Finally! A greenhouse!

Anyone who has known me for a long time, knows that I love to garden. I’m not always successful, and I had to relearn everything I thought I knew when we moved to North Carolina.

There have been good years and absolutely horrible years, usually caused by my lack of knowledge of the climate and differences in the two geographical areas. But every year I restart with high hopes, and a long held desire to have a proper greenhouse.

This year I finally had limited success at starting seeds. And I had an even larger desire to have a greenhouse. Not a plastic covered greenhouse but one with a real door and venting windows.

So last weekend, while it was on sale at Harbor Freight, I finally reconciled the want with the lack of wanting to spend the money and purchased a 6×8 greenhouse kit.

And we spent two full days building it. TWO FULL DAYS! I wasn’t prepared for that!

First day was spent setting up the base and filling it. Sounds simple enough, but there isn’t a flat spot on this property anywhere. So on one end it’s trenched in and on the other it’s on cement blocks to raise it.

This morning we started building the framework. BUT, the measurements for the base in the instructions are NOT the size needed for the framework. First strike against this project.

Eventually we resized the base and continued on with the build. The instructions leave something to be desired. The metal pieces aren’t all the size needed. Luckily M has many years of building knowledge and was able to drill new holes in the pieces to make them work. Strike two.

But we eventually had a frame, then upper windows in. And started on the door. Again, very poorly written instructions. But we persevered and managed to get all the panels in.

Of course we found panels damaged. Thankfully not enough to stop the build. But every bottom side panel had a damaged corner.

By the end of a second day, it’s together. There’s more work to do. We need to continue filling the floor as the soil we used compacted in last night’s rain. And there are shelves to be built. But this weekend when we go down into the 30’s overnight, my seedlings should stay warm. And I can walk in the door just by sliding it sideways. So all in all, although I wouldn’t recommend this brand unless you have some construction background, I’m extremely happy to finally have my little greenhouse that I’ve dreamed of for close to 40 years!