Taking the plunge II

I have the foundation done, water, electric and a cat5 cable run and floor leveled off. I am anxiously waiting for the GH kit to arrive. I appreciate all the help I have recieved here on this forum. I thought I would post a few pics of my progress so far. I welcome any comments or advice that I could take now to avoid big problems later.

I am really lost now on the bench situation. I thought originally that I would grow in flats and containers on top of wooden benches, but now am thinking I would like to have raised benches filled with soil to grow directly in, and also grow in flats, containers etc just sitting on top of the soil benches. I realize this would be easier to figure out if I knew what I was going to grow. In general, I would like to grow my own bedding plants, some tomatoes and other vegetables. I would also like to have some permanment tropicals in the greenhouse, like banana tress and some other such plants. I am leaving an area open just inside the double door so that I can bring in tropicals to overwinter also. I would also like to grow various cut flowers and other intersting flowers. So......

This is what I have accomplished thus far. This is a pic of where we picked the power up for the GH.

This is the water ditch. It is about 22" deep. The pipe that you see already in the ground is for our sprnkler system. We are well below that pipe, at least another foot of so.

This is where we picked up the water at. The box I built goes another 20" or so underground, and is open at the bottom. I will insulate the top of the box, and am hoping that the heat from underground will rise and keep the pipe from freezing.

This is looking down in the box.

This is the electrical panel. We ran number 6 wire from the sub-panel to this one. A distance of about 160'. We will use GFI breakers for all the 110v outlets, and all the outlets will have water covers on them.

This is looking into the foundation. The door is not cut to width here. I plan on putting pavers in the middle section, and leaving the raised portion behind the timbers as just soil.

Edit. Sorry, the door is not visible in this picture.

This message was edited Mar 17, 2007 2:23 PM

This is the wireless temp/humidity sensor what will be inside the GH. I was concerned taht it may not transmit all the way to the console in the house but it is working just fine. I will have that data on my weather page so that I can monitor the temp/hum when I can't be here.

This is the water hydrant inside the GH. I will make up a manifold to attach to this for the various water needs.

Nautical! Great work!

You really don't need a lot of benches right away. You've already planned the ground beds, and I think they will work fine for vegetables. Maybe a small bench in the middle and a couple of small portable ones that you can set in the ground beds and move around if needed. Really, I think you have a nice layout there. I would get the GH up and see what it feels like before I bought any significant number of benches.

I think you will be disappointed in raised benches filled with soil...just my hunch.

Thanks for posting pics.

This message was edited Mar 17, 2007 2:56 PM

Looking good!

I noticed a gas meter in your third picture.
Did you consider running NG to heat the greenhouse?

DD, Yes we did look at gas, but NG here is very expensive compared to electricity. Although I am ashamed to say that I never did calculate the cost per btu as I should have, just know that it costs more to heat our home with NG than it does to cool it with electricity.

I think the geo-thermal heat pump would have been efficient but after calculating the cost of electric it would take many many years to get back the initial up front costs.

It does not get real cold here, so I am not thinking it is going to be that big of an expense to heat it with the electric. If it turns out I am wrong......I guess I will be opening that ditch up again! :) We will know next winter for sure.

I used the formulas that SB provided and I don't think it is going to add more than $40-$60.00/month to our bill. Unless I did it wrong......... :-/

Love your area for your new greenhouse. Nice raised side walls too. Love to be able to actually see pictures.

I agree with SB. Wait and see after the greenhouse is up. It feels different once you are standing inside it with the walls standing. Then you can visualize it all much better.

Your water spigot is interesting. How does it work? How will you make it usable for more than one watering system? I am still trying to figure out how to water in my new greenhouse.

Carol

Daisy,
It is called a "frost proof hydrant" or something like that. When you lift the handle, it opens a valve about 2 ft underground and lets the water flow. When you close the handle there is a drain valve at the bottom that lets whatever water is left in the pipe to drain back out into the ground. So if it were to freeze, there would be no damage to the pipe.
We do get some ice here and power losses from time to time. My concern was that it may happen when I am not here to tend to things. If it does, all someone has to do is to close that valve and the piping will be protected.
I will make a manifold with multiple valves on it that will connect to the water hydrant, and run to the various things that need water.
I have followed your thread with great interest, and originally thought that I wanted benches just like yours. I love wood. I have been reading "The greenhouse companion" that is recommended here and it seems like there is some good reasons to grow directly in the soil on raised beds. But then that would block out all the light below. I guess wire shelves would let in the most light, but then they would not look nice like yours do. :) So I will take the advice given here and just make a couple of raised beds similar to yours. and see how it goes.

nautical99

LOL Daisy!

Line 1: Potting bench
Line 2: Fogger
Line 3: RO unit
Line 4: Power loss mist system valve
Line 5: This one is for filling the watering can

As you can see, it can get out of control!

This message was edited Mar 18, 2007 7:54 AM

What am I missing here? I just water by hand when it needs it. If I want to mist, I put a mister on the end of the hose. Except one grhouse that I have a mister system that runs the length of the grhouse with 4 lines that are on a timer -for germinating pansy seeds. Are all those hoses on auto timer SB? Doesn't the skinny water lines cut down on pressure? I am amazed by your setup.....only with a guy!!

