A couple months ago I put together my little 6’x8′ Harbor Freight greenhouse. It was an inexpensive greenhouse that I was hoping would be a good way to increase my growing area for my small nursery business. I thought it was time I gave an update on how the greenhouse is working out for me.
After one storm where a plastic window flew off the top of the greenhouse I haven’t had any other issues. I intended to secure the windows better but didn’t do anything more than add a couple extra clips. We’ve had several other storm storms and nothing has come loose. I’m planning on securing it and insulating it better so that it can be used in the winter.
I left the greenhouse unheated for now. I may heat it in the future but didn’t want to mess with it this year. The greenhouse stays about 5 degrees warmer than the outside temperatures at night when it’s cold. During the day when the sun is out the heat inside can get much higher. 15 degrees higher than the outside temperature is not unusual when it’s sunny outside. The greenhouse’s heat retention at night isn’t as great as I would like. That’s where insulating and caulking will help. Passive solar heating might be an option too. Passive solar heating is where the heat of the day is stored in containers like water barrels and releases itself at night into the greenhouse.
In the greenhouse I’ve been growing my tomato, cucumber, pepper, and melon seedlings for sale at the farmer’s market. Since I put in some shelves I’ve been able to house a good portion of my crop inside. I was even able put my Japanese maples inside the greenhouse to give them a jump start on growing.
Overall I’m satisfied except for one thing…space. I could easily fill another greenhouse of the same size with plants. In fact I probably could fill up pretty much any greenhouse! There’s just never enough space.