversion.  Probably less, but we did enlarge the building 80' so there was lumber cost.  We used 10' wood so there is plenty of height.   We put I bolts on th roofing lumber and created a nice wire trellis in the insid for beans and tomatoes.  However we found our first year it got a little hot and fans didn't get enough heat out.  So we took the clear panels off the north side and put up wire to prevent critters.  I liked having the wire because the bees could get in and pollinate things better (this had been an issue previously).  We have used multiple different poly panels and I have opinions on them all.  I think I prefer the corrugated poly panels if you don't have to cut them.  The clear panels that are have "ventilation" ends that need to be taped with expensive special order tape are easy to cut.  However even when you follow the instructions and buy their special order breathable tape for the ends these panels get steamed up inside the panel.  Not a good look.  They are easier to work with, but more expensive.  The look you get when you first finish your project is great!  But quickly isn't as nice.  I would choose the cheaper corrugated panels (unless you have to cut).
Picture is of my greenhouse and the house the windows came out of.

We also built a small greenhouse off the back of our house.   It worked great for peppers and starts.

Hi Scott - My situation isn't relevant to the cheap/upcycle/recycle part of your query, because we went for a kitset glasshouse from Redpath. Our main consideration when we got it was that we were time poor but had a little spare dosh in our savings pool. I do like glass because it's relatively long-lived, can't be ripped by winds, and not made from oil. For the summer heating issue, I hang lots of shadecloth and open all the doors and vents. The hottest it ever got this past summer was 40 and that was the day it hit 32 here. Nothing was stressed...we just had to do an extra round of watering.

The bit that I'm trying to solve now is the heat retention on cold winter nights. I've got a small RMH in there and by burning in the evening I've kept the interior mostly about 4-5 degrees on the handful of nights we had subzero lows. I'd like to bump that up to 8-10 if I can to keep the tropicals from sulking, and to do this I need to block the radiation out the glass. My solution this winter will be to get a whole lot of corflute in the form of realtors' signs (h/t Property Brokers Palmy!) and put them on the inside of the south wall and the south half of the roof. Last two nights were a wakeup call...

Greenhouses aren't that expensive here we just picked one up that is60'x20'x20' tall for a pretty reasonable less than 3k.  However I have used clear garbage bags over plant pots, I have a back plastic shelf I have used wil clear poly from the hardware store over it and starting trays on it.  I have put old windows over plots of ground.  There is no end to the possibilities if you can see something for free around you can build off of it.

Here's a photo of our greenhouse built with recyled doors and windows in the winter .In use over 20 years now Sharon

Secondhand round trampolines are often free and ones of around 3.2 metre diameter make great green houses. The ones with the safety netting included are the best as the trampoline safety netting can be used for shadecloth. Pull the trampoline apart then form into two semi-circles. Slip straight lengths of pipe from the safety net frame into the sockets on the semi circles that the legs used to push into. You now have the frame constructed, and can screw a few self tappers in to hold the pipe together. Cut the safety net so it is a rectangle then stretch that over the frame and cable tie into place. You may have to get a bit of extra shadecloth for the ends. Cut the trampoline mat up and use that for weed mat. I've built both green houses and trellising using old trampolines and it is generally cheaper and stronger than similar looking structures built using polypipe.

We heat the buildings at our school entirely with seasonal attached greenhouses, both residential and classroom and office space. It's high desert with a cold winter, minimum -25C January nights but usually sunny, and the ice-skating season is only 6 weeks long, to give you an idea of our heating season. Lots of local people run their woodstoves from October till April or May, which is when we have our greenhouses on, with no backup heat. We also get vegetables in winter when the roads to our region are closed so there are no fresh vegetables available in the market; warm hangout spaces, greenery to enjoy when there's none outside. Our adobe and rammed earth buildings do a good job of moderating humidity and temperature.

We use UV-stabilized plastic, readily available as greenhouse plastic. It lasts about 5-10 years depending on care. We roll it up out of the way in summer, and keeping it covered with a canvas strip helps in longevity. After the winds rip the corners and it's no longer patchable, it serves several more years as tarp.

This is a great thread.  What wonderful ideas.  I've been looking into building greenhouses for awhile, as my husband and I are moving to a property in a desert region where both shade and heat retention each have value.  And I want to figure out how to do it the least expensive way that will still last.

