The Variegated Thumb

I actually moved the plants into the greenhouse nearly a week ago, but I am just now getting to posting pictures of the interior with the plants moved in.

I bought three wonderful shelving units from Aldi (discount grocery store) for a sale price that is less than half their normal going price.  They come with 5 shelves each and I only need 3-4 shelves for each unit, since I have to allow room for the height of the plants.  That left me with extra shelves, which I used to combine two units out of three kits!  My remaining kit is on the opposite wall.

Two units of kitchen shelves, combined to make 3.

I configured the heights of the shelves to allow for special plants that have trellises attached or are taller and need more head room.

Looking left once you enter the door.

Then I spent a good deal of time on Friday and Saturday of last week, moving all my plants from the garage or inside the house into their new home in the greenhouse.

Looking ahead and to the left once you enter the door.

I still have quite a bit of rearranging to do and have not made the best use of my space.  There are still some shelves that are empty, while there are a couple of plants sitting on the floor.

Looking ahead and to the right once you enter the door.

I’m sure I will be moving plants around quite a bit until I feel that everything is settled in place.

Looking to the right once you enter the door.

I also plan to hang a metal rod (which I have on hand) under the house eave, which will allow me to hang some hanging baskets in my greenhouse.  I might also put some hooks on some of the rafters, to allow me to hang more plants over time.  But we’ll just see what types of plants I end up acquiring in the future!

View of the exterior of the greenhouse this morning.

See other phases of the project here:

• Initial Plans
• Phase 1: Masonry
• Phase 2: Staining
• Phase 3: Anchoring
• Phase 4: Framing
• Phase 5: Polycarbonate
• First heater night
• Phase 6: Move-in Day

Temperature over the last 72 hours in my greenhouse (click for larger image)

The plot above shows a sawtooth pattern when the heater is kicking on and off.  You can see the night when my heater came on 12 different times over a 9 hour period.  The following two nights the temperature gradually decreased, but never low enough to trigger the heater.

I should state, that I am still not finished with the greenhouse.  The soffits are still open, so I have simply stuffed a couple towels in the gaping holes to keep air from leaking out of the eaves for the time being.  I should get the soffits attached later this week.

Also, I just finished the trim around the door and put weather stripping in place on Monday, which probably helped the greenhouse stay warmer over the last two nights.

I still haven’t had a big test with a freeze outside, but I feel pretty confident now that with the soffits in place, my heater will keep the interior right around 60 degrees, which will make my plants very happy.

Stay tuned for pictures of my finishing touches and the plants in place!

See other phases of the project here:

• Initial Plans
• Phase 1: Masonry
• Phase 2: Staining
• Phase 3: Anchoring
• Phase 4: Framing
• Phase 5: Polycarbonate
• First heater night
• Phase 6: Move-in Day

The greenhouse is coming along.  Unfortunately the cold weather came before I finished, so Christie and I spent about an hour last Friday night, hauling all of my plants into the garage.

The final component (besides the details) to the greenhouse construction is the fastening of the walls and roof.  The material I have chosen to use is triple-wall polycarbonate panels.  These panels come in 6′ by 24′ sheets.  Yes, you read that right: twenty-four feet long.  The double-wall polycarbonate comes in much more manageable sizes because it is more commonly used.  The triple-wall is generally delivered in big trucks to the site of the greenhouse and assembled by a crew.  It’s not commonly used for hobby greenhouses the size of mine.  When we picked up the panels at the greenhouse supply store in Oklahoma City, we had to take a circular saw with us and cut the polycarbonate on site so that it would fit in our trailer.

Then I made the mistake of unloading the polycarbonate in the backyard and letting it sit in the rain for a week.  The rain doesn’t hurt the polycarbonate, but I had not capped off the ends and prepared them for hanging, so the walls filled with water.  The water is not easy to remove, let me add.

We had to use a combination of hair dryer, leaf blower, heater and dehumidifier to remove the moisture in the walls.

