I believe your light conditions may be an overriding factor as to what plants will work for you or not. There are some succulents that will tolerate at least partial shade, but most salvias will not be happy nor does lavender do well in less than 6 hours of sun. This is not to say these plants can't work for at least a season or two - it is just not their preferred growing conditions so growth may be leggy and flowering sparse due to lack of direct sunlight. I'd also discourage the planting of most herbs as they tend to be full sun lovers, but hopefully the supplemental lighting will overcome the lack of natural light. Annual herbs seem to tolerate lower light situations better than perennial herbs, IME. Container gardening can be a very enjoyable experience....a bit like landscape design in miniature that can be easily changed out as plants fade, grow too big or your tastes dictate. Certainly a lot easier and cheaper than inground planting! I do a lot of container design and always try to include something evergreen in the mix to provide the same structure and year round interest that evergreens provide to the inground landscape. Depending on container size, you may want to create compositions of multiple plants in a single container and/or use a single plant as a specimen - these work well for annuals and provide a lot of color without disrupting the more permanent plantings when the annuals fade for the season or go out of flower. Focal points, plant forms, fillers, textural contrast and colors (whether from flowers or foliage) will all play a part in the design just as they do in the broader outdoor landscape. And any plant can be grown in a container as long as you size the plant to the container appropriately and provide proper ongoing care. This may involve periodic repotting and root pruning of larger species. I'd look to whatever plants your local nursery/garden center offers that are suited to part shade and make your choices accordingly. January may not be the best time for this, however :-) Select from flowering annuals and perennials as well as small shrubs and trees, both deciduous and evergreen - I could definitely see a dwarf Japanese maple included in your collection as a focal point! And if you need help to compose your design, there are all sorts of publications that focus on container design - Fine Gardening publishes annual special interest editions on this topic that are excellent. For a very rough rule of thumb in container design, think in 3's for multiple plant compositions: a "thriller" plant as a focal point (something dramatic or upright/more vertical), "fillers" to fluff out the middle ground and "spillers" to trail, cascade and soften the edges. For long term viability of container plantings, it is recommended to select plants that are hardy to at least one zone lower than your own....and more is better :-) This of course does not apply to annuals or single season plants. And proper container soil is a very important consideration, as is irrigation and fertilization. You may want to check out the Container Gardening forum here on GW for additional helpful tips.

Wikipedia: "Wind is the roughly horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by uneven heating of the Earth's surface." [Edited to delete comments re: checking your facts.] "If birdwidow studied the air flow with a smoking-pipe, that is far more compelling than someone's unqualified opinion." I'm not arguing that air doesn't flow through her greenhouse. [Edited to delete comments re: unqualified opinion] Look, here are the reasons I would give for not moving air in a greenhouse in the circuit suggested by Birdwidow. 1) As stated by Mylu, we are trying to mimic the effect of Mother Nature, and by far the most significant air movement effecting plants is wind, which is generally horizontal. 2) Using ceiling fans, the circuit moves air up one end, across the top of the GH, down the other end, and across the floor. Our goal is to move air through the canopy of the plants, for all of the reasons described in the HAF link above; think about where the canopy of the plants is. It is not along the floor or the ridge. It is generally at working level, at the level at which HAF fans are placed. 3) Many, perhaps most greenhouses have a ridge vent. How does this air flow circuit perform when the ridge vent is open? I don't know, but I suspect it is at least somewhat less efficient, because air will be draw in and out through the ridge vent. The air flow across the ridge of the greenhouse would then be reduced in proportion to the amount of air the fans exchanged through the ridge vents. This also could impair the ventilatory function of the vent near the ceiling fan blowing the air down. Maybe this is accompanied by a commensurate increase in ventilation from the other fan...but maybe not. 4) It seems extremely unlikely that air movement through the plant canopy is as effective when vertical, around a bench or container, as it would be moving vertically. 5) A ceiling fan would be he** on my bananas. Ceiling fans may be an attractive option in some circumstances. A ceiling fans system may be less expensive that a tradition system of GH HAF fans...won't argue that. Ceiling fans might be considered more efficient to run, or more attractive, or whatever. Certainly, as I stated above, some air movement is better than none. But I bet you would have a hard time showing equivalence between the general application of a ceiling fan system and a standard HAF system. It would make a nifty experiment. SB

