Project 1: The mini greenhouses.

I mentioned in an earlier post I was working on some greenhouses/cold frames. It took me a while to get the details worked out and I finally decided it was not worth the effort to make them have a 50 degree angle which is ideal for my latitude. I instead made them have a 45 which is much easier to work with, especially when you’re just a novice carpenter like me.

My design starts with a primitive footing made of a single layer of reused clay bricks. The "footing" is mostly to keep the wood off the soil so it will last longer. I then used various scrap wood to create a frame that allows the recycled windows to lay flat. This design allows me to use a window anywhere from 26 to 38 inches because the windows do not fit into the opening. This design is less efficient for insulating purposes but much better for using recycled windows shall they ever need replaced. The only things I have bought are a few hinges, some expanding foam insulation and some white styrofoam insulation. I also used some hand-me-down solar blanket scraps on the masonry wall to help warm it for heat storage. The idea is that the heated wall will radiate heat through cold winter nights and keep the plants alive. I am not going to go into the details of it all but if you’re interested contact me and I could try my best to sum it up or search the internet for “solar heated greenhouse” and you will quickly find the large scale versions of what I am experimenting with.

In the first house I transplanted and direct seeded spinach. My hope is to be able to harvest through most of winter. In the second house I plan to direct seed lettuce which I still need to order. Hopefully all works out but worst case scenario I will have some killer cold frames for starting seeds in.

Keep checking back for pictures of project 2: The new Compost bins.