| Nice lookiing greenhouse, Datdog! I'm guessing about 8x10? Certainly can't beat the price! Have you visited the Greehouse & Garden Structures forum? You'll find lots of information over there. My little 6x8' GH has 4mm twinwall polycarbonate, so what I know of glass is only through reading. Since it's single-pane glass, you'll probably find it will heat up, and cool off, more quickly than a double-walled structure. You may need to provide some shade (shade cloth, lattice on the roof, etc.) to prevent burning of your plants. A lot of people have added different types of insulation to their greenhouses to take the sting out of the heating bills in winter. I use 1" foam board on the north wall and north 1/3 of the east and west walls, lots of water jugs inside for thermal mass, and wrap the whole thing in a clear solar pool cover. Heat it with a 1500 watt convection heater (really wanted an oil-filled, but couldn't get my hands on one quickly and cold weather was setting in) and keep a small catalytic propane heater on hand in case of a power outage. Based on our assembly experience, I don't think you should have too difficult a time of it, as long as you can identify the pieces correctly. The directions that came with ours were sometimes more of a hindrance than a help anyway. Thanks to the good folks in the Greenhouses forum who posted photos and tips from assembling their own Harbor Freight Greenhouses, and some common sense, my adult son and I managed to assemble it in one day's time. I expect you'll really enjoy your new gardening space ... and will bet anything that before long you'll find yourself "extending the season" much longer than you'd anticipated. My first year was going to be just an experimental year; I tossed the containers of annuals in there ... oh, and the potted cherry tomato plants, too, to see what would happen. Might as well put in the herbs to grow through winter. Saw some nice tropicals in HD, and found my orchids really liked it better out there than in the house ... and then in the dull of winter planted mixed salad greens in window boxes and sugar snap peas in a 5-gallon pot (started them on white birch branches left over from Christmas, but they soon graduated to a bamboo tripod and seemed intent upon taking over the greenhouse when, thankfully, weather turned warm enough to move them outside) ... anyway, we were eating those peas in mid-March, just about the time to sow the seeds outside. Realizing, by the second winter, that I was already beyond hope, I invested in a small Meyer Lemon. And it all starts soooo innocently. But, no matter what, I always make sure to leave room for a chair! It's still a great place to retreat to and relax. Where are you? I'm in Monmouth County and if I can help in any way, I will (always willing to be an enabler, lol). Diane |
