#12 Putting Up the Greenhouse

This past weekend, we spent the time putting up the greenhouse and staking it down in the gravel driveway (which was not easy).

This greenhouse only cost us $30 at a wholesale consignment store. It was missing the bolts, which only cost us $5. The directions weren't that great, but having put this greenhouse up before, it wasn't too difficult to do. The retail value of this greenhouse is $120, so it was more than worth the price!

The first greenhouse I will take with a learning curve, since it finally met its match to a strong windstorm we had earlier this year along with a lot of rain and flooding. We learned a hard lesson that it doesn't matter what kind of stakes you use or how many, they aren't going to stay put in mud! I guess I'm glad I had all the rebar stakes on hand, along with PVC clips for the fabric to be secured to the frame. We had to purchase these in addition to the greenhouse, because the supplied stakes were little sticks of wire and some rope.

Here's a photo of our first attempt with the greenhouse. Surprisingly the frame ended up in pretty decent shape after this. It will need to be mended in some spots, but it will be okay. The fabric was a little torn, but nothing too major.

I have had started plants in my house since February, and they were taking over the large closet in the bathroom. I had 5 or 6 grow lights set up, along with the cabinet egg incubator. There was hardly much room to walk, and it began to get overwhelming having to water everything with a tiny watering can.

Since *hopefully* the last frost is behind us, it was perfect timing to put up the greenhouse and kick all the plants out of the house! I used foam strips to better secure the PVC clips to the frame to keep the fabric in place, and that has seemed to help so far! It wasn't intentional, but the greenhouse is also within reach of the garden hose, so that was easy!

The only downside to this greenhouse is that it does leak at the seams. I will have to inspect the damage after last night's heavy rain and see how hard the droplets hit the plants. For the small amount of rain it wasn't so bad, as it was almost like a drip irrigation system.

Over the summer, the greenhouse will get pretty hot for any plants unless they're tropical, so I'm going to attempt to grow coffee plants, aloe vera, and elderberry starts.

Happy Homesteading,

Rachel