Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Homemade Greenhouse - Do it Yourself Self Sufficiency

My vegetable gardening takes place in a homemade greenhouse near the house, and one just a stone's throw away. I've been known to engage in vegetable gardening outside, but with Wyoming's wind, hail and rabbit population, we're much better off under the protection of ripstop woven poly.

When I think about building these gardening structures, I can't help but think it's most certainly a statement of do it yourself self sufficiency.

The greenhouses aren't difficult to build, and they save me lots of money over the price of a kit. That's important to me because I practice frugal living. I try to make the most of my hard earned money.

I have no doubt that these gardening structures won't win any awards for engineering or good looks, but they grow vegetables very well, and I've never heard any of the vegetables complain about their accommodations. And, that's the main point - provide an environment conducive to growing vegetables.

For those of us who have looked carefully at the more "sexy" greenhouse kits, we've seen that they cost plenty of money. Some can run up as high as $20,000. Fancy greenhouses like that belong at the community botanical gardens or local arboretum. For my estate in the country I just need something that will work well and stand up to the high winds out here.

The main reasons I've settled on building homemade greenhouses are:

  • it's a fraction of the cost of a kit
  • parts are available from the local home improvement store
  • it can be entirely my design
  • I can make it as sturdy as I need to
  • scrap and recycled materials can be put to good use
  • outbuildings can be converted

Even if you buy a less expensive greenhouse kit, you still have to do it yourself when it comes to building the thing, so you might as well do the design work too. Creating something like this from scratch can be very satisfying.

And, when you get a tremendous bounty of vegetables - even year round - that's your real reward!

If you're looking for more detailed information about the purpose and function of a greenhouse, I invite you to take a look at this what is a greenhouse discussion.



Autor: Clair Schwan

Clair Schwan is a greenhouse gardener, frugal living enthusiast, and an individual who believes in the benefits of do it yourself projects. He designed and built his greenhouses with no previous experience, and they have been wonderful providers of produce. See his adventures in building homemade greenhouses at http://www.frugal-living-freedom.com/build-your-own-greenhouse.html where he has converted an old shop to better use, and built two other greenhouses out of steel tubing.


Added: December 22, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

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