The most affordable greenhouse designs I've seen online (starting around $150), like for a substantial greenhouse not a tiny one, are using cattle panels.  Examples below.  The first time I saw this was a guy who was building a combo quail run/greenhouse for starting plants.  So not a growhouse, because the quail took up the ground space.  But then he had tables inside for the starts, and they provided shady areas for the quail, too.  In this case, he built a very long greenhouse, because quail are rather easily startled, and could injure themselves if cornered, like when one walks in to water the starts.  

I wish I could find his video again!  He made his out of cattle panels, like below, but he raised them up by making a simple cement block foundation to make more head height and floor space.  One could also make a sunken greenhouse for this same benefit.

This method does use plastic, but people say you can build a small (but not tiny) greenhouse for about $150.  Which is pretty good.

I'm including a few videos so you can see different ways of making the framework.







I would personally stick with wood rather than plastic pipe. Plastic pipe will degrade and crack - but I know from experience the reason, as it protects the plastic from tearing.   Wood does end up molding, so cedar helps a bit.  One could also make one of these with rebar.  I couldn't find the example I saw of this once... but someone has done it out there.  That would last a very long time.

In my experience with our last greenhouse, the real key to making the plastic film last was to make sure it was very, very securely fastened.  If wind blew and causes the plastic to rub, that's where it fails pretty fast.  Getting it taut took two people minimum, in our experience.

I love the creative reuse of upcycling. Here are some photos of greenhouses made from old doors & windows to inspire y'all...

I had some spare colour steel metal trays (a product we install on roofs and as a wall cladding)  that had been  scraped from a job because of things  such as paint defects, dents/ scratches.

I collect a fair share of items i consider reusuable from work generally sheet metal, eg gutter, fascia, tek screws.. You name it I'll try repurpose it. My only rule to myself is if I collect it I have to use it, not hoard it,

One day I decided to use the metal trays up and cut them all into strips that were 150mm (6inches) wide by the length of the trays 2800mm (110inches) , one tray turned into 3 metal strips,  all up there was around 26,

There is a tool called a rolling folder the brand we use at work is called a "wuko duo bender" if anyones interested enough to know and want to youtube, basicly its a handheld powerless tool that uses rollers and a guide to fold a selected length of sheetmetal, works on copper zinc, brass, aluminium and of course steel,

I used the rolling folder and turned the strips of metal into a little stack of C shaped steel lengths that I used to
screw together to create something that would hopefully resemble a greenhouse at a later date.

It has been an exciting project and the polytunnel film really suited the situation at the time, the most important thing i found was the cross bracing its the backbone and jn this case it is snow strapping for spouting

Lots of great ideas here. We need a greenhouse and have limited budget for it, and unfortunately also need a barn. Our short term solution for the barn is either a 20 or 40 ft container where we can secure our 2 wheel tractor. I was thinking why not use the container as a north wall for a simple greenhouse. By insulating the ends and excavating the floor to allow more headroom in the greenhouse.

Of course a shipping container can make a bad storage solution if moisture if allowed to build up in it, so ventilation is crucial, so working out the relationship of the greenhouse structure and the container to see what is best. The interior of the container is planned as part garage and part office/studio with a door into the sunken greenhouse.

The early plan was to leverage the amount of round wood on the property to construct the frame as a lean-to covered in plastic, but must admit i’m Falling in love with stock fence, especially since if we later get a hoop house or build something from found material, such as the sliding glass windows salvaged for their glass, the stock fence can be repurposed.

I’m flirting with the idea of a rocket stove in the sunken greenhouse, or in the container would be a worthy project.

James Whitelaw wrote:I was thinking why not use the container as a north wall for a simple greenhouse. By insulating the ends and excavating the floor to allow more headroom in the greenhouse.

I think that sounds great! I don't even think you need to excavate the greenhouse, since a container is already like 8 feet tall, right? The lower the height of your greenhouse, the closer the hot air stays to your plants, is my theory. But you do need enough slope to shed snow. That's an important concern, and depends on the maximum snow you can expect in your region.

