My co-habitator had built a shed in the back corner of the backyard for practical storage purposes. It got me thinking about growing someting other than flowers and how I could go about doing that in the back yard. We quickly determined it would be most helpful if I had a greenhouse and I was adament that I pay for it. I didn't want to spend more than $1000 total on the greenhouse. Similar to the shed, we had to come up with our own foundation and flooring and that would be part of my budget. The majority of the greenhouses that I wanted to afford were not sturdy enough or did not come with more than 2 short shelves. So shelving had to be added into that $1000 budget.

So I had to determine if I wanted a walk-in greenhouse that stored all my hand tools, dirt, fertilizer, etc. or if I wanted little raised beds with greenhouse like covers attached by hinges and all my tools, dirt, etc. got a small nook in the shed. I obviously opted for the walk-in option and decided on a location next to the shed. My co-habitator and friends put together the frame of the foundation and filled with pea gravel. They sort of flattened the pea gravel and then put down the wooden flooring. I would NOT suggest this. put the pea gravel down if you like, but compact it and put down the nice flooring after you're done building the greenhouse. My flooring got muddy instantly and no amount of scrubbing with soap will make that wood clean again. I love the end product, but I would definitely do the flooring in a different order next time.

Once the foundation and flooring were done (this part took the longest because I believe they had to cut the flooring squares down on two sides and snap them all together which was a challenge on flooring other than a cement pad), the frame went up fairly easily. Ours was erected on a super hot summer day and we opted to use the mist feater on the spray nozzle and had it sit on the lawn mower to keep the men more comfortable. It worked really well and will likely be used again in any future summer builds. Because this is Utah and it gets HOT.

Back to the greenhouse build...the more frame that was put together, the stronger the structure became and boy was it exciting seeing it come together! The plastic panels took us a second to figure out, but again, pretty slick and straight forward. Co-habitator has plans to add gadgets to digitize when the skylights open and the fan turns on because the interior temp reaches a certain temp and everything closes when the temp drops down. We also have plans to add a solar panel or two to the top of the shed with battery packs so that the greenhouse can have heat in the winter and some sort of cooling or air flow in the summer all powered by solar. The goal is that there is no extension cord running across the yard to this corner. Co-habitator acquired solar lights and a solar fan, but MAN are those LED lights bright! I really wanted something warm and cozy for those short winter days when I want to check on my happy little plants and not confuse them with bright light during night-time. I acquired one strand of warm LED wire strands of lights on Amazon. When we went back to Ikea, I also picked up a few more to add, but I haven't gotten around to adding the lights. The strands of lights are all battery operated and not solar, but I'm okay with that. I just have to remember to turn them off before I leave. Memory is not my strongest quality, hence this blog!

Co-habitator proposed marriage (now to be called fiancee, yay!) and we went on a pre-planned vacation to Iowa. Once home again I took the Ikea flooring up and did my best to flatten the pea gravel as best as one human could and put the flooring back down. This was a pain. Again, not the flooring order I would recommend! I then started puting together the Ikea shelves. Oh, what fun! I really like the solid pine shelves and you could essentially build your own layout. I fell in love with the corner shelves, they worked well with the shallow shelves, but I knew I wanted one deeper shelf that I could put my pots on for transplanting. The shelves come with hooks you can purchase that you can screw into the wood, but I've found they are snug enough to hold a mesh bag for my gloves, a rubber knee mat, scissors, trash bag, etc. Ikea also has these awesome containers that the lid has a hinge in the top so that you can fold it open and easily access soil. Or you can simply lift the lid off if you want a fuller access to the contents.

In early 2020 I got stir crazy and wanted to start planting, but we've since had 2 snow falls. So the finacee and I have acquired AcuRite thermometer, hub, and a weather station. The hub is set up inside the house and I have a thermometer in the greenhouse next to my $2 AcuRite mercury thermometer. The weather station is not up just yet, we need to get it above the shed by 5 feet somehow. AcuRite is pretty awesome though because I can see the greenhouse temp from my smart phone. I can also set up notifications of when it goes above a certain temp or drops below a certain temp. This has been useful for me and when to open up the skylights and when to close the skylights. I currently cannot keep it from freezing at night. I've come across insulating the walls with water and other materials, but I don't want it to look like a hot mess or take up more room inside my little greenhouse. We have several months to come up with a solution for this winter, I'm sure we will come up with something perfect for the space. Until then, I'll wait until it stops dropping below 50 degrees at night to purchase veggie starts. Next year I hope to start my veggies from seed, but that will require a heat source.