Open end of polycarbonate panel, taped with clear breathable medical tape to allow water to run out the bottom end.

Next we had to do the normal preparation for hanging the panels.  Before a panel is hung, you must first cap off the top of the panel with aluminum tape and then a u-shaped bracket of polycarbonate.  The bottom of the panel is capped off with porous tape (to allow condensation draining) and then another u-shaped bracket.

First panel being installed. The film with labels was removed after the panel was attached.

Seam of two panels meeting at a stud. You can barely notice.

After a couple of hours of work on both Saturday and Sunday, we had hung all of the walls and only had the roof left.  By that time we were pretty proficient in terms of taping and capping the panels.  The only difficulty with the roof was being able to reach over to screw the panels into the rafters.

Multiple panels fitting together over the door. You can see the aluminum tape used to cap the top sides of the panels.

View of greenhouse with all polycarbonate panels installed. You can't really see the greenhouse roof from this angle, but trust me - it looks just like the walls.

View inside of the greenhouse through the doorway.

There is still plenty of work to do in order for my greenhouse to be plant ready: caulking, finish the door installation, attach the soffits (which are currently open), stain any remaining unfinished wood.

In my next greenhouse update, I’ll take you inside to see the shelves that I have purchased!

See other phases of the project here:

• Initial Plans
• Phase 1: Masonry
• Phase 2: Staining
• Phase 3: Anchoring
• Phase 4: Framing
• Phase 5: Polycarbonate
• First heater night
• Phase 6: Move-in Day

After a couple of weeks of inactivity, we began framing on Sunday.  In fact, we did more than begin!  My father-in-law has framing experience from building several houses, 1 wedding chapel and a number of other projects.  He has been a huge help.  In fact, he’s pretty much been doing the framing while I hand him the tools. :)  But I’m learning.

Bolting down the first wall

Even with several snags along the way, all of the walls were erected in a mere 5 hours.  That included a couple of breaks to go and get supplies and to partake of refreshments and dinner.

End rafters added and long wall studs being placed.

The end rafters were also mounted.  At the end of the day, I couldn’t help but bring out one of my new shelving units and sit a couple of plants on it in the greenhouse.  I just wanted to get a feel for how much space the shelves would take up in the greenhouse.  It’s very exciting.

End of the first day, with all walls framed. Notice my nice shelf with a couple of future residents checking out their new home.

I’m sure that the finishing touches will take a while, but I am very encouraged to see how quickly it has gone up so far.  Soon we will be placing the door and adding the polycarbonate.  Stay tuned!

See other phases of the project here:

• Initial Plans
• Phase 1: Masonry
• Phase 2: Staining
• Phase 3: Anchoring
• Phase 4: Framing
• Phase 5: Polycarbonate
• First heater night
• Phase 6: Move-in Day

In order to tie the masonry base of the greenhouse to the framing above, I had to affix anchor bolts to the cinder block structure.  I used 10″ Simpson L-bolts and set them in concrete about every 3 feet along the top of the wall.

Anchor bolts placed in concrete

At the same time, I stuck a 24″ length of rebar in each of the concrete-filled holes, for better stability of the walls.  After drilling precisely-placed holes in the base boards of the framing, we can now attach the walls to the cinder block and everything will be very solid.

I am using 1×6 decking boards to cap off the holes of the cinder block wall.  These 1×6 boards will lay just beneath the regular 2×4 framing.  Drilling the holes in the correct location was not an easy task, but the first board is now attached and the others should be a little easier.

1x6 tied down with anchor bolts

As you can see, there is still plenty of room on the bolt to lay a single 2×4 lengthwise on top of the 1×6.  Assuming I measured correctly when I set the bolts in concrete, the nut should be just at the top of bolt when the 2×4 is attached.

Framing should start in about a week!

See other phases of the project here:

• Initial Plans
• Phase 1: Masonry
• Phase 2: Staining
• Phase 3: Anchoring
• Phase 4: Framing
• Phase 5: Polycarbonate
• First heater night
• Phase 6: Move-in Day