You may have a greenhouse in your backyard already

I've been encouraged to post this in the greenhouse forum. Last year, I had started way too many plants indoors & ran into a situation in the beginning of April for lack of space & no greenhouse with sub zero temps. So I slid a picnic table under a swing set, covered it with heavy vapor plastic, duct taped it, held down the sides with landscape ties & folded the ends & held it in place with a stone. I heated it with a little propane tentheater. Worked awesome. Went thru several snow days without a problem. Spent under $50. And the kid had her swingset back by Mid May.

This message was edited Mar 29, 2008 4:18 PM

Another pic

the uncovering

Very cool idea!

omg.
SHUT UP!
I so wish I had taken that FREE swing from my sister now!!!! LOL

What a great idea! I have cosidered doing the same thing with a cattle panel and heavy plastic like the type you would use to cover windows in the winter.I have a few questions for you if that would be OK.

How long did you use it?
What were the temperatures like outside vs inside?
How much did running the heater cost?

I had put it up the 2nd week in April until Mid May. I ran the heater @ night & only on days that were near freezing temps. It was amazing how much it would heat up from the sun. Even on cloudy days it would heat up a lot. with some of the -10C or 14F night temps, the heater kept it a toasty 5C or 41F. On days that it was 15C or 59F it would be close to 30C or 86F. I'm not sure how much the little tent heater would be, we've had ours for many years. A camping store would probably sell them. It's the type that you put in the little propane bottles, but I hooked it up to a 20 lbs tank and used about 25 lbs in total for that month. I'm not sure what propane sells for there, but it cost about $15 to fill it once.

Necessity is truly the mother of invention. Very Cool.

Doug

Hey, Hoya stole my words! LOL

I think that is a great idea! I always say use what you have! My first small greenhouse was made out of PVC and 2x4s and I used it to harden off seedlings.

tetley, it's very easy to make one out of cattle panels. There are several threads on this forum. I made one 9'x25' to harden off plants when my greenhouse overflowed. It cost me less than $200. The cool thing with cattle panels is that you don't need much else in the way of support once you secure the bottom.

Having 6 kids, I wondered how you could keep the playset until May. :) I guess in zone 3, you aren't quite warm that early in the year?

I have found there are all kinds of wonderful uses for cattle panels. I had not used it for a greenhouse because of the concern regarding heating costs. From what I see here it looks like a possibility. I did not want to have my plants make it through the worst of the winter only to freeze to death when I put them out in a cattle panel greenhouse due to loss of heat during the night time hours. I did not know how well the little heaters would work overnight. I guess I will have to give it a try. I have a plant room with shelves and flourescent lights but would much prefer they get the benefit of sunlight.

On warm days I removed the plastic or opened the ends by flipping the end plastic over. It's amazing how hot it will get under plastic.

The kid had more fun with the swing greenhouse than ever with the swings. It became a fort that all found ladybugs were relocated to. The cat & dog thought it was a bit adventurous as well.

This is such a cool idea. Hope you dont mind if i "borrow" it.

Dont think she minds, I know I am going to, LOL!!

Have fun with it!! I had left the plastic overlap on each end & folded it closed and put a big rock to hold it thru the night. If you use vapor plastic from a hardware store, that works best. I held the sides dow with landscape ties. This will make it easy to open each end for venting, or you can take the whole thing off during the day. It is amazing how much heat is generated from the sun even on a cloudy day. I encouraged the kid to put any ladybugs that she found in the greenhouse. She thought it was a cool fort.

I made my temporary "greenhouse" with two folding tables (you know, the long kind) as ends. I then put three long 4x4 posts (about 10 feet long) across from one table to the other. I had a huge piece of plastic from a roll of plastic sheeting left in the garage by the previous owner. I cut that to fit over and then held it down with cement blocks. I have been growing dahlias, geraniums, zinnias, and cosmos inside. They seem to be doing fine.

Drawback? Well, I have to crawl inside - definitely a swing set would be better - but then, so would a $10,000 real greenhouse!

Seandor,
Can you post a picture for us to see your temp greenhouse? Thanks Tina

I got to find the cord that lets me download pictures from the camera

From a top view it looks sort of like this:

T xxxxx board xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx T
A A
Bxxxxx board xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxB
L L
Exxxxx board xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxE

Then, the plastic sheet extends further than the top view and is held in place with bricks and cement blocks.

I will try to find the cord, but I work until almost 9 pm tonight, and all day tomorrow.

How is everyone's swingset greenhouse doing?

Why didnt I think of that............ and now I will never come across a free swingset

I have one that the previous owners threw out. I wondered what to do with it.

