Scuba_Dave

Well, I thought this site was gardening when I signed up
Didn't realize it was about bananas
I guess I should have read more
But maybe I can do bananas in my "new" greenhouse

I 1st built it in '05 - too big, didn't like the roof
So I never finished it pending a redesign & other house projects
Last fall I took it apart & rebuilt it, much lower
I dug out the inside & put in the winter storms in March
I put the door on one day & it was closed in...and I was sweating
Next day I put a remote thermometer in there & it was reading 107

Ah, that's the temp up near the roof
I moved it down near the ground & put it inside 3" PVC to "protect" it from the sun
Much better....only 101

So now I need an automatic vent on it
I've had veggies growing since April
This means I'm getting a 6 week head start & will extend my growing season GREATLY

All the jalouise windows were $75 - included winter storms
**EDIT - jalousie windows were $75...I thought I got them for free
---but that was some other jalousie windows
The roof is sliding glass door panels - free
I spent less then $30 on PT wood, quite a bit leftover after redo
There is a 55g drum in the corner to collect rainwater
I'm hoping to pick up a pair of 330g tanks shortly



Old design was too big & blocked 2 windows

Michael_Andrew

Very resourceful. Looks like the perfect spot to overwinter a few bananas.

Michael

Bob

Good work. Try putting a thermometer on the ceiling and floor. Daytime temps are as much as 30* apart in mine(which is sheet plastic). At night temps can drop quickly. Looks to be a great plant starting / season extending spot.

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Scuba_Dave

It went down to maybe 39 or so last night
The greenhouse was 51 when I checked it at 6:45a
I took the West side storms off (7'), South side (10') is mostly off
Only 3' of storms left on facing South. The East wall (7') still has both storms on. It's supposed to stay in the 50's at night after Wed.

This fall I'm going to dig down & insulate the perimeter to a depth of about 3' on the East & South sides. The West side I'm going to have to dig deeper as it borders the stairs to the basement. I have a bunch of insulation that was under the vinyl siding I removed
So I figure 1" should give me about R4-R5, I may be able to go thicker then that

Ideally I'd like a couple temp probes
Ceiling, floor level, 6" in the dirt & then maybe 2' down
I used to work for a company that had chart systems to track/check/certify furnace Temps. I'm sure by now the stuff is computerized. But I'm out of work so that will have to wait
And My HoneyDoList is pretty long
I'm getting ready to finish up the roof on an addition
24x36 garage, same size great room over it, & a walk up 19x24 attic

I'm debating on starting bananas this year, or waiting until next year. I know (think?) they can take a while to grow/bear fruit. So maybe I should start them this year. I'm going to have to spend some time going thru threads & researching

Bob

Re : Research. Smartest thing you can do. I collected most of my plants last Sept through Dec and have had no trouble(kept indoors). I was able to get a nice remote temperature gauge from home despot for about what you paid for your greenhouse. It's actually a lot of fun comparing indoor vs. outdoor vs. greenhouse temps throughout the day/ season etc. There were more and less expensive units but the $30 model works great and seems to be accurate.

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LilRaverBoi

Very nice! Excellent work....and on such a low budget, no less! I hope it works out well for you!

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Scuba_Dave

Thanks
I'd like to go thru one winter & monitor the greenhouse temps before I attempt to leave anything in there over the winter

Patty in Wisc

Very nice Dave. You are very resourceful! I heard of ppl using old patio & shower doors to make a greenhouse.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Scuba_Dave

I'm almost finished with the main garden support
I took apart someone's pool deck so the support posts were free
The pipes were leftover from some old fencing
I had to spend maybe $5 on some connectors

Finally support for my 8' tomato plants !!
There is another 4x4 support just to my left as I took the picture
I have one more pipe to cut & run across - you see the pipe end sticking put in the middle

I spread out the horse compost today
I still have a lot more seedlings to transplant

Patty in Wisc

Looking great Dave for supports. Put those 4 little guys in lower left corner inground & take them outof their pots

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Scuba_Dave

Those were red japanese maples from MIL's house
They were growing where they were not wanted, so I took them
They were OK last year - nuttin this year

She has 2 more seedlings that are about 12" tall that she is keeping. If any more pop up I'll transplant them to my greenhouse instead of down in the garden area. It gets too crowded in the summer & I think they were shaded too much

Scuba_Dave

It went down to about 9 last night (11 according to weather site), 11 when I got up
The greenhouse was just about 33 degrees
So it looks good to winter the bananas in there next year

I still have to insulate part of the roof & some more storm windows to install

Scuba_Dave

Its 38 outside & the greenhouse is up to almost 60
I'm going out to dig around the inside foundation & put in some old "rigid" insulation that was under the vinyl siding

This should help keep the greenhouse warmer from the cold concrete
The sun is up over the back trees every day now
So the greenhouse will be warmer & warmer
Time to start the veggie seedlings inside so they will be ready to transplant to the greenhouse in a few weeks

I also need to build bench/shelving unit in the greenhouse to stack potted plants
I have some PT wood that I will use for that
Then finish connecting the 55g rainwater/watering system

Scuba_Dave

Finally found my pickaxe
So the South wall is dug down to ~2'
I also found the sewer pipe...only about 12" down
I was thinking it was deeper

It was 64 at ground level...I was in a T-shirt digging - 45 outside & sunny
Supposed to be sunny tomorrow too
So hopefully I can finish the South & the West sides
The East side has my 55g drum of water...which I will need to drain 1st

I'll also be redoing the roof this year
I'm removing the framing from the sliding glass doors on the roof
Then I'll put PT wood on the sides of the rafters & the glass will sit on the PT

Scuba_Dave

EDIT - some more of my posts were merged, screwing up the timeline again
So now I have no idea when these different things were done
This really screws things up...this sucks

Well I was bummed out for the past 10+ days
Cloudy & snowy - did not stick, but the greenhouse was not even going over 50
So today I went back out to finish up the insulation around the foundation
And discovered that I had buried the Temp sensor under the dirt
So it has been reading ground temp, & close to 50 isn't bad for Feb

I finished 2 walls, dumped the 55g water & waiting for it to drain/seep in
Relocated the Temp sensor where it is supposed to be
And with maybe 1/2 hour of sun its up over 77 in there !!

Finished insulating 3rd foundation wall
Its up over 81 now in there...bright sunshine
I took a bunch of rocks out, they will go in my dry river bed

I need to drill the 55g drum out & install a spigot
I also need to put in a bunch of mulch from the mulch pile
So maybe later in the week I'll be ready for seeds

Scuba_Dave

I really need to build a heat exchanger for the greenhouse
It was up to 90 out there (57 maybe outside)
I'd love to use that to heat the house !!

I'm planning on building one for this fall

Abnshrek

So if it works you thinking about expanding it to cool in the summer? (using the same pump ad a couple valves and dig a cooling line) :^)

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Tony O

You've got it against 2 windows. I had mine like that once. A box fan facing in from one will bring in the warm air during the day.

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Dalmatiansoap

Anybody knows any DIY irrigating systems? Any ideas?

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sunfish

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