Construction

As any experienced gardener will tell you, having a greenhouse can be an invaluable tool in the food-growing toolbox.  Having a greenhouse at one's disposal opens up many different growing possibilities and can be a huge season extender in areas where the number of good growing days is limited.  Greenhouses make it easier to get new seedlings started and help to protect plants from spring and fall frosts.  They are a wonderful addition to any resilient garden space. But they can be expensive to put in, and there are many things to consider before getting one set up. Check out the WSID articles on Selecting a Greenhouse and Winter Gardening to get a better idea of the styles and options available.

We put a lot of thought and planning into the design and construction of our DIY greenhouse.  With cost being one of the number-one constraints for this project, we did a lot of web surfing and idea gathering. Our research gave us inspiration for materials, styles, and what the end result should be.  We found projects that people had built for under $50.  At that price, we could build three or four and still be under budget.  But we didn't think they would last more that one season or that we would find our greenhouse plastic in the next county after a spring storm.  Then there were far fancier and much more well-built ones, but our experiences with major construction and the added cost kept us from these higher-end designs.  So we used what we had on hand…