Nautical-why didn't you just bring the water pipe up into the grhouse where it would be protected from the cold and put your attachments on it there? If I am not heating the grhouses, I shut off the water under the house and drain the pipes.

SB, Love your setup! Exactly what I had in mind. I must have missed the line for the automatic fertilizer injector?
Do you have well water? or city? I have not looked into the RO setup yet. We have city water here, so I thoughtmaybe I could just have it tested somewhere and if it is ok just skip the RO. But at this point I don't know what to have it tested for. What are the symptoms I will see if I do not use an RO unit?

Tigerlily, the line is on the inside of the GH, just no GH yet. the line is well underground and won't freeze. This hydrant is just in case I lose my heat while I am out of town, and I need someone to just turn it off. As I do anticipate haveing to be gone for over a week at a time, I will need to automate as much as I can.

nautical
Nautical

I will agree. SB, that is a great set up. You would need all that for your cold area for sure.

Nautical, thanks for your nice comments on my benches. I do love them and think they will do very nicely, LOL
You could do some raised beds and some wired/wood benches. A little bit of all those might make you happy then.

TL, you are in a warm area so you can get away with your type of watering system. Even more than here in the NW.
Carol

SB, How many GPD is your RO capable of?

In it's original form, with a splitter, 180 gpd. I didn't need that much so I took off one membrane and I can get 90 gpd. My well water is very hard and I go through more membranes than I would like.

I saw several on E-bay that were rated at 100 GPD. My GH is much smaller than yours, so I think that should be sufficient. So you run the RO water through your misters, sprinklers, and general watering? Do you cool your GH with a misting system?

Nautical

Yes, Yes, Yes, and Yes.

:D

Since I got the extra sensor set up for the GH, I have added a page to the website so that I can monitor temp/hum via the internet. You can see the GH data at http://www.skipsweather.com From there select Local Graphs and Guages, Once there select Skip's Greenhouse Weather Data. Of course there is no GH at the moment, so temp/hum is the same as the outdoors.

Also been fooling around with my weather station software and found out I can have it send me an e-mail when an alarm is triggered. It will also send a txt msg to my cell phone. I can set up 8 alarms, although don't know of anything I would need besides too hot or too cold.
Any suggestions?

Somewhere here I read a thread about "x10" controls, or maybe software. Anyone using this technology to control things via the internet, or telephone line?

GH is spose to ship late this week, so should have it late next week. With help I think I can have it up in two days. I have watched the install video about 10 times now. :) Just about have it memorized.

nautical

Stressbaby, Do you cool your GH with just misters, misting into the air? or with an evaporative pad system? Is something I need to figure out before I install the GH? GH will be here next Weds. or so the trucking company tells me.

I don't have an evaporative pad system. I use 50% Aluminet shade cloth, exhaust fan w/ intakes, overhead misters (on thermostat+timer) and a fogger (on thermostat+humidistat). Misters and foggers can be retrofitted. Many evap coolers are portable.

I am thinking about trying to make a homemade evap cooler. Plans like this: http://h2othouse.com/html/evap-coolers.html could be fitted to a box fan like this: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hydro/msg0801115431521.html?11 An interesting project, not too expensive.

I was also thinking of makeing a pad system. Have not seen the GH yes, or ever worked with polycarbonate, so will see what my options are when I get it up. I was hopeing to maybe be able to keep the temp down with just misters, but I don't think it will do it. Would you mount the misters up high, toward the peak? Or should they be lower, or under benches?

Reading I have done indicates you need all available light. Would it be beneficial to paint the inside of the foundation white? It is treated 6x6's, anyone ever paint this stuff? Does it take a special primer?

Nautical

Hi Nautical,

I painted the inside of my walls and beds. You could also use an opaque white stain.

Misters tend to go up high. Evap pads, either because they are traditionally positioned over intake vents or because they would otherwise block light, are typically low on the wall.

RPP

Once the treated lumber drys for a few weeks, it should be easy to paint or stain.

Will try to get the foundation painted white today. Will put Kilz on first, then a coat of white. Should help brighten it ip in there. I was going to use a red/brick paver for the floor in the center, but maybe will try and find something a little lighter.

GH came last week, but had other issues that prevented me from starting on it. Anyway, started uncrating Saturday. Had one helper on Saturday for GH, and finished the structure myself on Sunday. Worked yesterday and today on caulking, squaring door, installing exhaust fan and vents, and adding wiring. Hired electrician to put in all the receptacles, and wire the thermostat and shutters, also put up two 4' waterproof florescent lights in the peak for just general lighting.

Still a mess inside, and no benches built. Will hopefully get started on more projects tomorrow. No heater installed yet, but no plants to keep warm anyway. Suppose to get down in the 30's here later this week.

So here are the pics of progress thus far.

Nautical

pavers are inside

Nice crates.

Front walk finished

Laying things out.

Putting the frame up.

Getting late, but put up first piece of poly.

My helper. :)

Groan........forgot to caulk the roof as it was going up.... :(

Sides are done.

Structure is up.

Another view.