If you really want to spite your gardening friends, install a greenhouse in your backyard. Even if your intention isn’t to upset them, it inevitably will be the resulting outcome. Why? Because every gardener wants one.
Don’t they?
I know I do. In fact, if I had just a little more room there would be a greenhouse featuring prominently in my backyard. Alas, as with all things there is an economic cost to consider. Do I forego the backyard aquaponics and vegetable garden? Should I resist adding a chicken coop? And, can I really do without a potting shed? Nuh!
Therefore, the reason I don’t have (or will have – in the short term anyhow!) a greenhouse is the limited space in which to house one. And while this might also be the reason for others not having one some may claim that they can’t afford one.
Well, I’m here to inform you that cost is no longer a barrier. Building your own greenhouse is accessible for less than a few hundred bucks.
Las Palitis, a Californian native plant nursery, offers a how-to make your own greenhouse using rebar, PVC piping, fence posts and UV stabilized polyethylene. Granted, it’s not pretty but it is highly effective and that’s what most gardeners want anyway, isn’t it?
The plans that Las Palitis display will produce a 28ft (8.5m) x 15ft (4.5m) greenhouse – the size of my future vegetable garden. And while for some this may be too big it isn’t hard to adjust the quantities and reduce the overall size.
For those gardeners who are looking for something that might be a little more stable – or more attractive – ThingsToBuild.com have plans for another greenhouse. Their plans are for a more manageable 8ft (2.4m) x 10ft (3m) construction but the materials are more rigid and therefore more expensive.
And, for the gardener who would rather spend time in the garden than waste it constructing their own greenhouse, Amazon.com offers products that range from a small Walk-In greenhouse
So, apart from my excuse of not having enough room there aren’t many other reasons why any gardener should be without a greenhouse. Especially those who live in colder climates where frosts are not only prone, but commonplace.
Great information and ideals and I would love to have a greenhouse but space is an issue and cost. Granted you can build one on the cheap but neighbors wouldn’t like it (probable get reported to the city and have to take it down)and I have to live next to them. And you know a gallon of Roundup would kill a lot of plants in my yard. So to build something that (how can I say this without sounding like a snob) would pass the other half’s approval and the neighbors would cost much more than what we could afford. Plus the cost to heat it during those cold months. So for now I will just buy my plants at the local nursery’s and big box stores.