The Hundred Dollar Green House

Finally I am getting around to blogging about the greenhouse I built, last weekend,with a tiny bit of help from my husband Jason. First off I made a supply list and took a trip to Lowes for gear.  Jason, just happened to be at work, so I was pretty proud of myself once I got the trailer hooked up and ready to go. All supplies costed about $100. The most expensive piece was the plastic. I have a huge roll left. You could probably get by with buying a 50' by 50' instead of 100'.

Supplies I used:
3- 20 foot thin wall pvc pipe
4-2x2's 8ft long
3-8 ft 2x4's
1- roll of dog fencing
6-24 inch pieces 3/8" rebar
300- 8 inch zip ties
1- 50'x100' roll of 6 mil greenhouse plastic
2- rolls of white duck tape

The trailer was necessary to pick up the 3 pieces of 20 foot pvc pipe. If you have a pick-up available a trailer may not be necessary. Either way be prepared to have some sticking off and tie it all down really well before you leave.

Here is what it looked like when I got it all to the backyard. The first thing I did was to measure out an 8x8 space where I found a good sunny spot. I marker the corners of this 8x8 space with spray paint. Next I placed the 4-8ft 2x2's in a square on the marks. I attached them together with screws. Then with a hammer drive rebar pieces 1 foot into the ground on each corner. These will be anchors and hold the pvc pipe up. Go ahead and measure 4 feet to the middle and do the same with the other two pieces of rebar. My pics don't show this because I did this step at the end (mine needed more support)

Next I unrolled the dog fence wire and started attaching it to the frames with zip ties. This step took a while but was well worth it when the metal frame was attached to the pvc pipe. Note mine didn't have the third pav brace. I added it at the end for more support. I recommend it you are spanning 8ft you have 3 braces. 

Up to this point I was working solo. I discovered it would be helpful while putting the plastic on and taping the seems to have an extra set of hands. Luckily Jason came him and helped me layer on and tape the 6 mil. greenhouse plastic. I opted for 6 mil over the 3 mil so that it would hold in more heat. Creating a better greenhouse. 

Then we built a frame for the door with the 3-8 ft 2x4's. Measurements depend on how your curves on your pac are. Make sure you measure twice, so you only have to cut once. I bought no materials in building the door. I used scraps left over from when we built our fence to built a simple rectangle door frame. I had to go junkin' to find repurpose some door hedges. I attached them to the door and the green house was ready. This project took about 8 hours. I have my seeds inside and we are getting ready for spring planting!