Wow! What a great green house. Lucky you! Ike is a cutie, too. I love all black cats.

I'm so envious of your greenhouse! It is wonderful.

If I were you, Nell, I'd be living in that greenhouse! Hmm, let's see, Georgia/Florida line from southern NC, maybe 8 hours driving time? I'll just grab DH's sleeping bag...LOL!

(Oh, mind if I bring some of my little green children along?)

Pat

Yep. Brought all my stuff into the basement today. Frost warning tonight. Once the night time temps are solidly below freezing, I'll set up my winter hoophouse. Until then, it can live in the basement under fluorescent lights.

Do you heat your greenhouse at all? Is there a need? Been thinking about a potting shed/greenhouse but with a large walkout basement, it seems like overkill. Still, I can dream.

When temps drop below freezing outside, they drop below freezing in the greenhouse as well, Tom. We use a small electric heater and sometimes add a heat lamp. If I remember to close the doors before the sun drops down low, the heat collected during the day will last into the night and the heater comes on with a thermostat. Temps here usually only dip low just before daylight. We keep a Coleman heater in reserve, but never had to use it last year. We also have a big kerosene heater, which would probably fry the plants, lol.

If your basement has windows, it would be overkill. At worst, you could have some little trolleys to trundle flats of seedlings in and out before the last frost date when they need more sun. I used an old kitchen trolley in the toolshed. Harbor Freight has some nice little tool trolleys that they put on sale frequently.

The cat is going to move to a new wood cat hut atop the dog hut when we get it finished. His former cat hut, a cardboard box, has been trashed. The door is back on the dog hut and Buffy has already moved in. The dog hut has a heat lamp and the cat hut is on top where the heat rises to heat it, too. The whole contraption is on the south side of the house on the carport out of the prevailing north wind.

Nell

I think I'll stick with using the PVC hoophouse. It seems to work well enough and I don't bother heating it. I just line the bottom with concrete blocks. Most of the tender stuff stays in the basement all winter anyway. I only move it out once the night time temps are 28 and higher. It rarely drops below freezing overnight after a sunny day.

Still, it'd be so nice to have a warm, bright place to hang out with my plants in winter.

Nell, what a snug, cozy place for you and the plants.

In our zone, I couldn't keep the hoophouse warm enough even with supplementary heaters. I ended up just using it as a large cold frame for plants moved outside after being started under the lights on the back porch. I still miss it for that.

Nell, that is a great greenhouse. I can't wait to get one. We're going to try passive solar so we don't have to worry about electricity. Have you thought about it? Or would the potential of getting too warm in there be difficult for you?

GGG

GGG, if you're speaking of a heat sink, we have 200 gallons of water in handsoap barrels under the back shelf, concrete pavers and bricks and various other materials that hold heat. It helps to moderate both heat and cold, but it still gets freezing cold inside after the sun is gone, in the wee hours of the morning when the outside temps drop into the twenties.

A solid north wall would probably be helpful. Have you read what greenhouse owners say about passive solar on the Greenhouse Forum? Folks come up with some creative thoughts on the subject.

Nell

From what I gather, a solid, insulated North and east wall are the best ways to hold heat. I had contemplated building one with sand filled concrete blocks on the north side, a pool in the middle for humidity and holding heat, and a solid norther roof. But it was just too complicated for what I do in the winter time. Small jugs sitting at the end of the driveway work for me.

Yes, that is what I am looking for, an old late 60's/early 70's hippie style greenhouse. I am assuming we'll probably also throw a solar panel or two outside, we'll need them anyway to power other things in the yard, and it will be good for extended cold periods. But yes, a heat sink is what I want.
Probably straw bale walls, since that is super cheap building material.

Oooh...straw bale buildings are nice. Saw one in Spain years ago. Very comfortable even in the heat of their dry summers.

Nell, I just love your greenhouse and can see why you would enjoy it every year. It's a little tropical paradise.

FlowerLady