Greenhouse back garden - probably best DIY project

rolion

Hello,


Journal of how to build a greenhouse in my back garden.
Covering 6m by 4m by 2.5m (smaller when finished) I hope to have it up & running by the end of March.
Major challenge is that it has full Sun coverage from March until December, due to the shade of house roof.

So...
I'm building from wood, normal and not threated(I'm worried about the chemicals in the wood frame).Will sit on some galvanised metal as a foundation, then raised like a normal wooden structure,with supporting walls ands roof.
Exterior walls will have 10mm acrylic plastic supplied from HERE and the roof will be installed by triplewall 16mm acrylic (as most of the heat will accumulate and try to escape out trough the roof).
Digged about 30-40cm deep and I am fitting a 30mm thick insulation on the sides of each four walls, all the way to the top of the hole. Installed only across the walls and none at the bottom, in order to "manipulate" the heat or the cold of the earth as a storage.
Moved around the home about 8mcof ground. Some of that will be reused within the new GH but I ordered 2 tones of compost from the local shop for around €120 so is better to have it fresh and some organic material in it.
On the bottom of the ground, installing 7 pieces of 110mm pipes that will connect to a central manifold of 160mm that will recirculate the air in the greenhouse, summer and winter.CO2 will be recirculated and only one time a day the fresh air will be changed with the outside. The online guys are using only one big fan to circulate the air. I decided to use 7 smaller fans ,installed at the end of the 110mm tubing so that each pipe will circulate same amount, as quantity and quality of the air ,rather than only certain random pipes as the air flows trough the sub piping taking the shortest path.

The outlet of my MHRV will be connected and will supply a troughout the GH a modest 10-15 degrees even in the coldest morning nights of the winter.
PV solar panels installed on the roof will power the fan needed for the ventilation.

Ordered all the parts and working on the piping system this week, hoping to have it done if weather is with me.

Ordered all the seeds online from the Organic Shop HERE . Planted them in the small plastic containers and laid out trough the house, at warm and not so bright places. Hoping that by the time the GH is ready, they can be exposed to the real world.

Keep you posted...

Photo1:
warning about chemicals in the threaded wood...just don't need them in my plants .





Photo2:
Perforated pipes for the floor, best setup to exchange the air (warm / cold) with the earth and evacuate any water from condesantion.




Photo3:
Work in progress...having fun !




A very basic explanation on how the GH will work:
Search online and you will find lots of resources.

rolion

So, wheater works with me...

Managed to get the central distribution manifold started,working in cutting the left and right pipes inserted and insulated inside.

Decided to go with central rather than sidewise in order to have a better managed ar/temperature/humidity flow control and a better flow of the inside air,following a path left-right / top-bottom.

Hopefully tomorrow i will have the wooden structure up as well as the magic has happened with my seeds !!!

Technophobe

rolion wrote: »

So, wheater works with me...

Managed to get the central distribution manifold started,working in cutting the left and right pipes inserted and insulated inside.

Decided to go with central rather than sidewise in order to have a better managed ar/temperature/humidity flow control and a better flow of the inside air,following a path left-right / top-bottom.

Hopefully tomorrow i will have the wooden structure up as well as the magic has happened with my seeds !!!

Wow and wow again

Am going to follow this with interest...
Plenty of photos please...
What are you growing?

Have lots of chillies and tomatoes up and growing well myself

Shemale

Looks great, fair play to you. I hope it goes well.

Looking forward to seeing the results you reap for your hard work.

RobAMerc

this is brilliant - however I think I would love to build this to dry clothes year round in.

do you think this would work as a big dryer too ?

thanks and keep us posted !

rolion

Hi,

Weather going fine.
Work a bit quiet so i can foxcus on the green greenhouse.

Managed to get the insulation around the main space.



Installed the piping and the manifold on the ground,waiting for the 10 cubic meters of compost to de delivered by Saturday.







Got the wooden structure up and running and ... painted what else,green !



More to follow ...

rolion

Not lastly...

My window plants are in a hurry to go outside !!
Whole family watched,day by day, how the wonders happens inside the compost and how the small seed are pushing their heads above,trough the hard ground !

Its so magic...we are so blessed to wittness this !

rolion

Just seen this now...looks promissing !




