God, Yes! Yes about a thousand times. Sorry to be your enabler, but, Yes, Yes, Yes, you want a greenhouse! If you don't, feel free to buy it for me.

Seriously, if you put one up, pretty soon you will wonder why you didn't do it years ago.

It will make the whole seed starting thing so much easier. And, in your climate/region, you should be able to use it virtually year 'round, which isn't a luxury I have here -- it's just too prohibitively expensive to heat them in the winter up here.

Seedlings grow in about half the time and are far healthier than indoors under lights.

Honestly, there aren't really any "cons" to owning one. There may be pro's and con's about the individual model you buy -- the main thing to look out for is that it seems to be sturdy enough for your weather conditions. I doubt that you will have to deal with heavy snow loads where you are, but you probably will have to deal with wind storms and also intense ultraviolet light, which can degrade coverings quickly. If you're thinking about getting one of the temporary/seasonal types, with the zip-on tent-style covering, you probably can just take it down after the seed-starting season is over, so that the cover isn't sitting there baking in the intense summer sun.

However, if you get something a little more permanent, like a lexan type greenhouse, you would be able to use it in the fall and winter where you are to grow hardy salad greens, herbs, and so forth. And, in the heat of summer, if it's too hot to grow plants in there, they also make excellent fast-drying chambers for vegetables, fruit, and dried flowers and herbs.

Honestly, I can't think of a "down" side, except that it's the gateway drug to even MORE gardening.

I had a 6x8 Harbor Freight GH for a few years and I LOVED IT.
The only problem was the assembly was nuts (there was a whole website forum thing on the troubles of building them!)and I filled it up in NO TIME!!!!I wanted a bigger one!
Unfortunately, we have some pretty bad wind shears during the winter and it eventually fell apart.
Do your homework on quality.
You will LOVE it! I loved going out and sitting on a lawn chair and reading during the winter. So toasty! NT

I use this in the spring to start flats of transplants, and then generally use it in the summer to grow plants that benefit from the extra heat in my climate. Last summer, I grew pots of peanuts in it.

PS -- pardon the mess in there. It's not usually that bad -- ok, yes it is. Spring is an all out frenzy for me, and I just throw things and pick it up later.

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Outside view:

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I have one of those 8X10, and it never did anything for me. I anchored it to the ground properly, but without a good seal, inside the temps were only 2F less than outside at night.
So now I am back to inside the house, plus some direct seeding in my well sealed hoop houses.

Whether or not supplemental heat is required is largely a function of what you're trying to grow and when you're trying t grow it.

As a rule, I don't heat mine. I start using it late March for the most hardy thing -- peas, onions, fava beans, larkspur, etc. By the first of May I can seed corn, tomatoes, peppers. It gives me about a 2-4 week jump on the outdoor growing conditions.

I do have a couple of kerosene heaters in there -- just for frosty nights in May, like we had last year on the Monday and Tuesday after Mother's day. Otherwise, yes, it can frost even INSIDE of the hoophouse. I've had things set back, but not really killed, by frosts inside the hoophouse when I didn't expect them and didn't take measures to prevent damage.

A greenhouse requires a heater. All you get is a couple of temps difference from outdoors as noted above. Add a correctly sized heater and voila, you can do what I am about to do, pick tomatoes in January. I use a wood heater to keep my 23' X 32' greenhouse warm enough for most veggies.

DarJones

If I were growing for market I'd want nothing short of a real hoop house. But since I'm not...

I live somewhere where I can harvest something fresh all year round. I may get tired of winter hardy greens and squash and roots from storage, but that's part of what makes spring something to yearn for.

I do know from having one at work that it warms up quickly in there. So you really need to be there sitting with it daily. If you leave for the weekend someone needs to be there to open doors to keep it from cooking the plants.

It does need some attention. What I generally do is open the doors first thing in the morning before I go to work, and I learned the hard way to use secure hooks and eyes or a heavy object to ENSURE they stay open. I had the wind blow them shut on a hot, clear, windy day and cook stuff one time, although the majority of it did survive.

As far as daytime watering, when it gets hot and the plants are larger, they definitely appreciate being watered mid-afternoon. But, if it's just not possible, they will survive with a heavy watering in the morning, and another watering as soon as I get home from work. If I know I'm really pressed for time in the morning, I will drench them just before I shut the greenhouse up for the night.

Also, it's a good idea to run a fan in there for air circulation overnight -- the moisture level can make things get diseases/rot.

The subject line is simply a rhetorical question. The real question is 'Can I afford a greenhouse?'.

