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Article: People are always telling me how they dream one day of having a greenhouse, but right now their pocketbook just can't afford it. Well, been there but I also "done that!" I have made little greenhouses out of what I have around, or could get inexpensively. Just to start off seedlings for my garden, I planted seeds and grew them under a flourescent light fixture in my cellar. I placed the planted trays of seeds on a bench underneath the lights. No bench? Take a couple of cement blocks and lay a wide board on top, use an old card table. Look around you will find something.. I lowered the fixture to be 4" off the surface. As the seeds emerged I would raise the light fixture to keep it 4" off the little leaves. I actually got the plants to transplant stage. If you want to get really accurate about this, you would use 2 red fluorescent bulbs and 2 blue flourescent bulbs, which is exactly what the expensive grow lights are, but I didn't know that at the time and it still worked. When the weather got warmer, which is when it stopped snowing in my head, I looked outside for what I could do in addition to the cellar lights. I took 4 bales of hay(you can get mulch hay for $1 a bale most places)and placed them into a square. Now I had a nice little hay-sided house without a roof. I found an old glass storm door and laid it on top, adjusting the bales so it covered them completely. Voila, a very insulated cold frame! Just perfect for growing those little seedlings on. Now we have thick walls but a cold, cold floor. The old fashioned way to solve the cold floor problem and also to add some nice bottom heat was to spread fresh manure on the bottom. It's true, fresh manure(horse, cow, chicken, or rabbit to name a few)gives off heat. It also gives off carbon dioxide which your plants breathe. Your local horse stable might be happy to get rid of some of this. If that is not available or you do not want to use manure, at least get 6 inches of hay on the bottom. Warmth from the bottom is a very important concept of growing plants. I would suggest you not put any plants into your hay house for at least a week, leave the door completely shut on top and let the ground and the inside walls of the hay house warm up. If you have read my previous articles, you might remember when sun hits an enclosed place, the temperatures soar quickly(like an car with the windows closed). Depending on the temperature outside and if I had much sun, I propped up the top with rocks on one side in the morning, propped it up higher with a couple of 2 x 4's cut to equal lengths, or removed the door completely. At night, I laid an old blanket on top of the storm door to keep the heat in. It stays cold here in New Hampshire through May 15 at night. We even get frosts the last of May so I needed warmth at night. I used this temporary and easily moved greenhouse for many of the plants that come along slowly, like peppers. I kept it closer to the house in colder times and have moved it closer to the garden when I start to work there. I have grown lettuce to harvest by early April. I am sure you will think of many things you can do with this free or almost free greenhouse. I will cover more ideas in the next few articles, till then, Happy Thanksgiving!
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