My Greenhouse

When I first started building my garden, I was ecstatic to be offered a hand-me-down greenhouse from some friends. My husband and I disassembled the greenhouse at their home, and then re-assembled it at ours. It was SO much work and I had the genius idea of painting it after it was already assembled, it took a lot of hours to tape off the windows, inside and out, and paint it. The greenhouse lasted a couple of seasons and become a potting shed where I could sow seeds and harden things off in the spring. The panels weren’t in great condition, were thin twin-wall polycarbonate that needed to be replaced, and there were many gaps in the structure that didn’t allow for good heat retention overnight. I loved having it and used it a lot, so I knew that if I got a new one it would get a lot of use and be a good investment..

I did a lot of research and tried to find an option that was functional, durable and wasn’t on on the highest-end of cost. I ended up choosing the Bellarose 11x7 from Backyard Discovery. The size was a good fit for my space, it had built in shelves that were moveable on hinges, it was set up to receive electricity, had 4-wall polycarbonate panels and had really great reviews. Having had experience building my first one, I decided it would be worthwhile to hire someone to stain and assemble the greenhouse kit.

After the structure was completed, we finished off the flooring by adding a couple layers of landscape fabric, adding a grid of outdoor concrete square pavers and filled in the gaps with small stones. I wanted a base that would prevent weeds, handle the mess of soil from seed sowing, and drain well, I am happy with the finished product.

I started some of my early seedlings in the house and later moved them to the greenhouse to continue growing, but I also started seedlings in the greenhouse. I grew hundreds of plants and needed more space, so I folded up the built in shelves and brought in 3 or 4 wire racks - it worked perfectly! I also used a greenhouse heater with an automatic temperature-sensitive start/stop function which worked really well. Growing in Bend’s high desert climate means that we can have spring days in the 70s but overnight temps that are below freezing, so the heater really helped me keep the overnight greenhouse temps up above freezing.

My greenhouse is close to the hose, so I was able to easily water the seedlings in there without having to haul watering cans in and out. I added some solar-powered porch step lights to the roof beam inside and also have some solar-powered string lights - both light it up at night and make it glow.

All in all, I am really happy with how the greenhouse turned out and its functionality!