If your priority is to maximize growing space and minimise cost, I'd recommend the simple shape we use in some of the photos I posted above from our school, where the plastic is only firmly attached at the top, and makes a straight line to the ground, and is buried at the bottom. There's not ideal headroom along the south side, but if that's all growing bed anyway, it doesn't matter.

Shipping containers lack thermal mass and humidity moderation, whereas our adobe houses are great at both of those. So to prevent temperature extremes, I'd recommend that you have a way to ventilate in a large way in the shoulder season, for example being able to open and close the entire ends of the greenhouse during the days and close them at nights. Ideally if you can open large openings at the top that helps a lot too, but requires openings somewhere else as well to allow air flow. Even that will be inadequate to cool the space in summer, so it would be good to be able to remove the glazing, or most of it, for the summer. Additionally, it would help to add thermal mass, such as big water tanks, which will help temper those cold winter nights. We use old greenhouse plastic to cover some of the most vulnerable plants or beds on the coldest nights of January.

It will be harder to moderate humidity in a greenhouse attached to a container used for office space. One tactic is to mulch the growing beds as heavily as possible, and to water as seldom as possible while the greenhouse is attached and closed. Serious cross ventilation during shoulder season and total removal for the summer will help some, but the coldest part of winter can be the worst for humidity, and you won't want to ventilate the greenhouse at all then.

Please do it and post ongoing results on Permies!

Nothing to do with actual building this time.

For me, in my climate a greenhouse is only useful to me for 3 or 4 months a year. The rest of the time it is a drying shed or a place to do any number of tasks out of the rain. Even during our winter rain, greenhouse can be managed as a very dry space simply by not adding water.

The perfect place to store firewood, when it's not needed for plants. Ventilate on sunny days. Seal it tight on foggy days.

Thank you Rebecca. Your photos of the Himalaya projects are both informative and inspiring.

A container could really benefit from being completly protected from direct sun and precipitation.

Imagine a roof deck covered with a hoop house, with lean-too greenhouses on the north and south sides of the building.

A single larger hoop house could encompass everything,but would require bigger components, and offer less zone control.

Greenhouse plastic during the cold months, switched to shade cloth during the warm months.
Or maybe leave the plastic up but cover with something opaque or reflective.

Deciduous vines and trees might be an adequate zero work shade solution.

Humidity might be alleviated by a SHCS (subterranean heating and cooling system).
It blows the warm wet air from the peak of a green house  through burried perforated black pipes.
The water vapor condenses and soaks into the surrounding earth and in doing   so removes a great deal  of heat from the air,storing it in the soil.
It's a relatively  low tempature,high humidity, forced air version of a rocket mass heater's bench

These systems can  be installed under the structures they serve or under a nearby stretch of  land or both.
It could be built into raised beds.
Like a rocket stove mass, they benefit from decoupling the heated soil from the rest of the earth


Though I've never seen it done, this system could be used to store  heat from a rocket stove or conventional woodstove,or even a clothes dryer.

The ultimate cheap greenhouse, which I built two or three of on different homesteads in Georgia, cost me nothing but a few staples, a bit of tape, and a couple of hours' worth of burning a candle.
     The frame was green saplings, wire-tied to metal stakes pounded into the ground, and bent to overlap one another as arches overhead....8 or 10 feet tall, and wired together, along with several horizontal poles.
     The cover was two layers of plastic, made of mattress and furniture bags from the mattress and furniture store dumpsters.  These goods are shipped in huge plastic bags, which can be cut open into large square or rectangular pieces.  These can be "welded" together by folding the edges of two pieces together and passing them through a candle flame, thus making any size plastic desired.  Small holes can be patched with clear plastic packing tape.  Two such pieces were put up over the frame and weighed down with logs on either side, and some excess at one end gathered together and tucked into the frame and weighed down in cold, or opened up on a warm day, with the other end stapled to the door of the cabin, or in one case the opening of a large wall tent. Some scrounged baler twine going from log to log over the top of the plastic helped keep it tight and less likely to be thrashed in a wind.  By pulling the plastic down in warm weather and folding it up out of the sun, I could get two or sometimes three winters' use out of it.  Not only did I start many seedlings and winter potted plants on benches inside of this, but I could grow larger plants right in the ground.  

A container could really benefit from being completly protected from direct sun and precipitation.

Imagine a roof deck covered with a hoop house, with lean-too greenhouses on the north and south sides of the building.

