The orientation of a gh is dependent upon the angle of the sun found in your zone, how the sun hours impact your site, the style of construction, and where the balance is desired between solar heat and sunlight for plants. Most folks orient a "long wall" facing south, which is probably the best for zones 6 and lower. In more southern zones, the angle of the sun is high enough for enough of the year such that maximizing light is not necessarily an issue. In these cases, having a long wall facing east can help reduce heating costs if there's an unobstructed view to the rising sun. The low angle of the sun just coming up over the horizon will quickly heat the interior in the morning after a cold night. A "saltbox"-type gh would probably do best with a SE orientation. A SE orientation may be best for a conventional design in a colder zone, depending upon the light-hours you receive on your property. My gh receives absolutely no western light, so I've set it up with a long wall facing east, which gives me the early-morning benefit I mentioned. I grow orchids, so my heating and light needs are different than, say, someone who's just using the gh to start seeds in late winter, or overwinter some plants that are mostly dormant. There have been occasions when my temps inside the gh dropped into the low 30s (with no damage to my plants), however, I try to keep the lows above 50F. Different plants have different requirements with respect to temp ranges and light, so that impacts the choice of gh orientation as well. I don't mean to confuse you by giving you more information than you asked for...just helping you to understand some different factors that can impact your choice of how your structure is built. BTW, you mentioned the use of heat sinks. There has been a lot of discussion of passive solar in this Forum, with some folks swearing by it. However, on a small scale, passive is not really worth the space it occupies, because the efficiency of how quickly the storage charges during the day vs. the rate of discharging at night is pretty poor. Active solar is much better, but requires a lot more materials and planning. If you want the tank for your fish, that's one thing, but don't count on it to do much in terms of moderating temps. Your BTU requirements on a cold winter night will be MUCH higher than can come from a lukewarm barrel or tank. -Bruce

Maryanne and Turquoise: Again: everything depends on intended use. In any climate subjected to sub-freezing temps, let alone sub-zero, if a GH is to be heated and used year round, ground insulation is vital, presuming you don't want to spend more to heat the GH than you do your home. But for only seasonal use, and it's not fall season extention that's the challenge, as by the time the leaves are falling after a hot midwestern summer, the ground inside a GH is nice and toasty and will stay warm for quite a while, even after after the first frost. It's bringing it back up after months of hard freeze, when you would presumably want to jump start seeding plants. If I were planning only seasonal use and had no drains, I would still use foam insulating panels, but limit them to the perimiter and rent a Ditchwitch, to cut a deep, narrow trench all around the GH base and set them in upright. Also, I would install a drywell into the center of the GH, as a simple yet effective way to get rid of excess water, especially when the surface of the ground outside of the GH is still either frozen, or already saturated from spring thaws. For that, either rent a post hole digger with the largest auger, or get onto the working end of an idiot stick and start digging. To line a drywell, just cut out the bottom of a very large, tall plastic garbage can, set it into the hole, fill it with rocks- 4-6" road base stone is good, then lay a piece of heavy vinyl or aluminum screening over it, to prevent small stones and dirt from draining into it and eventually cloging the spaces beteween the rocks. That also allows the use of small stone for the GH floor, such as pea gravel. The screening will prevent the pea gravel from falling into the drywell. It also means a bit of grading inside of the GH foundation, but not much; just enough to aim excess water to the center. Then, lay heavy weed blocker fabric over floor, level with the top of the drywell, check the slope with a garden hose, and when it's all where you want it, fill in the entire space with small gravel. Road mix is easy to rake, and will pack down to a nice firm surface, but I prefer pea gravel myself. It's costlier, but also drains a lot better and is comfortable to walk on. Either way; no weeds or puddles. You can then use patio blocks or brick for your walking paths if you want, or just lay more fabric down, to prevent disturbing the small gravel. But for any drywell to be effective in cold country, it must be below frost line at the bottom. The deeper the better. If it's necessary to extend the length of the garbage can, just use two. Cut the bottoms out of both, then set the top one into into the bottom can to the desired height and run in a few bolts to hold them together. Once it's all in the ground and the outside has been packed in well and the center filled with rocks, it won't move or separate. Also: I admit that I keep harping on it, and maybe it's just me, but I will NOT have mice in my GH... If you lay 2 ft wide, 1/2" mesh hardware cloth just under your timber base and out, then secure it down, no mouse will ever burrow under the base and into your GH.

We were very nervous about strong winds. I read that the important thing is to make sure the tunnel is closed up. Due to worry about snow and ice, my husband chose a typical cape cod style roof/wood frame construction. The snow usually slides off, even on the north side but it is also brushed off. You don't want wind to get inside that might lift the structure. We had a 10' long portable low tunnel covered in Agribon fabric blow across the field and over a stone wall. We have only been thru one winter. I noticed that I have earthworms in the beds on the north side but none in the beds on the south side. Temps got over 100 F even with the sides rolled up. One have a double door on one side (west) that is left open during the summer.

Hi Denise, You have an inflo which looks like a little tree, right? :) It takes about a month or so from the time you see it before the flower blossoms open. Plumeria are sort of like a succulentÂthey don't like a lot of water and they don't like 'wet feet.' Use a high phosphorus fertilizer on them and they will be very happy. :) The love the sun. They do go dormant in the winter (a lot of people think they've died so they throw them out) and lose their leaves. Depending upon the cultivar the flowers last different lengths of time. Generally, (and I mean generally), the waxier the blossoms the longer the flower 'lasts.' But, like anything elseÂYou can take the flower blossom (just pop it right off) and stick it into a little glass of water and have it float and if it is a fragrant blossom, you will have a lovely environment! :) Check out the link below, if you haven't seen it before. They have a lot of good info on Plumeria. Here is a link that might be useful: Plumeria info