Build A Cheap Greenhouse Garden Nursery Landscaping Guide

Build A Cheap Greenhouse To Grow Garden Produce All Year Round

By Bridgitte Clare Tavernar

Build a cheap greenhouse to supply you with delicious garden produce all year round. Some produce cannot grow outside in adverse climatic conditions, while you can create ideal conditions inside a greenhouse, away from cold, rain and windy conditions.

Even when it is snowing outside, you may still grow produce in your greenhouse, by creating ideal conditions for growth, including heaters, fans, and grow lights. The grow lights will supply the lighting conditions plants need for growth. The heaters will help fight cold conditions and the fans will help fight extreme heat conditions.

You can use natural, organic fertilizers to help your herbs, fruit and vegetable plants grow inside your greenhouse. If you want to continue to cook with fresh garden produce, long after the growing season is over, then it would be an ideal solution to build a cheap greenhouse.

Suitable Size For Your Greenhouse Garden

We’re now hearing about the ‘recession garden’ from government officials, as a remedy to families feeling the pinch at the grocery store as we peruse the expensive produce, most often transported hundreds of miles, picked when unripened and lacking both flavor and nutrients.

We all know we should be eating plenty of produce to ensure adequate nutrition, but who can afford it these days? Here, we’ve got an even better idea: build a cheap greenhouse that will pay for itself, affording you and your family organic produce of the freshest and highest nutritive value.

You may have checked into the ready made greenhouse kits. These kits come with all of the materials necessary to build the greenhouse structure, but these greenhouse kits are pricey. By the time you pay for the greenhouse kit and shipping, it’s almost cheaper to buy the produce, if your intent is to grow food.

Building Your Own Greenhouse

A better option is to build a cheap greenhouse yourself, using local materials and the same amount of labor required with the expensive greenhouse kit. DIY sites can provide you with material lists as well as step-by-step instructions on building a cheap greenhouse at a fraction of the price.

CAD software is another tool you can use to plan and build a cheap greenhouse, getting all of the details in sync before you ever lift a hammer or pay a cent for materials. You can also find books which will give you all the info you need to make your home greenhouse a reality.

Using Basic Carpentry Skills And A Little Planning

OK, let’s see how you can build a cheap greenhouse, with just basic carpentry skills and a little planning. Lay out the greenhouse with the beds facing north to south for maximum sun exposure.

A 12 foot wide by 12 foot long greenhouse will accommodate 3 planting beds, 2 feet wide, 3 feet deep and 12 feet long, with 2 foot wide aisles between each bed, giving you easy access for weeding and harvesting.

Including Shelves And Hanging Baskets

If you plan for shelving and hanging baskets above your beds, you can make the most of your greenhouse growing space, growing smaller plants, such as herbs, radishes, mesclun, lettuce and baby carrots.

You’ll need a cement foundation. Excavate the location to a depth of four inches. Install pier posts with 2x6 redwood posts on 16 inch centers, much as you would for a deck support. When the foundation is cured, nail 2x6 redwood boards along the bottom 3 feet of the posts, to be flush with the top of your planting beds inside the greenhouse.

Heavy Duty Plastic Sheeting

When you build a cheap greenhouse, this doesn’t mean you must sacrifice quality of the structure. The key is to use durable, but not expensive materials. Next, sandwich ready made 4x8 lattices, with heavy duty plastic sheeting, covering both sides of the lattices, between 2x4’s up to the roof level.

The roof can be constructed with simple trusses made of 2x6 redwood and sheeted with corrugated plastic, such as is used for a sun deck.

Planting Beds, Fans And A Heater For Cold Winters

All that’s left is to build planting beds, of 2x4 posts and 2x12 boards for siding, using three L-braces at each corner. You’ll want to install fans at each end and a heating device for cold winter growing conditions. Lay down gravel between the beds if you wish.

So there you have the basic ‘recipe’ to build a cheap greenhouse that produces a harvest of plenty. Greenhouse growing goes one better than that trendy ‘recession garden’. You’ll be producing top quality food all year long!

Growing Your Own Produce All Year Round

This is the advantage of having your own greenhouse. You can grow your own produce all year round. It may be cold, raining and clouds are covering the sun outside, but you are protecting your growing plants, with your heater and grow lights helping to shine light on your growing plants.

If you are not using chemicals, like chemical fertilizers and any other chemicals on the soil or on your plants, then you are setting up to grow organic produce. Many people these days, like to grow their own produce, in order to grow fresh produce and use it in their meals on the same day. This way all the natural flavours from your greenhouse garden produce, will flood your meals, making your meals much more delicious.

A Garden And A Greenhouse In Your Yard

Many people, have a garden and a greenhouse in their yard. Your garden may grow produce when the climatic conditions are ideal, while your greenhouse will be able to supply you with produce all year round. Some garden vegetables, may not grow in your garden, once the growing season is over, but you may be able to continue to grow produce in your greenhouse.

This is why it is to your advantage to build a cheap greenhouse.

About the Author:
Bridgitte Clare Tavernar has written a number of articles on gardening and landscaping including Garden Design, Small Garden.
Keep a lookout for more of her articles on this website.

Little Known Gardening Facts....

What is the difference between annuals and perennials?
Both are, of course, plants but the difference is in how long they last and how often you have to replant them. Annuals must be replanted every year. Examples of annuals are any type of vegetable, sunflowers and flowers such as violets.

Perennials are plants that will renew themselves. They include trees, bulb plants such as lilies, tulips and include roses and other hardy plants that go dormant that during the winter months. Most ornamental grasses are considered to be perennials.

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