The Greenhouse
We built out greenhouse in the spring of
2004. It's a lean-to greenhouse attached to the south side of our
house. We built it out of cattle panels, railroad ties and scrap
lumber at an approximate cost of $200 including the shade cloth.
This doesn't include welding labor, which we did ourselves. We
found that 70% shade cloth worked quite well during the dog days of
summer. When winter came, we covered the frame with 6mil plastic
secured with industrial strength duct tape. For the coldest
nights, we built a woodstove out of an old well-house pressure
tank. Down to about 22 degrees we're able to keep the greenhouse
above freezing by opening the two windows on the south side of the
house where it's attached and use a small window fan to circulate warm
air out of the house into the greenhouse. Currently the
greenhouse is full of grandma's geraniums (blooming in January), early
starts of cabbage and other spring vegetables, and assorted herbs and
houseplants.
