Well done! What a clever recycling project!

I use the kind of plastic you used on yours for my 2nd greenhouse before I put the cover over it and attached it to the frame by literally sewing the plastic around the frame with waxed dental floss. To keep the plastic from tearing I sandwiched two pieces of duct tape on the plastic. It worked out extremely well even during the most windiest of times - no tearing at all. You might want to consider doing that if your staples don't work out.

Thanks! I had some super strong winds, and the plastic never tore. I was really surprised by that! Duct tape is a really good idea though, and I'll probably do that when I set it up this fall. Not so sure I'd want to do all that sewing, but it's a great idea if the staples don't hold up here. The wind never stops blowing where we live now, and anything extra I can do would be wise!

And if your plastic doesn't hold up well, you might consider looking around for clear, solar pool covers. They're sort of like heavy duty bubble pack and are generally UV stabilized. I had to wrap my not-very-well insulated GH in one of them and it has held up very well.

The plastic did really well for me. I had a few issues with temp control, but it really wasn't too bad. I'll keep that in mind though! I was using it as a cold frame for winter sowing.

Regular zip ties break down with UV rays in less than a year. They are ok for the short term.

Ours were still holding strong after a year. Took a bit of work to cut them off when we took it apart last month.

Great idea--deer proof, too! I wish ours was in the sun, I'd do the same with it. Instead, it's a cat pen now. LOL

Put a box fan at one end to keep the air circulating and cut down on moisture and help distribute heat ... ever since I started doing that in my greenhouses I had less algae. mildew and bug attacks - though considering where you live that may not be problems for you. I have mine on a timer and it goes on late afternoon and cuts off mid morning.

Mary is right about the regular zip ties, we had them holding a panel to one of our gates and they just snapped; but if you're dismantling it seasonally, they should be fine.

I love it when people think outside the box! Hooray for you Natalie.

woofie, I don't think I had special zip ties, and they were as strong as the day we put them on there, when we cut them off. A neighbor down the street has the exact same ones on her chicken coop, and they are still going strong after 3 years.

Thanks Ann! This time, I was thinking inside the box - sort of?

Hmmm, maybe it's the lighter colored ones that hold up better? I think the ones of ours that broke were black. Heh, or maybe they were REALLY cheap (who, me? )

Maybe like the pink and green ones that I got from the dollar store? Those things broke if you looked at them wrong! The ones I used were from HD, and were super strong. Seems like we used both white and black ones, and not one of them broke. The black ones were smaller and a little thinner, but I had no problems with them!

Superb repurposing, Natalie! If our dogs ever "outgrow" their same type of kennel ... I know exactly what I'll do with it now!!

This idea deserves many

My dog kennel is just a bit too large to re-purpose this way (30'x50'), but I'm toying with the idea of putting a secondary, small GH inside it!

Thanks Tina!

woofie, you could just open a nursery inside of yours!

Fabulous idea, Natalie. For ventilation, I'd suggest you cut a 'window' or two in the end opposite the door. Then if you can face the greenhouse with the door towards the wind, you just need to open the windows in the opposite end to get great through-ventilation. Save the need for a fan, and let the wind do the work.

Just cut 3 sides of a square opening - bottom and two sides - reinforce the edges with duct tape as suggested above, tape or glue a wood batten across the bottom and then when you need to ventilate, you just roll it up. You could fasten it up with some velcro, the kind with the sticky back would probably work great. You could make one big one or several small ones to vary the amount of ventilation.

Down here, ventilation is everything for preventing mold, mildew, algae and the like. We did this for a hatch for our boat, and it worked great.

Elaine, I did cut windows in the plastic in Spring, just like you said, on three sides, and then rolled the plastic up. I had this set up in zone 5a in Utah, so there were no windows needed or wanted during winter. If it got a little too warm, I'd just roll up some of the plastic along the bottom during the afternoon and opened the door, and would then unroll it and cover it back up with dirt when it started to cool off. I never had any problems with algae or mold. Utah is very arid, so I'm sure that everyone would need to figure out what works best for their area. We've recently moved to Idaho, and it is a little more humid here, and warmer, so I'll have to see what happens this year.

Thanks for adding that very useful information!

Back to zip ties for a minute. We used clear ones one year, blue, yellow, green the next (mixed colors in a package). All lasted only a few months. Our neighbor lashed a few cattle panels together for a temporary fence, using clear ones, one day the fence just started falling over! I don't know where any of them were bought. Natalie, you just got lucky!