A recent update from the person who received the yucca is that it is green and doing well. The transplanted cholla are doing well, of course, but it will be a while before I know if any sacaton survived. We have been making progress but not as quickly as we hoped. (No surprise there! ;-) ) We have the foundation blocks for the outside beds in place up to ground level and filled with dirt. Pavers have been placed, but not yet leveled, between the existing shed and the north edge of the foundation. We have the water and electrical stubbed in. We have the SHCS tubes in place for the outside beds of the east greenhouse and hope to start filling that section soon with the removed dirt. We have removed all planned use of poured concrete from our plans and have made this planned structure possible to remove easily while still unlikely to be blown away. (Mostly due to bolting the foundation via J-bolts to rebar under bond beam cement blocks.) DH will be checking to see what type of permits/inspections we will need for electrical, water, and structures. I suspect that it will be just water and electric. We won't fill in any more until we find out. It is getting hot already so we will be putting in the outside structure and shade cloth before the central shed and greenhouses. That way we can work in the shade. :-)

Hi Carol, I bet you are loving having the 2 HFGH joined together. The one I have quickly filled up with my tropical plants in no time. I actually have had to overwinter plants at my mom's house because I ran out of room! LOL She's ready for me to get the greenhouse done. :) My husband plans on doing some work on it this evening since it's not raining right now. I think he has it in his mind how he's wanting to join them together, something like you did I believe. I won't be having doors at both ends since we are putting the gas heater and exhaust fan on one end. That was the reason that my DH allowed me a third GH now, so he wouldn't have to move the heater & fan later on down the road when I say that 2 aren't enough. :0) He's knows me well! I'll be sure and ask any ? if we get stumped on joining the three. Thanks for offering. Hi Barb, You will love having a single door on the harbor freight. What a pain those sliding doors were! If they weren't coming off of the track when I was trying to open them, then the wind was blowing them open. And where the doors met there was always a small gap between them. I love my greenhouse now, but it will be even better when it's bigger. Too bad you will have to cut down your maple tree. But in the long run you aren't going to miss it that much. ;) Amber

Great pictures! Fortunately, the tree in our way died about a year before we put up our greenhouse (still had to cut it down, though!) We had a furry OSHA inspector too (all extra paws and hands were greatly appreciated.) I love my 10x12 HFGH, enjoying it for my third year. It's totally stuffed with plants, year round. "- We will add more clips to prevent the panels from flying off in the wind - a major concern." Sounds like you've read the archived threads here about the recurring problem of lost HFGH panels. In addition to extra clips (we did that too) it's pretty easy to add self-tapping screws to the panels, as even more protection against panel loss. The 10x12 is pretty tall and makes an even worse target for wind damage, but there are some scary threads archived here about wind-damaged 6x8 HFGHs as well. Here are some photos showing how we screwed the panels into the aluminum frame (thanks to previous GardenWeb forum members who suggested this improvement.) Part Six, Adding the Panels "- Depending on the temperatures, may add a blind on the western end to prevent sunburn and excessive late afternoon heat." I definately need shadecloth on the roof, west end, and south side (my succulents and cacti cook in there without it.) I also believe that adding shadecloth has helped to increase the lifespan of my HFGH panels in our sunny climate. (I used Aluminet shadecloth.) Some GardenWeb HFGH owners have reported problems with the HFGH panels deteriorating after exposure to sun, but others don't seem to have this problem. My panels have yellowed, but I see no other signs of deterioration (fingers crossed.) "In winter, may add water jugs as heat sinks in cooler weather." In theory it seems like this would help, but the general consensus seems to be that you'd need very large containers of water to retain enough heat to truly benefit you into the wee hours of a cold morning. Most small greenhouses can't afford to give up the high percentage of space required to make this work, but there's lots of good reading on this topic in this forum (posted by folks who are much smarter than I am.) "- Wish list: shelves, solar fan, temperature activated window control" Just a warning, the HFGH solar fan is not powerful enough to adequately cool your greenhouse (sounds good, but doesn't quite work.) If you do a search in this forum for HFGH solar fan, there's a thread with a knowledgeable poster sharing his calculations that a 6x8 HFGH would need three of the HFGH solar fans to exchange enough air to drop the temps (if my memory is right.) There are also some posts from folks saying the HFGH vent openers don't last long at all, and it's best to research and purchase other brands that have a better track record. Good job, congratulations, and happy greenhousing! Sheri

That is a nice link you posted there. I am sory but I do belive the webpage title greenhouse.gov actually means "green"-house as in energy efficent not Greenhouse for storing/growing plants. The only place I read where they say not to insulate the floor was if I was trying to cool the house. As I said earlier I am using this greenhouse for winter protection. The R values that they use in Austraila are measured differently then here. I can only imagin that R 1.5 would be close to the same as our R 13 for exterior walls and R 30 is normal for cielings here but they call it R 2. Below is from the Department of Energy link..... Insulation Priorities It is most important to: Insulate your attic to the recommended level, including the attic door, or hatch cover. Provide the recommended level of insulation under floors above unheated spaces, around walls in a heated basement or unventilated crawl space, and on the edges of slabs-on-grade. Use the recommended levels of insulation for exterior walls for new house construction. When remodeling or re-siding your house, consider using the levels recommended for new construction in your existing walls. Next Section - How Does Insulation Work for You? Here is a link that might be useful: Department of Energy