Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

My father had a commercial chrysanthemum nursery in Mountain View, CA,
curiously listed as Zone 8b when I just looked it up.

Well anyway, I lived through many incarnations of my father's nursery, from
plain posts with cheesecloth covering in summer and plastic during the
winters, fiberglass and regular glass. I doubt that it was tempered glass
that was used on the glass houses because when my dad sold the nursery and
it was being dismantled to be moved to Watsonville to become a rose
greenhouse, the glass shattered rather easily. The earlier greenhouses were
constructed by my father and crew, the later greenhouses were commercially
built onsite and ended up with some pretty sophisticated commercial climate
controls.

If you are in an area of a lot of precipitation, I would tend to think that
a more solid roof would work better for you. If do use poly, be sure to
wrap it around furring strips before you tack it down, otherwise it will
tear. We did have poly for roofs, but it had to be replaced every year, and
we often had tears when it was windy. The corrugated translucent fiberglass
actually worked pretty well too, just be sure to use the filler strips to
keep the heat in the greenhouse. Not the prettiest stuff, but very
functional, inexpensive and a step above poly.

Actually the thought of using a concrete or block curb wall sounds appealing
to me because of the thermal mass helps to regulate temperatures in the
greenhouse. We had very little bottom curb on our greenhouses. My personal
feeling is that a hoop style greenhouse may be difficult to install on
sloping ground.

My personal fantasy is to have a south facing greenhouse with removable
panels and trellises inside - screened during summer and glazed during
winter. But that's just a fantasy at the moment.

K.

On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 8:54 PM, dlbww <derekandlinda@shaw.ca> wrote:

>
>
> I have been searching through back posts of this group, perusing the
> Internet but still haven't had that eureka moment for a suitable greenhouse
> design.
>
> Where I want to build the greenhouse(s) is south facing and sloping. I'm
> thinking of a concrete or block curb wall, tempered glass panels (34"x76")
> for the sides and perhaps UV poly over a hand-built truss roof system. Or
> should I use glass panels on the roof as well? I'm thinking something like
> 15' x 30' in size. Or should I be looking at a metal hoop style greenhouse
> and use poly? I want the option of using this through the mild winters we
> get here (Salt Spring Island, BC, USDA zone 9).
> Any suggestions, websites, etc. would be appreciated.
>
> Derek
>
>
>

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