We bought the 6' x 8' Harbor Freight greenhouse and a friend finally got it put up on Easter Sunday. I have many questions about upgrading and/or improving it. I'm 75 so wanted a small one that will be easy to take care of. I had it set on red 12" x 12" pavers so that I could have some solar heat help. So far the panels are a little loose and I want more clips put in. We are in a high wind area. We are in the Pacific Northwest so winter is rainy and cloudy, although usually not really cold. We were used to Colorado winters, but having more sun. Even though the days are in the 50's here, now, the greenhouse is getting up to 100 degrees if I don't get the vents and door open. Then it cools down nicely. I have just, last weekend, gotten my first seeds started. A little late maybe, but all will be experimental for awhile. I am concerned with keeping everything pretty clean and as bug free as I can get it. Ok, bugs freak me out! Plus I am a little of a clean freak. Maybe I have to get over that a little. My plan is to grow in the greenhouse, not necessarily grow plants to put outside. I want to grow all winter to get good produce, as we cannot get any thing that good in the stores here.
The two vents on the roof are really poorly made for closing or propping open. We have cherry blossoms blowing all over and just plain dust and the occasional bee and so on. I have been trying to figure out a way to make screens, cheaply, for the vents. I got some aluminum screening and that is not working, too hard to work with. I thought that I could just cut some screen and Velcro it around the perimeter of the vent so that I could undo it when I needed to open and close it. Can anyone give me some ideas, maybe what you might have done for your greenhouse.
How many of you use screening on the outside of the greenhouse in the summer? How many of you have bubble wrapped the outside in the winter? What about mulching and/or wrapping plants in the winter. I am going to use as much solar heat as I can. I have a black trash can in the "back" (north) corner to fill with water to heat for winter.
Thanks for any help.
