The Resourceful Greenhouse

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This Spring, we finally built our first greenhouse. With all the other projects to do during our first year on our property, starting small seemed wise. In spite of limited monetary resources, my very resourceful husband managed to build our greenhouse for around 30 dollars with scraps and salvaged materials we had around our place. Some extra panels of heavy duty livestock fencing made the 12 foot long hoop frame. These were secured to some old 2 x 12's a neighbor gave us, and the 6 foot ends were partially covered with plywood scraps and pieces of scrap pallets. The only thing we had to buy was the sheet of four-year greenhouse plastic to cover it.

We picked the location up against the south side of our metal shed in full sun with the idea that this would reflect some heat and create a passive solar heating situation inside the greenhouse. It is also an area where the previous owner had dumped the wood shavings from their horse stalls, so the grass and weeds were pretty minimal. My husband framed in a little window on the back that can be opened a few inches for ventilation on hot days.

The entrance to the greenhouse on the front end is a simple flap of plastic with scrap wood at the bottom to keep it secured in place when shut and keep the wind from picking it up. A hole drilled into one end of this piece of wood fits onto a nail near the top of the outside to hold the door open when need be. Some extra wood chips from our mulch covered the floor, and some salvaged pallets made the greenhouse "benches".

For some reason we had ended up with many many plastic plant pots over the years that we had hauled around with us on all our moves, but there were not quite enough small ones for starting all our seeds in. While I was trying to figure out some creative seed sowing pots, I happened upon a large bag of cleaned salsa and yoghurt containers at the food co-op, and with a few holes drilled in the bottom for drainage, we had all the pots we needed.

It is such a good feeling to step inside our warm greenhouse holding all the seeds we planted and the promise of a bountiful garden this year. It is an even better feeling to know it is our very own greenhouse. For my first garden, I used to start my seedlings in the WSU Horticulture greenhouse. Then, when we lived near Portland, I did some volunteer work trades with a woman who had a greenhouse at an assisted living facility to start my seedlings for the garden. Now I can plant my seeds, put them in my greenhouse, and enjoy the self-sufficiency of growing my own food for my family from start to finish. When you work with what you've got, amazing things are created!