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Building a Green House
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by Julie Harrell
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A few years ago, I started
working in the garden shop of the Co-op. To support our newfound fresh
homegrown veggie addiction, I built a greenhouse out of ...guess what?
Cattle panels, of course. We first used them to enclose the poopers
(aka the llamas and the goat), then for garden trellises and finally
for a shed, and now they are an 8-foot by 12-foot long greenhouse.
Here's how it
all came together
First, I took apart our old cattle panel shed which was housing the
lawn mower, hay bales for the poopers, and a few chairs. That took an
entire day but provided me with much needed posts and three full size
cattle panels. At approximately $20 to $27 per panel, cattle panels are
by far the cheapest strongest option for the really low budget
greenhouse/shed/fence builder.
Then, I drove down to the local rough cut lumber yard and bought two 2"
x 12" x 10's, and two 2" x 8' very thick heavy rough cut pine planks to
use as a base for the greenhouse. After screwing these together with
the drill, I then attached four 2x4s (resized to fit) to the top of the
base to ensure a solid backing for the strips and plastic.
Next I formed the cattle panels into a shape that would work for the
hoop house. I tied them off with left over hay bale twine, and a few
pieces of rope at the top, overlapping the panels to add strength, then
somehow managed to get them into the frame of pine planks. Took a whole
day. I then pounded four metal stakes inside the shed, as opposed to
outside like my garden trestles, and began to pad them up. We had a
stack of unused insulators in the basement, so I brought them up and
padded up all places on the posts and panels using copious amounts of
duct tape and insulating until I was out of foam. What people may not
realize, as I don't see anyone else doing this online, is that cattle
panels have little burrs that can catch and tear greenhouse plastic--so
insulating them is the safest way to ensure the long life of your
greenhouse.
Please note, home gardeners: Using good plastic is the only way to
build a solid greenhouse. A good product could be had from Griffins,
and lucky for me they have a warehouse in Latham. I bought a roll of
plastic, enough for four greenhouses and the best price by far I'd seen
anywhere, along with the plastic stripping (you have to staple the
plastic onto it) and some repair tape, also useful for building the
greenhouse. It really sticks.
Back to the greenhouse. In an almost anti-climactic moment I unrolled a
little plastic, threw it over the top of the greenhouse and nailed the
plastic onto the 2x4 base. Done deal. Added a strip to the front and
back for "walls," using those great 99¢ clamps you can buy at Home
Depot and taping a board to the bottom of each for weight, and presto
framo, we have a very hot greenhouse. Whew!
Now, as we move quickly into March, I am planning to plant my seeds.
The greenhouse is on its third year, and the plastic is holding strong.
I fill up a big black feed bucket with llama poop and dirt, to add heat
to the greenhouse. I place straw on the floor to keep down the weeds.
Already I can feel the warmth radiating when I step into the
greenhouse, and soon, little shoots of green will be popping up from my
seedlings. I wonder if the praying mantis babies survived in there from
last summer? I wonder what number of little insect creatures will hatch
inside the warmth there...
Please contact me if you too would like to build a cattle panel
greenhouse – www.cherryplainfarm.blogspot.com.
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Here's our item breakdown
- 3 16' x 5' cattle panels
- 2 2" x 12" x 10' rough cut planks
- 2 2" x 12" x 8' rough cut planks
- 6 6-ft. metal stakes
- 4 2" x 4"s
- 20 foam pipe insulators
- greenhouse plastic roll
- greenhouse plastic stripping
- greenhouse plastic repair tape
- 12 99 cent clamps
- hay bailing twine
- 1/2 inch staples
- long screws for base
Tools
- good staple gun
- electric drill
- sharp box cutters for plastic
- small hand saw
- stake pounder
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