I built a PVC frame GH this spring. It works great BUT, I have been having trouble with the glue not holding the joints together. I found out last week at Lowe's that if the PVC gets hotter than 108* it "remodels" and the glue melts. The plans I got from Mustangman are great and make a great GH but I guess in the northern parts of the country he doesn't have to worry about them getting too hot. I will use this same general design again but with metal or something else rather than PCV.

i had a glass greenhouse for a number of years and i found it just to hot for the plants ,it was vented but it didnt help.so this year i bought a 12x20 portable garage
just for the frame so i could use it with greenhouse plastic.when it came the covering that came with it was just the right kind of covering for what i wanted it for.
i then bought a watering system to put inside.it has up to this time only cost me about 250 dollars now thats a good deal and for a heater i used a waterbed heater and four buckets of water its is working realy good i now have a green house thats full and more room to working.

I loved your idea, so we made one this year. (IKE took down my canopy that I had been enclosing, and I don't plan on replacing it until Spring.)

We did ours a little different. We used commercial grade clear shower curtains (70" X 78") from Wal-Mart. They were approx. $5.67 each. We used the duct tape to connect them, and then Fondue skewers in the holes where the rings normally go to anchor it down. I may have to buy some camping tent stakes, but we'll see how this works.

Thanks for posting your idea!!!!! It definately works! Thanks!

Thanks for your post Joanna. I just bought a 6x8 greenhouse and was wanting to heat it with my Mr. Buddy portable propane heater that uses the 1lb bottle, But I could get a 25 pounder. Now I know I can use it because you did. Yea It works!

Texasgrower,

I got a 6X8 greenhouse last spring and used the Mr.Buddy heater (little more BTU). You will need to run a pipe for fresh air since that heater is equipped with a low oxygen sensor. The heater will shut off if there is not enough fresh air. The plants grow great with heat from combustion though. Easy fix. The sensor is not removable since it is integral to the pilot assembly.

The 1st little heater did not have that sensor, so there were no problems with shut off. It only provided 4000 BTU, so I bought the bigger unit. In our area, April & May can be very cold night temps & we need the heater.

God bless you Joanna for that info. The picture is a little dark at the bottom. Is the pipe open there at bottom near the heater? I presume so. I will definately get some pvc and pipe fresh air right to that heater.

I'm so glad I don't have to use electric or let my plants get cold.

The pipe is about 6 inches from the floor next to the heater and is open ended. Here's a picture of what to do on the outside. I sold the 6X8 greenhouse and have boughten a 12X8. Haven't built it yet because it just arrived. I will be doing the same heat setup. The addition will be a 3 inch plastic pipe installed under the greenhouse so I can remove the hose between the tank and heater. Tank stays outside the greenhouse. We need the hose for camping, so it needs to be removed....guess I could buy another hose.

oops, not sure how that posted twice???

I thought that is what you had done. That way there is always fresh air coming out by the heater so the low oxygen shut off doesn't shut off. I will do that for sure. Does the tank have to stay outside?

No...but if it is outside there is more room for plants.

oh.. of course, what was I thinking? :)

Texasfrower,

You will find your plants will grow very well with combustion heat.....very different than electric heat.

You have been a Godsend!

I built something like that too long time agoo,

It was not intended to grow plants in it, but later I replaced it with a real greenhouse and once I had a heater in it, my gardening hobby finaly started :)

So I'm quite sure you'l end up with a real greenhouse too ;)

you all are so creative. I'm supposed to have my greenhouse done in two weeks. I can hardly wait to use it. Thanks for all the advice. Jeanne

I found another pic in my photo archive that can be useful if you need to setup a greenhouse in 5 minutes when unexpected frost is coming your way: just take a parasol or big umbrella, put it in the garden, and make a 'curtain' of plastic around it by attaching the upperside of the plastic sheet to the border of the umbrella with clothespins. You can remove and rebuild it in a wink and it provides protection against cold temperatures.

The picture shows a tent made with this principle. I allways enjoyed it when sitting in it while it rained outside, but I'm sure the plants would enjoy it too when you use transparant plastic covering.

For heating you can also use a self made alcohol burner if you don't like to work with explosive gastanks, this one has been used in my first (real) greenhouse

This was my first 'real' greenhouse for those being curious about it :)

This is todays greenhouse with double glazed 8 mm windows and 16mm polycarbonate roof panels (for 4 season use and heated with a woodstove) - just to warn you how bad it can go once you have started with a simple plastic cover and a bunch of plants ;)

(foreground shows also my weather station , as you might know or not, I'm a real weather freak beside my gardening hobby too)

wow Cumulus, what a set up. Maybe someday in a land far, far away, I'll have a greenhouse that size that can fit a wood burning stove. Right now I have a stove in my sunroom for winter warmth. My soon to be first greenhouse is only 6x8. You did good with that greenhouse. Thanks for the umbrella cover. Would do the trick for sure.