The New Greenhouse, Part I

   The new greenhouse has been started.  Jeff got the frame finished Tuesday (5-10) and started to fasten the cattle panels in place.  I was asked to help, but I

don't think I was much help.  The ground is so uneven, I was afraid Jeff would pull on the panel and I'd go flying!  So there was quite a bit of under-the-breath muttering coming from Jeff...while I hung on for dear life...and I don't blame him one bit!  One panel got bent out of shape on the ride home but he used it anyway.  I thought it should have been the one to

Those pipes with holes are the 'new' gutter system

to be cut since he has to cut one to fit but he wasn't taking suggestions from me at that time... but it went back into shape ok.  Now he has to finish tacking all the panels to the frame before

fastening them together with zip ties. He even bought a new tool to make it easier to do

that!  (Personally, I think it was

just an excuse to buy another tool but who am I to say anything...she who has at least 4 pairs of US7 knitting needles, all different lengths?)

Potatoes will be grown in that plastic basket in a 'gutter'

   Today Jeff decided he wants to lift the greenhouse about 18" so he can stand upright in it...as it is, he just clears the wire top....so he's going to get some more 2x4's and build a frame to go under each side.  (We had gotten a hydraulic jack on special this winter and it will come in handy now to raise the greenhouse.) Jeff found the landscape fabric at

Tractor Supply in the size and price he was looking for so he got that today, too.  After the walls are raised, I think he's going to put down about 6" of mulch on top of the landscape fabric to slow the grow of weeds around the 'gutters'.  Then he wants to finish the ends of the greenhouse with doors so he can walk in or out pushing a wheelbarrow...and maybe keep the critters out. 
 

 5/16:  Here's the back door of the greenhouse with the studs nailed in.  The doorway is 40" wide and after the greenhouse is raised 18-20" and the crippled wall is fastened under the frame, the bottom crossbeam will be cut out so there is a clear opening to walk or push a

wheelbarrow through.  Here Jeff is fastening the studs in the front wall.  Next comes the curved ceiling braces that will run the entire length of the greenhouse.  There will be a 3-4' hallway down the center to move around in.  The 'gutters' will be on legs along the long walls.  Jeff says there will be a 50 gal drum of water in there that will help to heat the place at night.