You make several excellent points, Steve. I appreciate the feedback. If none of these work out, I'll fall back on a 10'X12' Cedar-Built, which would probably be better functionally than all of these, but I just love the look of an octagon. I have a border with giant curves and a circular vegie garden in the center, so an octagon would fit in visually so well. One thing I'm trying to do is prove that a garden designed for birds, insects, and native plants can be beautiful as well. It would give me so much pleasure just to look at a beautiful gazebo among the lupines. I remember reading that one gazebo somewhere had a skylight option, and at least one vents at the roof, but I can't seem to find those in all my bookmarked pages. I've e-mailed all the sellers a list of questions, and I'm putting all the info into a comparison chart. Some give a wind rating, so I'll add that to my list to ask about. "Fortunately," I can't afford it for a year, so there's plenty of time to research it all. I'd like to use the GH as much as possible, almost year-round. I envision attempting the system Eliot Coleman writes about. I'd like to start seeds to plant out later, perhaps leave tomatoes inside all summer to protect them from the deer, add some long-season plants like peppers and melons, and start a second cool-season crop (maybe start them outdoors) to overwinter in the GH. It doesn't need to be fancy or pretty or roomy or comfortable inside for people, though. I'm wondering if an unglazed roof could be a net benefit, catching the winter sun but avoiding the hottest, most direct rays of summer. If insulated and vented, it could also help moderate temperatures in winter or summer. I'm interested in some solar panels to mount on the roof, like the 45-watt 12"X36" panel kits from Harbor Freight, to power a fan and lights. I have heavy-duty extension cords and an outside receptacle if necessary. I don't want to heat the GH, except maybe with an electric heater in a rare cold spell. (Since I moved back to Montana in 2009, winters here have been incredibly mild compared to 30 years ago. One year an early freeze made the brown leaves stay on the trees all winter. It was in the 40s most days, with hardly any snow; like a very long November. We went two years without getting below zero. It's been in the 40s lately and a some hardy souls have been paddle-boarding on the river.) Forever Redwood, with the #5 gazebo, replied right away, and they'd help me customize it. They mentioned making sure a skylight doesn't leak. Their cupola isn't normally vented, but they could make it vent, and there are three small windows near the top of the walls that open. Their glazing is bronzed Lexan acrylic. They also offer a 10% annual mid-winter online purchase discount, and a 10% discount for waiting 12 weeks for delivery. And you can choose from 3 different heights of base wall (24", 30", 36"). They're looking like the favorite at the moment. The one in the #3 photo is a strong contender, because it's delivered fully assembled. Their site used the word "insulated," so I'm trying to find out what they meant. And, as you mention, they have the most glazing (on 5 of the walls). The one in the #1 photo allows you to pay extra to insulate roof, walls, or floor. And you can get a cedar interior finish. Thanks again for your suggestions.

> Wetfeet, How often do you mist? Right now I have the timer set up to run for 5 minutes every 30 minutes. With the wacky changes in the weather, I will need to monitor this to see if this still works this year. Last year this was the ideal schedule for best cooling and avoid getting the greenhouse wet. If my misters run for more than 5 minutes (or more frequent than 30 minutes interval) I find that the humidity exceeds the threshold and no more evaporative cooling takes effect. The mist can also end up landing all the way to the floor without evaporating - resulting in a wet and warm greenhouse :) 30 minutes is also the ideal interval for me as all the excess water from the previous misting run have already evaporated and the exhaust fan has purged the humid air by the time the next misting schedule kicks in. So basically 5 minutes misting with 25 minutes in between. Bear in mind though, that I am only using the misters for cooling effect and not for watering. I still water with the good old garden hose when necessary.

Hey Earl, Sounds pretty good so far... You might want to consider making the walkway even narrower. My walkway is just a wee bit bigger than my shoe size so that I can have even more growing space. I do have a slightly larger area when you open the door so I can put a small chair and soak up the smells of my greenhouse Which leads me to my next point about a work area. Since space is at such a premium in this size of a greenhouse I would move it to the garage. However, it depends on how you view the function of a greenhouse. I rememeber on a open garden tour last year where this guy used almost half of his small greenhouse to have two lounger style lawn chairs in it. You might want to consider gravel for your pathway as you can wet it down and as it evaporates it will cool down the greenhouse. Jeff (who is down to his last four Giraffe tomatoes)

'Nuther Californian here. Northern Cal. San Jose to be precise! I was far more "Active" on GW last year, while we were constructing my 6x8 HFGH. Been too busy with "other stuff" to post much lately (My apologies!!!). I'm on my 2nd winter with my GH and... So far, So good! My GH is primarily for overwintering "marginals." I've got a Tropical Resort Yard in a Not-So-Tropical climate. Last winter, I had great success w/my marginals in the GH - and I'm expecting the same this winter! This year, I also experimented a bit w/Hydroponics. DH bought me a HydroFarm MegaGarden System for Christmas last year, and I had WONDERFUL success w/tomatoes grown in the GH - even thru summer (although whiteflies got to be a real PITA by the end of the growing season!) (To say nothing of the veritable Rube Goldberg arrangement of pantyhose and assorted ties used to "trellis" the vines all over the GH! I wished I'd snapped some pictures of THAT!!!) (Although, truthfully, the Toms grown "in the ground" had better flavor - IMHO. But the Hydro-Toms were amazingly productive!) ...Now NEXT WINTER: My Big Challenge is gonna be "How the heck am I gonna fit these Plumies in here?!!" In fact, that's kinda/almost a fear for *this* year b/c if they grow AT ALL while they're in the GH - I have no clue how I'm gonna get 'em OUT! (If need be, I'll partially de-construct the GH to extricate them!!!). Yeah, Poor Me! My Plumerias are turning into trees! Oh, and like agardenstateofmind, I had to forego the chair in the GH :::sigh::: Actually, I don't think I'm EVER gonna be able to fit it back in there!!! Take heed, Newbies: When they say you'll outgrown your GH in no-time, they're not kidding!!! :-) -Nancy (aka IMQTPI)