dj: I spend a lot of time in the greenhouse just because I want to not because things really need doing. But the greenhouse is no more labor intensive than the rest of my garden and orchard. There are no weeds and little spraying inside. Watering is less than outside and the only daily chore inside is watering pots. The pots are optional. So total time is an hour or two a day on average. But there is a steep learning curve compared to outside. I'm still learning going into my 7th crop. For instance I now think that the unusually long growing season is causing flower bud abortion and fruit set issues not only on sweet cherry but on other stone fruit. In a cooler climate or with adjustments in temperature, this wouldn't I think be an issue. In this climate my greenhouse is so efficient that all chilling can be gotten in 14 to 45 days,depending on cultivar, anytime from Nov 1 until Febr 1. The rest of the year can be 95% of days in 80s and 90s if desired. I'm learning that I need to back off on that and go for about 90 days chilling and a shorter cooler summer. 10.5 months warm weather is too long for some things. But It's just so nice to have control of so many more elements than outside. I'm going to be fighting a freeze outside tonight. Most years I'm eating tree ripened apricot and blueberry before the last freeze outside.

Lisa, maybe you've already looked into this, but you lose a lot of light when stepping up to 5-wall polycarbonate. I considered thicker polycarbonate here in zone 4, but went with 8mm triple-wall on the recommendation of a local commercial greenhouse owner. I'm glad I did, but maybe you have different priorities. I also use aluminet tied directly onto the outside of my polycarbonate. It definitely reduced the heat load when I put it on this spring.

I don't have this specific greenhouse, but another brand of small hobby greenhouse. The shade cloth that came with mine had grommets on the end, so I tied some twine through the grommets and staked down the shadecloth on the outside of the greenhouse. Not pretty but it works.

Well, I have the home-attached curved eave. right now I have eye bolts at the top beam of the greenhouse. I threaded the rope through the eye-holes on the shade cloth and then secure it to the top of the greenhouse by passing the rope through the eye bolts on the top beam. Then I simply secure the shade cloth bottom w/ bricks attached to the rope. So, right now the shade cloth is resting on the greenhouse. I think that next spring I will buy pvc tubing (or some long, thin wood) and will put that the entire length of the greenhouse, where the bend is, where the shade cloth seems to rub most on the poly. The metal ribs of the greenhouse will hold the pvc above the poly. and this in turn will hold the shade cloth out above the polycarbonate. I think I will hold the shade cloth on the pvc tubing by drilling a hole in the pvc and then zip-tying the cloth on the pipe through the hole. Or maybe if I find some long, thin, wood molding I will use that. I assume the pvc pipe would be better, as it is wider and would hold the shade cloth up higher. I may decide to put pvc pipes on the top, middle and end of the shade to hold it above the entire greenhouse, although the top portion of the shade, doesn't really touch the greenhouse now. I would still have rope holding the shade cloth down but it would at least be suspended above the polycarbonate and I think this would work. My shade cloth is a little thinner than my greenhouse because my greenhouse is actually 8ft6in and the finished aluminet shades only seem to come in exact feet, so my shade is only 8 feet wide.