Hi All! I'm rather new to the whole idea of extending the garden into the fall/winter season, but seeing that my kids are actually EATING the veggies we've grown, I'm all for giving it a shot! I've done some research, but not sure of the best way to go. I guess a cold frame would last the longest and give me the best heat, but I'm concerned about it being 1) expensive to build, and 2) beyond my construction abilities. A hoop house seems easy enough and could be pretty inexpensive, but sounds like they don't last and don't raise the temp too much. Can anybody elaborate on that for me that has experience with them? Incidentally, I have two 4 X 4 garden beds with a one foot walkway in between them. So either I have to build two 4 X 4 somethings, or one 4 X 9 something. Thanks so much!

The manufacturer of the polycarbonate sheet recommends using a foil tape at the top of the sheet and a mesh tape at the bottom. The mesh tape is manufactured by 3M and is available at Farmtek, International Greenhouse, and some other suppliers. I believe it is the same product as the mesh tape that 3M sells for use in hospitals for wound dressing but it might be more expensive buying it in that form if you need a lot. I used this method on my gh and its still working fine after two years. In a pinch, you can use aluminum tape on the bottom, but you then need to puncture it with a pin, a couple of small holes per channel. Its better to do it the recommended way, I think.

Moke: good ideas, but I really don't know about additional fans, vents and tubes. There are a lot of panels in a 12 X 16 ft. GH. But air circulation in general won't be an issue, with 4 roof vents on automatic openers, 2 powered intakes set at the base at one end and an exhaust fan set high at the other, coupled with my "ultimate continual air movement weapon": 2- 52" ceiling fans, turning in opposite directions 24-7, will privide a lot of circular air movement. If the surface of the GH wall panels are perfectly dry, and the inside ones are sealed on all sides; if they were then sealed against the GH panels, would they STAY dry? Or- leave a few inches at the tops and bottoms open, to allow moisture a place to run off? Or- and this is one my husband and I discussed: cut the inside panels to fit just between the channels on the polybars, as not to block them, and seal the interior panels against the metal, creating dead air space between them and the exterior panels? I could also use that shrink plastic used on windows, but I'm really looking for a more permanent solution. Frankly, if I had thought more about this issue, I'd had given up my desire for the sloped roof on my lovely Cross Country, and just gone with triple wall polycarb and now, I'm sorry I didn't. But... the R value still isn't all that different between double and tripe, until you get into the ultra heavy, commercial weight polycarb panels and for that cost, you might just as well blow it all, and go with thermopane glass. Oh well, the months ahead should give me some time to develop more nutty notions. The GH gets some decent dappled shade, and between the trees, misters and all those ventillation gadgets, I'm hopeful of keeping it reasonaly cool, but do want to come up with something better than draping the whole thing with that heavy solar pool cover again. All notions nutty sounding or not, are welcome. BTW: my "electrician" (and carpenter, plumber, etc,) is my husband, and one of the reasons why I'm anxious to find a better solution than climbing ladders to haul that cover onto the GH. It worked, but oh, what a chore, and the wise old wife simply does NOT tell her 73 year old farmer he's too old to climb ladders; she just tries to avoid the need for him to get anywhere near one.

Are you sure the temp is rising from 100 to 550? On my Wolf L-Series wall oven it will toggle between the current temperature of the inside of the unit (100 in your case) and then the selected set temperature (550 in your case) as it pre-heats the unit. The 100 should increase over time until it reaches the 550, then our L-series makes a beep to indicate is has reached the set point. Phil