Hello azee_2009, OK I originally thought it was going to be a rooftop greenhouse, but after rereading your second post I wasn't sure anymore. As far as the construction I used to build mine, it could be applied to a rooftop situation. By just building a sturdy base for the electrical conduit posts/poles. Similar to the baseboards I made for mine. The weight of it will keep it in place. The poles for my greenhouse only go down in the ground about 8-10 inches, and there is no cement holding them down (just the weight of the greenhouse structure itself). I just posted the link/information to give you some ideas. That greenhouse looks much nicer than the one I built. Although much more expensive too. Not including the subterranean system, and the hydro systems inside, I built my whole 10 by 20 foot greenhouse for about $800. Ya, heat will be challenging. Our outside temp today was about 92 degrees, but the temp inside the greenhouse was 108 degrees. When the temps here reach the 120 mark, greenhouse temps would likely be around 140-150 if I didn't have a multi tiered cooling plan. Cross ventilation is great in some circumstances, but it wont help much at all to blow 120 degree air on your plants when it gets hot. Given the best circumstances, swamp coolers may bring the temps down about 20 degrees. But if humidity isn't carefully controlled, they may only provide a difference of between 5 and 10 degrees at most of cooling effect by themselves. Just to clarify, when I mention high humidity, I mean in the greenhouse. That will depend a lot on temperature inside the greenhouse, water vapor given off from the hydroponic systems inside. Not to mention the biggest factor, how many plants your growing, and how big they are. Plants breath out water vapor (called transpiration). The water vapor (relative humidity) in the greenhouse will get higher and higher unless it's ventilated. But ventilating a cooler greenhouse with the (hot) dry outside air will only heat up the inside of your greenhouse. I have searched the web a lot & every where i have read that Double Poly Sheet that makes air pockets between them retain heat within the greenhouse & reduce heating costs about 50% compared to single poly coverings. So how would i be able to use it. As i have to fight against high temperatures. The air pocket in-bitween the two layers of poly is an insulation pocket. Air pockets are the best insulation there is. Insulation will protect against heat just as easy as it does against cold. If your greenhouse is cooler than it is outside, the insulation (air pocket) will help keep your expensive cool air inside the greenhouse stay cooler longer. If you have no way to cool the inside of the greenhouse, then it wont help much. The air pocket is just insulation, not a cooling or heating layer. It just helps block the heat transfer from one side to the other. Blocks heat from getting out during winter, and blocks against heat from getting in during summer. The 4-5 inch's between both layers you describe should be plenty. Typically it's only about one inch between layers. Though I would expect that you will still get much better results with a air blower between the two layers. The reason is if you blew the cooler air in between the layers, it won't give the air pocket a chance to heat up. Thus keep the heat transfer between the inside, and outside layers to a minimum. I want to know the link & name of software you are using to create 3D images. I want to download it to make someone understand what i mean. I use a free program called Google SketchUp. They have a pro version you can pay for, but I've always used the free version, and like it very much. I save all my drawings into a folder so I can expand on them later without starting over. Before you post your drawings, you'll need to remember to export and save it as a 2D image. Otherwise it wont be in jpg. format, and people that don't have Google Sketchup wont be able to view it. Before I built my greenhouse, I did a lot research online to figure out what would work the best for me, as well as my budget. Here are a bunch of the links I have got bookmarked from those searches. I know it's a lot to read over, and it's been a long time sense I looked through it myself. But a lot of it is in lists of topics. I just read through what was of interest to me. Arched Greenhouse PRESENTATIONS REFERENCE SOURCES Horticultural Engineering Greenhouse Energy Cost Reduction Strategies POLYTHENE GREENHOUSE FILM FACTS Chapter 11- Greenhouse Site Selection Chapter 12- Greenhouse Structures Chapter 13- Greenhouse Control Systems Chapter 14- Greenhouse Energy & Resource Alternatives "Greening" the Greenhouse Greenhouse Glazing Greenhouse Energy Conservation Strategies Greenhouse Energy Conservation Strategies: Temperature and Scheduling Managing Greenhouse Temperature

i would love some of these if i could!! that would be so cool!! armenian cucumber tortarelo cucumber golden gopher musk melon? royal golden melon lee okra zolotistala melon casaba melon 1 bosc pear 2 mustard gai choy 1 garden peach tomoto 4 okra mix 1 daikon radish 1 canary bell peppers 2 lemon balm 1 sweet chocolate peppers 1 bok choy 2 green zebra tomato 3 peppers yolo wonder 1 peter peppers this year, i think will be a great year for that square foot gardening!! especially with all that is needing to be put in the ground!!! **big smile** i have lots of 6 blazing star liatres 21 single white angel trumpet-smells awesome 14 lavender datura- don't smell but is pretty!! 4 sesamie seeds so if anyone want's these, let me know. :') these are filled pretty good!@! ~Medo