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Free and easy GREENHOUSES

19 years ago

Hey there! I loved the paper towel, toilet paper roll idea for seed pots! Here's one for a greenhouse using 'recycled' materials: The black plastic trays with the clear plastic dome lid that fast food restaurants serve their salads in make perfect little 'miniature' greenhouses! Yet another reason to eat more salad!!!!I called our local McD's and they donated enough trays and lids for me to go into my daughters kindergarten class and make mini greenhouses for mothers day gifts later this month. So far, the idea has been a big hit!

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Comments (10)

dkotchey
19 years ago
Great idea for Mother's Day!! What are you going to plant in the greenhouses ?
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Stevo1974
19 years ago
Chrysanthemum ("Mother's Daisy").

Oooh. There are also varieties of Glads, Dahlia, and Daylilly named Mother's Day.
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I have run across these directions in several different versions and the one thing I think they always sort of skim over is directions for building the end walls. I think that part of the project confuses (or intimidates) a lot of people. The one thing I can not find on the net is the plans for building a similar house but with the gothic arch roofline. And once long time ago in here a guy explained all the math for calculating the hoop house height depending upon the length of rafters and how wide you make it. Wish I had saved that info. I want one taller than 6 or 7 feet in the center. I even keep wondering what would happen if two rafers were connected together at the peak with a 45-degree elbow. hmmmm.... (don't mind me...just thinking out loud). I really like the wooden bentwood gothic arch greenhouses I have seen but the plans you get from the county co-op sites don't give any directions for building them. I just know each rib is built with strips of 1/2" x 2" wide wood (plywood?) and two pieces are spaced apart with 2" wide blocks of wood. I did find the link below for a 10'x10'x32' arch type greenhouse yesterday which I may try a variation of although I would like 12' or 14' width (which I guess I could get without losing height if I built up a short kneewall). What bugged me about these plans was that it says 10' tall, but then the drawing shows the roof peak right at the top of the door opening and there are absolutely no measurements in the directions. Oh, well.... Anyways I think a lot of people will be happy you posted the link to the hoophouse plans. I need to just stop thinking and just build me a simple hoop like this to start with. :) Here is a link that might be useful: 10' x 10' x 32' Greenhouse Plans
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that looks nice. Once we're in our next home(planning on it being on a quarter to a half acre), I plan on getting a greenhouse here in vegas. Not sure what I'll do with it in the summer(maybe some plants out there love to bake in a super hot greenhouse?), but I plan on using it in the winter for all my cool weather fruits and veggies, and to prepare seedlings for the spring. Maybe anything that's potted that doesn't like our weather when it gets into the 40s in the winter, will go in there as well :) Looking at your greenhouse just makes me jealous and looking foward to mine even more!!
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Hollywog
Original Author
19 years ago
I'm thinking of planting smaller annuals that will germinate rather quickly. They're little attention spans arent that long and they will get upset if they don't see results almost immediately. I'm also thinking of doing it on a friday so that they have all weekend to germinate! I'm thinking coleus, viola, pansy, vinca, maybe some geraniums--stuff along that line. Can anyone think of any other small (6-10") annuals that might work?
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Kathy Johnson
19 years ago
I saw the same thing at Big Lots for 99 cents - plastic tray with a lid - & was too cheap to pay that price for something (as you suggested) I could get at a fast food restaurant.
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MLcom
19 years ago
IF you do a search in the Winter Sowing forum here , of containers you wont belive what you can use.
the the # 1 used item is used Milk jugs.
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mantorvillain
19 years ago
What with the number of 'bugs' keeping their colleagues away from work, my staff had really stepped up to get our work done. I picked up a couple of those premade assortments of cheeses/rolled up meat as a treat. While visiting we got on the subject of gardening and I noticed the containers. Guess what came home with me! Yahoo!
Will
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heirloomtomato
19 years ago
Likewise, if you buy a birthday cake ( like a sheet or 1/2 sheet cake) the black tray and high topped cover make great mini greenhouses. I save my styrofoam or plastic mushroom boxes and rinse them out to use for seed starting. I can usually fit several of these inside the shhet cake container and snap the lid on. I do have regular seed starting trays I save year to year but I figure why throw out those mushroom containers when they are such a nice size for starting seeds - also the foam ones are especially eazy to poke holes in the bottom of for drainage. Just a thought!
heirloomtomato
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Adnama
19 years ago
Some eggs come in clear plastic cartons, too. I buy range-free, which don't, but when my DH came home with the store brand and I looked at that little greenhouse with perfect individualized peat pellet holders, I was tempted to switch over...

Anyway, thanks for the great idea!

For the class, maybe marigolds? I remember taking care of one in my preschool class.

WHEN IS MOTHER'S DAY?!?!
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paganpoet
19 years ago
can i use a grape box as a mini green house because they have holes in the top? also can any one spare any seed baggies. thanks paganpoet
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chevyii
19 years ago
Are'nt those great. I used them for years to start petunias..snapdragons and other annuals for my gardens
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