Keeping the cold air out

Since our weather is feeling wintery now we put blue foam board over the intake and outlet vents for the automatic ventalation system and turned it off. Two straw bales in front of each intake vent hold the foam in place, the outlet vent has foam board wired on to the vent frame. For the winter months I'll have to manually control the door and roof vents on sunny days. Last night we had 18 degrees, tonight 6 is forecast. Add wind and there was a lot of infiltration. Also the outlet vent has louvers that are not connected to the vent motor, they just open by air pressure, so they were flapping in the breeze letting the heated air out.

Here is the outlet end.

Inside all feels and looks toasty! Not many plants yet but give me time.

Along the south wall we built a 3'x18'x12" bed for growing lettuce and things this winter. What you see is composted sheep barn cleanings. The potting soil in bags on the floor will make a top layer about 3 inches deep and it will be ready for planting by this evening!! At the end on the right you can see one of the intake vents.

Mary, it looks fantastic! I bet you're really enjoying getting "settled in" :)

Your greenhouse looks great Mary!
I'm so jealous and can't wait to get my own. Maybe I will have one in a few weeks.
Kris

Tomorrow I will plant some tomatoes that I started from cuttings this fall in the long bed, plus lettuce, chard, radishes, cabbages, brocolli and whatever else I have that will grow in cool temperatures. It's gonna be fun!! Today the greenhouse temp was 45 at about 8am, by 11 it was 80 because the sun was shining. I opened one roof vent and raised the window on the door a few inches. Half an hour later it was 65 so I closed them. The afternoon was partly sunny so the greenhouse temperature stayed at 70 until the sun got real low. The furnace comes on at about 45-50. Outside the high temperature was 25 with a brisk wind all day.

MaryE, It is just beautiful. I especially love seeing what plants everyone grows in their greenhouses. It is a unique as they are.
I love the color of your pelargoniums.

mary that baby looks great!! i know you are going to enjoy it bunches. I know i have to mannualy crank my windows and sometimes it cools off way to fast and then crank them shut and then........! but all in all i LUV mine!

cant wait to see updates of your mators and veggies growing
i close mine up in the winter-to many cracks for the wind to get in and cool it down!

Mary, your GH looks great. You may have said and i forgot is your GH all metal frame. The bed you are making for your veggies looks like it would grow wonderful things. I tried tomatoes a couple of times, they grew well but I finally gave up on them because I couldn't keep the bugs off and i didn't want to have to be spray all the time so keep a close eye on them. Keep sending us pictures of your progress. Donna

wow mary! it looks great! hmmm...looks like you are ready for a few tropicals? ;)

beware the tiny white fly I use those little stickey yellow cards to alert me of a whitefly movement as they attract and catch them. Ernie

Wow!! Great Greenhouse!!!
Bet it even looks better with a light dusting of snow outside and you and your plants are nice and toasty warm!!

MaryE good air circulation is very important in the winter otherwise Botrytis will get your plants.

Thanks, Mark. I keep a small fan going all the time, plus the furnace has a fan that comes on when the furnace runs. The radishes are up, lettuce comming up and a few chard. It's exciting. I have found and squashed a few green aphids and will be keeping a sharp eye out for more. They were on one of the tomatoes, might have hitchhiked in from the garden since those were cuttings. Ruth, it is an all metal frame with triple wall polycarbonate walls and roof. The poly has a 10 year guarantee.

MMmm...just the thought of some fresh 'maters in the winter...how nice!