Build your Own Green House! Green House Design Made Simple!
Having your own green house nursery is a dream of many gardeners. Imagine being able to walk through your own garden full of herbs and vegetables and beautiful plants protected from the elements and roving destructive insects and animals. If you have a green thumb this could be your idea of heaven and green house construction is not that hard which makes this an attractive project to get into.
Building a greenhouse requires first of all a decent amount of room, at least 10 meters by 20 meters is a good size but you can go much larger if you choose. The more compact the cheaper and easier of course but if you want small you can always get a DIY green house kit but the limitations on these are quite restrictive.
Next you need your materials:
-Wooden poles to construct doors and frames for each end of the green house and if quite a large greenhouse you may need more to prop up the roof. A strong end structure and centre are vital for sturdy construction. Make sure the wood is treated however as it can get quite damp and you do not want it to rot.
-6mm clear plastic, enough to cover the entire area of your greenhouse. Getting more than you need is ok as you may need to replace some sections as time goes on.
-Enough PVC piping to create the structure for the green house like a rib cage curving from the ground one side to the other. This is done in pieces not one long piece.
-Metal stakes, this is for hammering into the ground for a solid base for your PVC piping which then slide onto it to hold it in place.
-Duct tape, an essential part of any handyman's kit! You will need to use a fair bit of this to join pieces together.
-Hammer, nails and so on
While you may need a few other bits and bobs this is the main structure for your greenhouse. You will need to use the wood to create the doors and ends of the greenhouse making sure they are well propped up by hammering them deep into the round or by having some wooden poles propping the structure up on a 45 degree angle from the frame.
You then need to hammer the metal stakes into the ground at even intervals between the frames keeping them about 2 meters apart is about right. The metal stakes must line up on the left and right side also of course.
Once the stakes are on you can slot the PVC piping onto the metal stakes giving the PVC a good solid structure at the bottom so it can hold up your roof. Bend the PVC piping as much as you can so it makes a U shape over the top of where the green house will be and slide the other end into the metal stake at the other side.
This may mean you need to cut the PVC into smaller sections and use some small PVC flexible joiners you can buy from any hardware store.
By now you should have the frame for your green house and quite a study one. Now you need to put the plastic cover over your green house. This can be tricky and you may need to cut lengths to fit but using your duct tape and measuring well you should be able to create a cover for the whole structure and keep it in place with more duct tape or even by plastic ties if you choose, the cover must be attached to each piece of the structure so there is no movement. Do not forget to cut a door in the cover also!
The cover can be held in place at the ground by good duct taping or by some large heavy rocks; some have used tent pegs to tie it to the ground but whatever works best for you.
You now can build your own green house and can bring in all the extras you need to tend your green house nursery!
