The Greenhouse | Peggy's Little Corner

September 25, 2014

I had been gardening many years and always admired the idea of having a greenhouse. I wanted it to be both beautiful and functional and for it to look as old fashioned as possible. However, in looking at pre-fabricated greenhouses, even the cheaper commercial looking structures were rather pricey. At one point, I thought I could use reclaimed windows, but clearly other people had gotten the same idea, as the older windows were often pricier than the newer ones or not available at all. Defeated by cost, I eventually abandoned the idea entirely, until one winter in the early 2000s, when lettuce went on recall.

For weeks and weeks during the recall I looked for lettuce on our local shelves and found nothing. Not one company had a single leaf to offer. After a while, I felt myself growing sick for want of a bit of lettuce, and therein decided that I would never again be in such a predicament. With some cold frames placed around my garden, I thought, I could grow all the lettuce I needed. I discussed the idea with my husband, and set him about the task of securing some reclaimed newer windows from our local salvage yard for a couple of cold frame tops. What I ended up with was a 10 by 12 foot greenhouse.

Unbeknownst to me, my husband had made a deal with a man who had access to factory made sheet glass. He also brought home two piles of bricks from a demolished 19^th century building. Neither of us had a real plan for how to make the greenhouse, but we had built many buildings together. As a family, we sat down to look at greenhouses we liked, and my children made sketches to see how each plan would stack up against the other buildings in our yard. My husband kept angling for a larger structure, but I was unsure of myself, and kept paring back the size, not wanting it to eclipse my home.

Like most of our buildings, having to build on the steep slopes around our house has been both helpful in achieving an older appearance and yet a nuisance to create a level base. For days my husband and son dug into the hill, and not wanting them to dig forever, I opted for a raised brick step in front to split the difference of the uneven ground. We poured a concrete footer with rebar and filled the foundation with 6 inches of pea gravel set with large river stones. Over this foundation we built a wood frame out of 2 by 4 foot boards that I painted white, and using the size of the 2 by 2 foot glass panes as a guide, we set the sections of boards every two feet.

My husband laid the reclaimed brick for the chimney and front stoop and halfway up the sides of the greenhouse to create some insulation. In spite of what he says, I prefer my husband’s masonry skills for these restoration projects, as the additional mud he places around the brick adds the appearance of centuries of patchwork. In fact, once he has picked up the rhythm of his brick laying again, and starts paring down the cement, I often go behind him with my fingers and add a bit more, then smooth it out with the grouting tool. The result is a foundation that looks like it has stood for over a hundred years.

To the frame, my husband attached two long wooden tables for plants to sit upon, one on the east and west walls. As my skills have grown, I eventually realized that I needed additional shelving, so my husband later added a board above the original tables, and some corner shelves for larger pots.

The glass panels were secured to the frame from the outside with washers and screws tightened just enough for security, and then caulked for more thermal protection. Unfortunately, in 2014, all would have to be removed and replaced, as the original frame, which was made with untreated lumber, began to rot from the humidity inside the greenhouse.

As the weather transitions from arctic blasts to warm spring days, where plants require a good cross breeze, heating and ventilation become alternately important. For heating, we used a reclaimed wood stove and ran electrical outlets throughout the building. Eventually we realized that our north wall did not need be in glass, as it afforded us no light, and only lost us our heat, so we replaced it with a solid wall made of reclaimed barn wood. Being partially submerged, the north wall also affords some extra ground heat, which maintains a constant temperature of 55° F. Conversely, ventilation and controlled cooling, which are often necessary on warm spring days, are accessible by two windows we placed on each of the walls, and a temperature controlled fan we installed just above the French paned door.

Though the greenhouse still remains the youngest on the property, many people guess it to be the oldest, which pleases me greatly. From reclaimed brick and wood to working with the natural terrain and using real glass, the little details were able to blend with the rest of our property’s structures and keep the old fashioned feel I love so much. However, as I have gained in my experience with planting over the years, there is only one thing I regret about our little structure . . . I wish I had let my husband build the greenhouse as large as he wanted.