I second Denn's assertion about mold. I'm having issues with my lettuce right now as they get covered with all the snow. I'm spraying neem about every 5-6 days to keep the stuff down.

The sun heats my low tunnels, but I'm in Colo and it is more important to vent. I use water to retain heat and right now in my tunnel with the thermometer it is 40F inside and 2F outside with wind (6 inches of snow on top too).

Dan

Everybody who has ever found themselves 'yearning for spring' wants a greenhouse.

Now, having said that, once you get it you may, or may not, loath the day you got it. When I got my first one in Phoenix I took some of my favorite Sansevieria propagation experiments out the to greenhouse. Came home from work and they were all cooked. Then I moved it to Salt Lake City my and my heating bill caused me to close it down.

They are much fun and sometimes, repeat sometimes, very tricky. Were you further west I would recommend a lath house that could be covered with plastic part of the year. I don't know how lath houses behave in 7-8 MS.

Wow. Thank you all so much for all this information. I need to digest...Denni, is your greenhouse actually a hoophouse covered with plastic? If so, what do you say to the poster who said a plastic (zip) house only makes a couple of degrees difference in the ouside temperature?

I like the idea of setting it up temporarily in February to start seedlings and then putting it away in April as I plant out. I need to go back to Lowe's and take a closer look....just as soon as the icy roads thaw out....probably by noon.

I built mine using 4x4s, 2x4s, old windows and plastic, plus wood for the north wall. It is a reminder during winter (not enough sun to make growing veggies feasible, but it comes in handy in spring and fall.

One thing that is needed unless your temps and sunlight never vary much - an automatic vent opener. It doesn't need to be expensive, there is one that works on hydraulics alone. As the temps rise, the vent opens.

I would never trust being able to open or shut the door or vent unless I was never gone for more than a couple of hours at a time. Last spring, we had predictions of a cloudy, chilly day; no sun and highs maybe approaching 50. I left the door closed as it was 42 when I left at 10 am. That afternoon, the sun came out very strong and the temps got up to 60. It was 135 inside my GH and I had a bunch of fried green tomatoes.

Watering was never a problem - I grew in either 5-gal buckets using DWC hydro or in 7-gallon nursery pots. I buried all of them up to their top. Even the pots with soil needed watered no more than once a week.

I plan on starting a few thousand seeds inside this spring.

Mike

Donna asked: "Denni, is your greenhouse actually a hoophouse covered with plastic? If so, what do you say to the poster who said a plastic (zip) house only makes a couple of degrees difference in the ouside temperature?"

Yes, my greenhouse is an actual Hoophouse brand hoophouse. I bought it from Johnny's Selected Seeds back in the winter of 1994. It is covered with a double layer of GT Plastics 6 mil, 4 year greenhouse poly that I bought from Greenhousemegastore.com (which is a seriously dangerous place to shop, all kinds of goodies and great service).

I would say I get about a 5 degree temperature gain in mine on a cold night. Mine is 32 x 10 feet. Remember, though, a smaller greenhouse will cool off more. Weather conditions make a difference, too -- I've found that clear, cold nights with a hard frost or freeze outside result in a bigger drop in the greenhouse versus a cloudy night without a frost even if the outside temp ultimately gets to be about the same (if that makes sense!).

Frost is something you need to watch out for. When the outside temp drops into the upper 20's, you can definitely have a freeze INSIDE an unheated greenhouse. The options are to 1) heat the greenhouse, either on an ongoing basis or just on an as-needed basis, which is what I do; 2) use thermal protection INSIDE the greenhouse, by covering the plants with row cover, sheets, etc., which I've also done many times; 3) add "thermal mass" to the greenhouse to trap heat -- barrels of water, rocks, etc.

I think for the purposes of this discussion, we should differentiate between a heated, year around greenhouse and an unheated hoophouse/coldframe setup used only at certain times of the year to extend the season. The latter is what I do with mine. And, as I said, I can plant crop X in there generally 2 to 4 weeks before it would be safe to direct sow it outdoors. And, that is more than enough time for it to get things to grow to transplant size -- most of my plants are BEGGING for me to get them into the ground by the time I do so.

I bought a cheap plastic greenhouse last winter. Loved it for March-May...after that i find it to hard to maintain the temps. Even with the doors open it was like 100F+ in there. Even in March I was seeing 90F temps.

They are awesome for starting seeds/getting plants going early. I plan on using it only for seed starting. Even nights with temps down into the low 20Fs, i still left even tropicals in there and they did fine (with a blanket over them).

