Well we finally finished the greenhouse… it’s up and running at least 🙂
I still have some plans for more permanent shelves and such but we made do with what we had on hand for now and it’s working out.
This is the 10×12 greenhouse from Harbor Freight. If you watch some videos on YouTube you will find that there are many with a love/hate kind of feeling about these.
It was a great value when we got it for 50% off and it was fairly quick to put together. We probably could have completed it in 2-3 days, if we had dedicated some time to the project and we hadn’t had a polar vortex come through.
The temperature definitely heats up in there during the day and that will be a major plus during our cooler months. It is also very large but also very tall which means I can’t reach the windows in the top… we will probably just fix them closed as they operate quite tight anyway.
It did have its share of difficulties during the installation process as the instructions weren’t very clear. The doors don’t slide very well either and one tends to pop off track quite easily… this may end up being a project in the future to frame out some new doors.
All in all it was a great way to get a greenhouse up and running in a short amount of time. We do plan to build a bigger one in the future but with other home projects that need to be done first we really couldn’t focus on plans for that right now.
We’ll update any other modifications we make later on but some of the things we did to try to make it as secure as possible … because we do have hurricanes… was to put down a level pad of our clay like dirt that sets like concrete. We built a base out of 4x4s and lagged them together and then attached the frame of the greenhouse to the base. The base is also anchored into the ground with 2 foot anchors.
I purchased some of the metal tape for the tops and bottoms of the panels but that proved to be too time consuming and I didn’t end using it but we did use some self-tapping screws for attaching the panels. The greenhouse comes with clips but they can be a pain to put on. We did use a combination of clips/screws for the side panels but the roof was just screwed on as it would have been extremely difficult to get the clips in place.
I bought the 1 inch screws but the 3/4 inch h would probably work better and not stick out as far. We ended up needing 2 packages of them.
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This thing is pretty tall… I really couldn’t help with any of the ceiling because I was just too short. I was able to do a lot of the assembly of the other parts though and I did provide moral support and encouragement.
Another shocking thing to note was that when you peel the film off the panels there is a lot of static! We saw sparks between us several times and it did hurt to get zapped but once the panels were on we didn’t have any more problems.
I purchased a set of fans but I won’t link them as I’m not sure that they are going to work out well yet. I do love the solar lights though! They came with a remote and timer as well… so nice for working in the dark. I think they will come in extra handy when the days are hot and I want to work in the cooler evenings.
We also repurposed the old magnetic screen from the house. We took it down when we did the living room makeover last year. It does have a couple of small holes that need to patch but it should definitely help with the bugs!
I think it all looks pretty good and I’m proud of us for accomplishing this task… one item marked off of our To-Do list for 2025. Now to plan the garden beds for around this greenhouse… lol. I’m thinking an herb garden, maybe a tea garden, and lots of flowers… of course 🙂 We’re going to need as many flowers as we can get our hands on as we have some major landscaping to do in different areas and we have another BABY SHOWER to prepare for later this year… WE ARE SO BLESSED!
We are very thankful that God has allowed us this opportunity to grow and share with others… nothing is possible without him!
We pray that you have an amazing week!
May God bless you in all that you do!
P.S.
Have you ever tried the ‘Seed Snail’ method of starting seeds? We are giving it a go and we will try to update if things go well 🙂
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