gardenerwantabe - I agree with your point. We built it on the driveway so we would have a flat surface near tools and power. The debate is now on as to the permanent location to which we will move it, which have been thrown into flux due to gato's wind issues. She wants it over in the corner where it will get direct (and sometimes very hot) sun - I am proposing a location between some trees where it will have some shelter from the wind, and a bit less direct sun. I won't install either the corner bracing, or any other enhancements such as angle aluminum across the doorway or 1/2 EMT across the mid-sections until we have the GH sitting on footings at a permanent location. Then I will add all of that to stiffen and secure the unit. 2 questions: We are in Mount Shasta, CA which is snow country (3500' elevation) and the snow can tend to be fairly wet and heavy. We had as much as 3' accumulation in some areas of the property over the past winter during some storms. Obviously I should remove snow from the roof if it accumulates like that, but I'm thinking about establishing some structural support along the roofline - either directly beneath the ridge, or adjacent to the #30 braces that are installed in the roof. Those supports would be probably be 2x4 or 2x6 lumber, supported by wood posts down to the ground. Does this seem a good idea, or unnecessary? In an earlier post, I raised the idea of setting the GH on top of 2x12 PT fir, so that it would sit on a footing like this: I see that you set your's on 4x4 PT. My thought is to raise the GH in this manner so that when snow is on the ground, at least the first foot of snow accumulation would be against the wood foundation. I realize this means a step up and over the threshold. Any thoughts on this? Does anyone believe that this amount of wood foundation, or possibly more, would help in terms of withstanding snow accumulation? Would the additional height raise any other issues concerning the effectiveness of the GH? Thanks, Greg

I've built a shelving system along the back wall which makes it extraordinarily strong--it doesn't bow-in at all anymore where it previously moved 1/2 to an inch in a typical South wind. I used 3/4" galvanized pipe for the vertical supports, and 3/4" EMT conduit for the horizontal supports, which for the front-edge of the shelves pass-thru the galvanized cross- and tee-fittings, whose threads had to be ground-down just a little so the conduit would slide-thru. I'm real happy with the way it came together--the trickiest part was getting the installation "staged" properly: 1. Grind-out threads in the fittings for the side-to-side conduits 2. Make the two vertical posts (floor flange, 36" pipe, cross, 18" pipe, cross, 18" pipe, tee) 3. Flatten one side of three 10' conduits, thread these thru fittings and posts 4. Flatten other side of 3 conduits, drill holes, put assy into place, secure sides and floor flanges 5. Weld "L" brackets into one end of short (22 1/2") conduits (twelve of these) 6. Screw short conduits into each fitting and rotate into place 7. Cut cattle panel (2"X4" mesh) and wrangle into place from the side (having taken a side panel out temporarily) Look for "Details" in my photo link below. I think I'm done now with structural issues of the HFGH. Still have to build a potting bench, and we've been shocked to learn how hot the thing gets (over 100 degrees inside in 75deg sun out). So we have to do an exhaust fan/louver intake plus prolly some shade cloth. But the GH seems strong enough now that we shouldn't have to worry about it blowing-down, though the roof vents seem to twist a lot when open and it's windy--may have to make some further mods there. Here is a link that might be useful: Our 10X12 HFGH with Details

7.5 gallon is more than one cubic foot, an more than some bagged soil. IMO, it is enough to support a normal tomato plant, with proper pruning and mainteance. Also, keep in mind that the soil is a medium. What plants need is the nutrients and the moisture. In a hydroponic system there is no soil. Water is the medium. So as long as the plants get what they need, the amount of medium is secondary. The challenge here, in container gardening, is how to provide moisture and nutrients constantly. That is why having a bigger container is advantageous, as a matter of convenience for the grower. In ground planting is even more convenient than big container. Another point to consider is that tomato is an annual plant with 5 to 6 months life for most of us. It is unlike a house plant that will be there for years. Even if at the end of season it becomes root bound, it is not critical. JMO

I grow my citrus in a hoophouse that I seal up tight and heat in the winter like a greenhouse. The roof is double layer of plastic sheeting but the side walls and end walls are single layer reinforced plastic curtains - so it is not very energy efficient. At first I only tried to keep it above freezing. I'm in zone 7b (Raleigh, NC) and it wasn't too hard, most winter days are in the 50's in the daytime and low 30's at night. Lately we've been having periods of very cold nights - lows in the single digits and daytime highs in the 20's (and cloudy) so it has been a lot more work to keep the plants happy these last couple of years. I heat with wood for the most part (wood is free). I have kerosene and electric heaters for backup or if I need more heat than the wood stove can provide. It's do-able but time consuming (chopping all that wood) and expensive (buying high quality kero or paying the electric bill). No matter what you grow in a greenhouse in the winter, it is an expensive hobby. In my experience my trees got too big to move in and out in a couple of years. They also got too big to repot easily soon after that. I solved that problem by making what I call 'cage pots' made by circling the tree with a ring of hardware cloth lined with landscape fabric and held together with zip ties. That way I don't have to lift anything to repot them, just snip the zip ties and open up the cage and replace the media. Citrus love the extra drainage. The only problem with this is that the pots are not movable (no bottoms) and they hold around 50 gallons of media each. A side effect of all those large pots of media is that they hold on to a lot of heat (damp media stays warm longer than just about anything). So during the day I let thing heat up as high as they can get in the middle of the winter knowing that the days are short and that after sun set I will have a few hours before things get cold enough to need extra heat. Back when the trees were smaller I would even store large tubs of potting media in the corners to act as heat sinks. Some people do the same sort of thing with large containers of water, but I find that water gives up its heat faster than damp media. I aim to keep everything around 50 degrees which keeps the roots active. If you want to store the plants at a lower temperature you would want to keep things dryer to avoid rotting the roots.