My hubby got one last year and it works very well. We kept all kinds of tender annuals in it through several nights of frost and they survived nicely. Even basil survived -7C nights. To increase the plants chances of survival, we put the greenhouse against our south facing stucco wall and added another tarp on top. The greenhouse is quite sturdy and is better built than one would think at first glance.

Danni

Bonnie .. I have three of the mini greenhouses and they worked great. They are the little shelf units that have the plastic cover that zips up .. my friend picked up one of the Hex greenhouses not long ago and she said it works great .. they were on sale then for $50.00 at least thats what her DH told her :o) I was thinking of picking one up just because I start so many tropicals the GH would be great to set up in early spring with a small heater .. let me know what you think of it if .. or should I say WHEN .. you get it.

Laura

I have the hexagonal shaped one and like it all right.
A few things I have had problems with are:
1.It is on grass and the bottom shelves would hook on for me, i had to just sit them on the ground.
2. When the wind blows the plastic snaps against the shelves nocking all my plants and shelves onto the ground(AHHHHHH)
3. I put plants out in it in early may and they seem to have stopped growing. I think the weather was to cool at night and maybe in the day(it did rain here for two weeks.)

But when all is said and done I will be using it next year.. And taking it down in the fall or even summer before the snow. I don't think it will stand the snow.
It really wasn't that hard to put together but an extra couple hands to put it together would make it a lot easier.
My boyfriend and I put mine together.
And he paid $100 on sale for it.

Hi Bonnie,
I have a portable horizontal greenhouse which I bought at Canadian Tire 2 years ago.I see they have a more permanent version this year. I find it great for hardening off seedlings etc.. My only complaint is the footprint. I have a very small garden and can ill afford the space it takes up so I end up using the deck or our tiny lawn. The good things about it are that it holds a lot of plants, access is good and it can be easily taken down and stores in a plastic bag!
Because of the size of your yard I think a vertical arrangement may be better for you.

Hi Pam!

So it looks like it's worth it. I think I'll be getting the half dome one, since the full dome one would be too big. I won't be needing it until next spring, as this one's pretty well over, so I think I'm going to hold off on the immediate purchase and look for it to go on sale - since that seems to be an option (I love a good deal :-))

I don't think I'll have to worry too much about wind - I've got a pretty sheltered yard, and I'll be putting it against a brick wall - it does claim to come with some sort of wall mount.

How wide are the shelves? It looks like about a foot, but it's hard to tell from the picture in the online catalogue, and they don't give out very much information...

Laura - when I get it, I'll take a bunch of photos of the various bits, so you can see what it's like (it won't be for a while though). If you've got the room for the big one, it sounds like it'd be right for you - you might even be able to rig up some sort of indoor setup to give you better humidity for your brugs in the winter. Like you need more encouragement :-)

BP

I got the full sized dome one on sale last year for ~$100 off regular price. Took me/us a little while to get it assembled (DH & I aren't so swift in the handy-ness category), but it seems quite sturdy and the plastic seems strong.

One down-side is that because the shelving is secured together, it would take more than I'd like to do (and I'm not sure it's advisable anyway) to remove one shelf for taller plants. Some of the mini-greenhouses allow for shelves to be simply removed since they just lift off. Re how wide the shelves are, hmmm.... if I can remember tomorrow I can go measure them. But the big one is 5.5' across, whereas the half one is 3.5' across - I think I read that on a tear off sheet that Cdn Tire had for several of their models. Maybe 1.5'? More than a foot I'd say.

The windows are manually zip-operated of course, and are sizable with screens when open.

I didn't have it up early in the season last year, and have it located in a shady spot, so it's not really functioning as a "hothouse". I actually liked it very much as a "workhouse" for less than ideal weather. I don't seem to tolerate really hot (for us out here, lol) weather, so it provided a nice area to do some potting up or even sitting to read or eat lunch or drink tea! I have a rolling seat and a wee table at the end, and bring out a bag of books sometimes.... so pleasant (if no mosquitoes - can close the door though if so) under cover when it's raining or too hot/sunny, &/or listening to the birds.

It didn't work to overwinter tender items like pelargoniums and begonias of course, and they got moldy since it's damp here. I forgot a favorite hat out there for a while and it got moldy too, dang. I need to experiment to see what will thrive in it... might be a good place to start/grow greens or cuttings that don't want the hotter sunnier part of the yard in summer.

I had planned to move it to a sunnier part of the yard for the winter, but didn't end up doing that. Will see this winter. I think it might have said a 3 season greenhouse.... I'm not sure what season is supposed to be left out, but I presume winter for colder areas??? Or summer if too hot???

Didn't have any problems with wind, but we do have some protection with fences and tall trees and sheds. There are stakes to hold the plastic to the ground.

I realize we're in different parts of the country and climates, but I think that on sale it's a very decent buy. Full price seems high but I haven't done a LOT of shopping around. They are much sturdier than many of the mini-greenhouses, but I do wish the shelving were more flexible (maybe there's a way I don't know). Hope this helps a bit; sorry for the long and meandering post but I'm sleepy now.

Btw, re seedling protection from squirrels - have you tried sowing in 2- or 4-litre milk jugs (as often described on the Winter Sowing forum which I haven't found time to peruse much this year)? I love those (except for the appearance to others), especially as I'm not always quick to plant things out.

Can you beleive this?!-I found one of the mini greenhouses with the zippered plastic over 3 shelves, on the curb today. It is in perfect shape and still had a stack of plastic pots inside. Someone had put this out for the garbage! I'm not shy-I threw in the back of my truck in a second. I already have a real greenhouse so I'm going to give it to my Mom who will use it for seedlings and hardening off plants.

My thought about these clear plastic mini greenhouses...overheating in the summer may be a problem. I know that with my own 10x18 greenhouse, ventilation in the summer is a larger issue than heating in the winter. Even with the window open, throwing a shade cloth over the mini unit may be necessary.

Now that's a good find!! I wish my neighbours would throw out good stuff like that :-)

I think overheating will *definately* be a problem for me. It'll be in the sun, against a brick well, in a yard paved with asphalt - it gets HOT back there in the summer! I won't be able to use it in the summer, even with the windows open. I think if it's too much trouble to disassemble the whole thing when I'm done with needing it for a greenhouse/squirel protection, I'll just remove the cover and use the shelves for added height in my yard.

BP

I have a 'Seasonal'greenhouse that I have used for 3 (seasonal) years now. It is the 4-shelf unit with the plastic zip-cover. Trouble is, the plastic became brittle from the weather and has rips all over it. It has come away from the zipper altogether. Not even duct-tape helped. (sorry Red Green!) Anyone know where to get a replacement cover or have any creative ideas for the front zipper flap?

My Mom had the plastic tear away from the zipper in the mini unit I found and mentioned in my June 1 post. I used wide packing tape to repair it. It is clear, so you could barely see the repairs and seemed to stick just fine. You could use this to repair the tears also as it is clear and would still allow light through it.

A disappointing update on our full-dome CT greenhouse (see posting June 1). Had it cleared out the last several weeks, and hubby even helped me give it a good cleaning in hopes of minimizing mold over winter.... I think we used a little bleach in water. But as we were filling it up with plants today, dh looked up and noticed there are many holes.... seems like the plastic disintegrated between some of the green thread/squares! I don't know if using the bleach contributed to weakening it, or if having it up year-round is too much for it, even though it's in a fairly shady area. This is not how I wanted to ventilate the greenhouse.... guess I'll have to cover it with plastic if I want to keep dry when working out there on a rainy day!

Anyone else notice this on theirs? I'm still not clear which season it "shouldn't" be used & if this is why.