A Greenhouse for Less Than $200?

In the spring of 2016 we decided it was time we needed a green house. We had been collecting parts and pieces for the last year and finally had everything that we needed to put the green house together.

Here is the list of items needed and the cost for each:

Tempo frame: 20$ (Found at a garage sale)

Bolts, screws and tape: 50$ (Local COOP store)

Green house Plastic 24' x 24': 86$ (Les Serres Tessier)

Wiggle wire and track 40': 44$ (Les Serres Tessier)

Bug screen 36' wide: 15$ (Local COOP store)

Boards and 2" x 6"'s: (Milled ourselves)

Doors: Free, recuperated from a demolition project in our cottage.

Having no experience with green houses, we used the internet to source ideas for our build. Thank god for the internet and youtube.

We stared of by leveling out the area where the green house was going to be and laying down the footing, in this case some 2x6's. We then drilled out notches in the 2x6's where the hoops were going to sit.

Next, up went to tempo frame. With a few minor adjustments and a couple choice words, all of the pieces were fit together and bolted in place.

Now that the frame is standing, we need to close in the ends. Both ends were framed out to have a 30" door and windows on each side of the door. The windows are then covered with the bug screen to prevent unwanted pests from entering the greenhouse. A removable frame covered in plastic is made to take on and off of the widows for the cool nights. The doors that we had recuperated from the cottage were then hung at each end of the green house.

To cover in the greenhouse, we need to install the wiggle wire and track at the bottom on either side. For this we bolted a 12" wide board to the bottom of the hoops and screwed the wiggle wire tracks to the board. The 6 mil greenhouse plastic was then pulled over the top of the structure and attached with the wiggle wire.

We are now ready to plant. We set up some planting tables on one side of the greenhouse to use as a germination table and the other side we planted greenhouse tomatoes and peppers. We are quite happy with the results. This year we will be installing a better irrigation system to feed the house.

The whole project took 1 and a half days to finish.