I'm back!!! and so wanting to brag.

Hi garden homies!

The swim season is officially over for me (remember I teach swimming lessons in the summer?). Yay, except it got hot. WTHeck!! I wanted to brag about my new acquisition. Someone that lives near me was selling their greenhouse on Craig's List. It was manufactured under the name of Outside Thinking (they sold them at Sam's club a few years back for $3,200).

I paid $600 for it!!! Score for me!! Of course it's now to hot to do anything with it but it's MINE!!!!

You can see the CL ad here http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/grd/1910591215.html at least til the ad expires. This pic was taken by the previous owner while it was still at her house. Look how big it is! It came with everything that's seen in the pictures except that garden cart at the far end, all the pots and watering cans and the lawnmower. They even let me keep the black widows! (hee hee, JK ^_^)

Anyway, TTFN!!

Cayte

Good for you, gr8catye! I can't wait to see a photo of it installed at Your Place! : - )
I'd be jealous, but you already know I have a gh of my own. That photo looked pretty sweet.
Congrats!
WIB!
SW

Okay, bragging isn't the best adjective to use I guess. I'm just so excited! And SW, while I can't cover my pool like you did (if it weren't for our darn HOA) I'm definitely going to try growing a banana plant in there like you are. eeeee!

Cayte

Looks great, Cayte! This time of year, won't it be too hot for plants? Just thinking. Jules has that whole end that is open and the first time I was over there was about this time of year and it was HOT! OK, I know, I know, it IS called a HOThouse. Looking forward to fresh tomatoes in January, I hope.

Wow, you did score! Very nice!

Oh, yes it's been a little toasty in there so I can only go over to disassemble it in the early morning. It's got barn type doors at both ends so I can leave them open for some ventilation. I'm also going to install a solar powered mister to cool it somewhat after I get it reassembled over here.

My biggest problem now is that about a month ago I took delivery of ten yards of compost/soil mix and where did I dump it? Yep! Right on the very spot I want to put the greenhouse. Hey! How was I to know the opportunity to buy a greenhouse would present itself so soon?!?

So now I'm hauling away soil (in the 50 five gallon buckets I got for FREE on Craig's list [gonna use them for container gardening]) to make room for the greenhouse beasty.

So much to do and so little time before the sun drives me indoors.

Later gators!

Cayte

I have got to check out Craig's list!
Our gh has one big fan, and four small fans. I was in the pool today around noon, (those polycarb panels block out over 80 % of harmful radiation, and besides I was hot. The pool was pleasant at 87 degrees. Made it much nicer in there.
Sadly the four small hanging fans quit working, so we're waiting for fans to go on sale, and when they do we'll get some bigger sized ones.
As far as it being too hot in there, for plants, all I can say, is as long as they have enough water, the heat doesn't bother them much. : - )
BTW, the plants outside the gh get scorch marks from the heat, but the same kind of plant in the gh doesn't. Go figure.
Of course the tropicals love it. : - )
Don't forget I also have a shade cloth over the top of the west or far end of my gh.
Cayte, you should definitely try growing your own Bananas. Get the dwarf bananas. That's what mine are, believe it or not.
I think I'm more jealous of all your pots. Oh well. That's what empty cat litter buckets are being recycled into around here. Amazing what you can do with an electric drill, and some spray paint. LOL! : - )
Do keep us posted Cayte, now we are all salivating to see what it looks like when it's erected.
We should have some cooler weather over the weekend and I'm sure you'll be able to get a lot accomplished when it isn't as hot. : - )
QG is right, it does get hot in the gh during the day when it hits those triple digits. I always joke that it's like being in TX, but without the mosquitos. LOL!
WIB!
SW

Good analogy, using TX, SW. Yes, the tropicals should be right at home with your pool creating extra humidity. If your pool were fully outside in the sun, it would be a hot tub!

Misters sound like a good idea, Cayte. We have them set up in the horse corrals to keep the beasts comfy. No power involved though, just water pressure. We do have to manually turn the valve on and off though. One horse was NOT a big fan of water before, at all, but has learned to appreciate its benefits. Now, if we could get some installed over our bed....

Cayte,
I keep the water temp at about 90 degrees when I can. It's good for my fibro, and not too hot to exercise in. Most people in my family prefer to go swimming at night because of it. I'm the only one who goes during the day, but then again it takes forever for my hair to dry. If I get chilled I do get sick. The gh is a warm place to drip dry too, because I'm out of the wind.
Misters are great. We use them outside on the patio in back for the shade plants, and to hang out in. I have the micro irrigation inside the gh so the micro sprinklers and the pool do add to the humidity in the gh.
The strawberries and Bananas like it. So did the pineapple. I still have to separate the two I have into separate pots. Do you want one Cayte? They are fun and easy to grow in the gh.
: - )
Your kids will get a kick out of it.
Remember too, that my banana is planted in the ground now, and not a pot, which is probably why it got so big, and started to bear fruit. That and the special fertilizer mix my EB#1 created for them. Sending photo, of the 2 bunches of bananas. There might be one more bunch, but I thought I gave it to EB#1. He likes them in stir fry.
Enjoy your gh, Cayte, and we'll enjoy watching you document putting it together. : - )
Keep us posted! : - )
WIB,
SW

I like the pool hovering around 90 as well for my littlest swim students. Any colder than about 85 and they start shivering and can't concentrate. I otoh don't like it much higher than 90 cuz between the warmer water and the beating sun I get heat exhaustion.

Then I go inside I freeze to death under the AC and get chilled (my hair stays wet most of the summer cuz it doesn't dry out quickly either which makes me more chilled). But my family loves AC so I have to wrap up. I'm sure the swings in temp are not good for this ol' body and I'll probably regret it in the future but oh well.

We've now taken the whole GH apart and all but the floor moved over here. Separating the walls from the floor was tricky cuz the former owner hammered all the locking pins in upside-down. grrrr We had a heck of a time prying them out. But they're out! Ya know there's just no excuse for that! I mean the owner's manual has the directions all in pictures. It's a big picture book. It's not like *reading* the directions or anything. Sheesh!

The former owners had built the GH over a bed of sand so the sides bowed downward (another grr), which made taking out some of the screws a challenge as they were wedged in.

We're going to lay a concrete slab before we put it up. We've got a small electric cement mixer for the job but we want to wait till the weather cools a tad to pour it. So no pictures yet but I'll post them asap. I'm so excited!!

Want a pineapple SW? Wow I would love one! I saw a pic online not to long ago of one guy's big, big (probably commercial) GH filled with pineapple plants and thought I'm going to do that someday.

I'm going to Wildomar Monday. Are you free sometime during the day? I just harvested a big bunch of rhubarb the other day. I'd be happy to share. That is if you like rhubarb. But I'm not baking a pie for you! ^_^ I am sooo allergic to cooking/baking that I have my teens do it (isn't that why we have them in the first place?).

TTFN!

Cayte

Uh,
Cayte, I lost my Cell phone in the house, but I'm here. Just waiting on the sand my EB#1 is bringing me to mix with the potting soil to make the pineapples happy. Still have to get out there and separate the mom & pup pineapple.
I'm so sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner, but it'll be waiting to hear from you.
Maybe, if I'm feeling good enough I can make a delivery.
We'll see, okay?
WIB!
SW