A single larger hoop house could encompass everything,but would require bigger components, and offer less zone control.

Greenhouse plastic during the cold months, switched to shade cloth during the warm months.
Or maybe leave the plastic up but cover with something opaque or reflective.

Deciduous vines and trees might be an adequate zero work shade solution.

Humidity might be alleviated by a SHCS (subterranean heating and cooling system).
It blows the warm wet air from the peak of a green house  through burried perforated black pipes.
The water vapor condenses and soaks into the surrounding earth and in doing   so removes a great deal  of heat from the air,storing it in the soil.
It's a relatively  low tempature,high humidity, forced air version of a rocket mass heater's bench

These systems can  be installed under the structures they serve or under a nearby stretch of  land or both.
It could be built into raised beds.
Like a rocket stove mass, they benefit from decoupling the heated soil from the rest of the earth


Though I've never seen it done, this system could be used to store  heat from a rocket stove or conventional woodstove,or even a clothes dryer.

is anyone else looking at a container like its a giant heatsink attached to the side of your greanhouse. so im guessing there will be plenty of insulation going on with the container. burying the container would help . but them that messes up your green house.
i shouldnt realy talk . i havent built it yet.  but i got 300 heavy duty rubble bags , 2 clear 10m x 6m tarps . one can of sealing paint and a whole lot of digging. im digging a whole , building up the north side wall , put the tarps over the top(one over the top of the other for insulation) , work out where the door is going and it should all work is the simple exsplination . there are a lot of good people here all wishing well and helping with ideas . what is fantastic .
all the best with what ever design you go with . just have plenty of tea breaks when your building . gives you time to think about the mistake you may just be about make.lol .

Here's a youtube playlist where a guy has built an attached greenhouse out of mostly scavenged and bartered materials. Bonus: he's into permaculture and he's trying to keep the gick out. "Painting" surfaces black for extra solar gain with charcoal in linseed oil. Stopping drafts with wool and cob. I don't think he's used any treated wood. If I recall, he's spent ~$300.

I like the idea of using a shipping container as a north wall, or many shipping containers as a north wall, depending on the scale. I also like the idea of an earth berm right up against the north side of the container(s), and building the whole structure right up against, and sort of into, an existant land form like a hill.

I love the idea of isolating the ground inside the foundation of the greenhouse from the ground outside of it, so as to act as a thermal battery, and of using SHCS for temperature control.

And the very moment I have a scrap of property on which to store a pile of reclaimed patio doors, I will start scrounging. Our current plan involves the slow conversion of a barn's south wall into a glass curtain wall, to be expanded into a lean-to off that barn as resources permit.

Our needs are somewhat specific, as not only do we expect to shoehorn a glass studio into, or adjacent to, the barn, but we expect to set up an indoor tropical food forest of sorts, featuring avocado trees. I am currently trying my hand at growing a coffee plant (arabica), and I will try literally any edible tropical that might survive in the space as well.

My cheapest "green house" build, though, has got to be the glorified cold frame I threw together in my parents' backyard when I was a teen. I took two 9' lengths of 2x2, pounded them almost three feet into the ground, and then bridged the space between with a third 2x2, and tacked a smaller-sized storm door and frame that had been discarded in the middle of the beam. These were reclaimed from a neighbour's bin following a remodel. I likewise salvaged some nice thick transparent dropsheets that formed the underlayer of a doubled sheet. I simply draped the dropsheets over the "beam" running atop my "posts," fastened it around the frame of the door and weighted the southward angled wall from the inside with logs from a dropped Manitoba Maple (they and all of the rest of it eventually made it into the bottom of my first hugelbeet after the greenhouse died), which I wrapped with the bottom edges of the dropsheets.

In the greenhouse's after action report, I determined that had I added another layer of dropsheet, spaced away from the first by an addition of another 2x2 beam atop the first beam, between the dropsheets, and placed the weighting logs such that they separated the two dropsheets, I could have made that thing last right through a mild winter, and with a little additional heat, probably through a harsher one, as well.

-CK

https://youtu.be/qOD9yy6LPfY

Didn't see this posted. I'm wondering if such a thing as this would be able to overwinter heat-loving trees like Depp Holtzer's leaf cages.