If i had the means I'd have a huge glass greenhouse with heat, lighting, etc. I wouldn't monkey around and would have ripe mangoes right now :) :)! I would also have real monkeys and it would be clothing optional!

"I wouldn't monkey around and would have ripe mangoes right now :) :)! I would also have real monkeys and it would be clothing optional!"

Well, Frank, if we ever hear about a naked man getting arrested and hauled off to jail from amongst the foliage at the Bolz Conservatory in Madison, I guess we'll come up with a bail fund and spring you. But only if you promise to stay fully clothed in public thereafter. :-).

Frank,

I would probably keep the monkeys out - they would likely start tomato fights!

If I had the means, I would make Eurofresh's operation seems like a backyard grow!

Next winter, I may look at another grow, this one with supplemental lights. Run them from 4 pm to 8 am. Add a layer of six mill clear plastic on the outside. I'm not sure if 1800 watts of MH light would provide enough heat to cover 144 sq. ft. but I would have room for about 35 tomato plants.

My plants grew good the last time, but I simply didn't have the light to get them to the point where blooms turned into fruit.

I guess a lot will depend on how my spring plant sales and summer/fall grow goes.

Mike

If monkeys hurl nothing worse than tomatoes, consider yourself lucky.

In answer to OP's question: Yes. Yes, I do. A nice big one against the south side of the house so I could go right out of the door and into a sunroom. YMMV, but I'd guess that you want one too.

As long as we are dreaming I also want a geodesic dome big enough to grow tropical trees like durians, mangosteens, rambutans, bananas, etc. and I also want a pony.

I have thought of a greenhouse lots of times. I probably would have gotten one a long time ago, if I actually had a larger lot and enough sun to justify one. But now, I'm really glad I didn't. I don't have one. I've never had one, so any comments I make are based on not experiencing one.

I guess when investigating the option seriously a long time ago, I realized that unless it was heated, it wasn't going to give me what I wanted. Heating a greenhouse seemed like an expense that I didn't want. Another reason I finally decided not to get one, was that I didn't want something more to take care of. Unless I had the money to buy an attractive glass greenhouse, that fit onto the house that would be an extension of my house, that I could actually sit inside and use as a 'winter retreat' that would grow tropicals all winter, then it wouldn't fit that 'fantasy' that I was yearning for.

Reading Eliot Coleman, I wanted a hoop house. Looking at photos of his, it seems to me that he has at least one attached to his house somehow. He manages to harvest all winter and uses hoop houses to accomplish that and if I were in the position to garden intensively and do the work that he does, I might try to follow his example.

But I don't garden so intensively, that time is past. I have a small garden, and each year, the plants I've added mature and I have less and less room for new additions. I used to start seed indoors under lights, but stopped doing that for over five years. Then I stumbled upon the winter sowing forum and tried that method of starting seed and I loved it. It fit my own needs and style perfectly. I think it accomplishes what I would use a greenhouse for, without all the hassle and expense of having one. But I'm not trying to have mangos in the winter.

I also thought that the greenhouse would be a pretty uncomfortable place to be during the hottest months of the year when I would be hiding in my air conditioned bedroom.

I did have a book out of the library recently called 'Paradise under glass : an amateur creates a conservatory garden' by Ruth Kassinger. A very interesting book of the whole process of how this woman decided she wanted some sort of indoor conservatory. She was actually inspired by a chance visit to a botanical conservatory in winter. She had work done on her house to accomplish what she wanted and was very happy with the outcome. An interesting winter read. It was fun, but it didn't make me feel like I wanted a greenhouse again. [g]

I started out with a small standing greenhouse

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and ended up with a small Harbor Freight walk in one.

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Sold that and ended up with a smaller glass one.

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It can be addictive.

The cons with the big HF one was I didn't really need one that big so didn't really utilize the space. I didn't have to heat mine here on Central Coast CA, but had the opposite problem of heat. The GH season is short here with temperatures going from 30's at night to 80 deg. days.(Feb.). It is hard to have a large greenhouse with that kind of temperature range.

I had to get a thermostat controled fan (expensive) so it would come on when the GH reached a certain temperature. It never did work right. I also had to put in misters on a timer to cool things down. It also wouldn't always work right. And I had the problem with the panels blowing out during winter wind storms. Once I had to search our 2.5 acres to find them after a really bad storm. That's when I decided to sell it.

It is easier to control the temperature in my smaller glass one because I can open all the windows on top and bottom and even the roof. I can even remove all the glass during summer and use it as a cutting and seed starting area. The glass is fitted better and I have never had a problem with blow out during storms.

You should check out the greenhouse forum if you are serious about getting one. Lots of good information there.
Clare