Learning with a Greenhouse

  4 Hours Read a lot, thought a lot, then did what I thought best knowing how the river works. You are supposed to position your greenhouse so that a wall side is facing South East. That's all well and good; and if I did that, I would lose the house to gusts o wind coming from the river. Instead, I positioned the doors of the greenhouse South East knowing that in the spring, summer and fall this spot receives at least 6-8 hours of sun-rise to early afternoon sun before the cedars begin to cast shade over the site. The sun will make my plants grow without blistering the leaves and the shade will protect them from heavy afternoon sun. The picture below shows January sun at 3:00-3:30pm. Today we selected, and constructed the frame of the greenhouse. Jim bought 6 foundation blocks, readjusted them to fit 4x4 beams and put it all together.  Next weekend, we will anchor the structure, add the weed cloth and about 2-3 inches of pea gravel. SO CLOSE!...

  3 Hours The toughest part of today's construction - reading the plans and figuring out what it wanted us to do. This was an easier task for the engineer (I had to walk away once or twice). The panels for the top went in really easy. Just don't over think it - follow the plan and it will all work out. The doors were a nightmare and will need to be adjusted once it is on location.

  5 HOURS Today we added the sides and set up for the roof. The hardest part today was adding the triangle section at the back of the greenhouse. The directions are sketch and we practiced a lot of patience. We also looked up the measurements of the greenhouse online (they aren't in the directions). It showed that it should be 90.2" tall and the measurement of the garage door is 96" - so building in the garage should work! We'll just need a lot of friends to move it when the time comes. My legs are beat though! I have on a boot from surgery over the holidays and really had to watch what I did - geez! Jim just kept on going though - my energizer bunny. What was hard : The directions are wonky and you have to figure out some of the pictures.  What we learned : Power of the 'tap' - when in doubt, tap the structure until it all falls into place.

4 HOURS The Greenhouse was delivered in two long skinny boxes. One box held the pieces for the structure and the other box (that snapped open sometime during delivery) held the window slats. Jim's first statement: "Good thing I'm still in the Christmas Spirit." Well, Shut the Back Door! Good thing we watched videos on the "assembly" because people were NOT kidding about all the parts! Oh! And y ou will not be disappointed - the instructions are just as bad as everyone says; if you use the "parts page" to help you identify the pieces you need - it's not so bad (for now). Just go in with a positive attitude, don't tighten down anything and never force the aluminum - you'll be fine. We had to laugh, the first instruction said to unpack everything and count all the pieces ... you have to be kidding. Tonight we built the bottom, supports, 'front door' and back wall of the frame. It took a couple of hours. We are building most of it ...