Yeah if I do it again I will probably want a high tunnel hoop house. They are somewhat affordable and very versatile. If I can figure out a way to cheaply dig I’d also love a DIY geothermal system. There’s really not much to them if you can just get the (big, deep) hole in the ground without spending a ton of money.
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Also need to solve the caving in and flooding issues. Earthbags and french drain/sump probably would help, but it’s more to think about than just dig I think. Again I haven’t done it, or done it and made mistakes…yet!
If you have an existing pool, you can change to an underground greenhouse.
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That’s a great price! New greenhouses these days are expensive.
Even if you use it just to extend the gardening year w/o heat it will be very useful!
I read a great book this winter called “The winter Harvest Handbook” by Elliot Coleman. It got me very stoked to try to expand my growing season next year.
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I heat mine. Costs me about $100 a month but it allows me to grow citrus and some veggies and leafy greens all winter. When I need a lemon for a recipe I just go pick one! I am starting some of my early seeds that need cold stratification in my greenhouse today. It’s 18 degrees here, too cold to spend much time outside, but my greenhouse will be 90 degrees by 9 am with the heaters off. I’ll be in there for hours today listening to the radio and enjoying the sweet smells of lemon blossoms, seed starting mix and aged compost. Spending time in my greenhouse is up there with being on my eastern shore dock of up in a treestand as my favorite place to be.
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Treestands, docks and greenhouses are pretty great places to hang out!
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Heating can be expensive. We heat with our wood boiler and yet I still do not keep it going year round. I would love to, but when the winters dip below -40C I am not so inclined to help harvest the extra wood. LOL.
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Indeed. Awesome greenhouse, makes me envy a bit 
I use what ever I can get a hold of to protect my tropical Plants that are in ground outside. Used windows. Framing from old decks.
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In this setup I have a 2 foot tube made from 5 gallon bottomless buckets that get an over head light for my kumquat tree.
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So… You felt into the trap too? Another one who will be biting both his fingernails & toenails in a very near future… It’s such an insidious malady… First you only think about it from time to time, and before you realize it: it’s becomes an OBSESSION!!!
But beware! Building of buying the structure is never enough… Soon, you’ll want this:
And now what is the extreme form of this malady??? I think I need a bigger one!!! Let me rephrase that: I believe I need a bigger one. No… I need a bigger one! And now that Christmas is approaching I’m definitely positively absolutely certain that I need a bigger one.
It never stops. Always in you mind. I hope all the others readers are aware now: don’t look at them, don’t talk about them: never… ever…, You all been warned.
Marc
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For boat owners it’s called “two foot fever.” Got a 20’ boat- you’ll wish you had a 22’ boat. I certainly have this fever with my greenhouse, but as with my ex-boat scratching this itch is so expensive that it’s not going to happen anytime soon.
I love how this post pops up once in a while. Reminds me of the big move and all the fun I’ve had since. Thanks everyone who has bumped it!
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Yes! Building my second greenhouse now, but already deciding on design improvements for greenhouse #3. My wife told me after I built my first greenhouse that she pictured me building a couple more. I thought she was crazy.
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Are you telling us you didn’t learn your lesson after building the first greenhouse.
Love all these greenhouses! My plan was to build one this year but my wife found a metal frame one with reinforced plastic that had a price to good to pass up. So I got that and put it together and will see what all I can do with it. I will see how long this one lasts and that way it will give me a bit of knowledge for what I want to do once I do actually build mine.
It is 15x7 and I am very happy with it so far. Had it for a couple weeks now.
This will hopefully help me decide what I will use it for and what I need to do differently when I build a wood frame one.
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