Ordered acrylic 10mm roof from HERE .
Im covering the sides on polythene 1000g clear from HERE.
Love to get it around with plastic but over budget already !

rolion

Hi guys,

Just a quick update on my work here.

Done most of the work, all pipes and ventilation, mixed top compost / soil and plants,all are inside the walls.

Attached few photos during the work.

I'm very pleased with the build so far,tested temperatures and humidity and it does make a difference.

Work stil in progress in setting up the wires supporting the tall plants,tomatoes, cucumber, beans and intalling around sideline walls few halfsize cut pipes for green salads.
Looking to tailor the speed of the two fans as i think 2m/s is a bit too fast.Today,it dropped and later it raised the temperature with 4 degrees in just 15 minutes.
All electrical work and minimal automation still under review,waiting for funds.

rolion

rolion

rolion

rolion

And not lastly... forgot "the trap" for my junior, thats how i get the help when i needed !:)
Unfortunately...no tenants yet, this season !

rolion

Hi,

Trying to be humil here but DIY proud and excitement takes over !

Got at i'll say near completion,thank God ... having tea and cofee in there and chatting to my little "green" buddies. Nothing wrong with that, as long as i dont have to find out something that i didn't knew before !

Vegetables are having a nice time in the warm wet soil,just put some organic chicken food for them,once a month i think will do it fine.

Ventilation / mHRV works fine,checking temps and humidity,plants looks healthy and happy.

All piping in place so far, i have to focus this Saturday on the electrical side,to be humid / vapour free.

Working next stage at some sort of automation,reporting,alerts on temp,water and so on. I dont want fully automated as it steals the pleasure of doing it and getting dirty myself.

Sharing,with "their" permission,few photos taken now.

Thanks.

rolion

On the back central lane,i planted a miniature family apple tree, two apples variety in a single tree.
Also, tok the risk / chance of a two nice grape branches,i hope they will grow and reward me after 2-3 years with a nice fresh organic taste of their fruits ?

celticbhoy27

Amazing, I tip my hat to you sir. Excellent job

Shemale

Fair play looks a great job, I hope it proves a success for you.

rolion

So,more photos.

I hope that i may succed to "infect" some more people and take on the gardening.
Is a rewarding,peacefull and, with a nice glass of Port,just sitting there around your greenye friends just gives you a well deserved peace,break and recharge your menthal strengths.

rolion

rolion

rolion

Zzippy

Love the strawberry pipe - can you show a few more photos of the whole setup?

rolion

Zzippy wrote: »

Love the strawberry pipe - can you show a few more photos of the whole setup?

That project started as a joke, as I didn't wanted the sberryes full time inside the greenhouse.
Later, i planned to plant them on both sides of the garden but on one of my walls, i have rasp/black/blue berries and this year, after I fed them with organic chicken manure...they exploded in flowers and I hope fruits so I will leave them there.

The strawberry pipes is easy to build, it takes time.
I used at least 6 or 7 diferent varities of fruits, bought from others shops ,as I want to see which oen performs better.
Also, i didn't want this week to have all the berries ready either,so some plants are earlier than others during the calendar year.
The big ones are nice and juicy, the smaller ones are very very tasty.
If I have to build a second set,i may leave the space inside for the plants longer in the length of the pipe, rather than a hole. Easier for runners but tricky as a structural design.
Also, i will build out of the remaining greenhouse plastic sheet some sort of enclosure, so they will be protected from cold, freeze and heavy rain while keeping lazy and warm.
Advantage is that the fruit is easy to reach, clean, fully exposed to air and sun AND away from any "third party" eaters.
Issue is that the runners are just going to get tired running on the plain plastic pipe so I have to fit them by hand inside the ground holes, where hopefully they will settle inside, as a for next year refresh plant( I use to replace the X_berries every 3 years).

Have fun...

rolion

Hello All,

I hope all out there enjoying the snow and preparing your seeds and planning for the Spring (after the snow,i hope)

As the winter is gone,time to get the greenhouse back to work.
I gave it 2 monts of relax,easy going,to recover the soil and the microbes to go away.



I had major issues with the slugs but after soemone recommended"nemaslugs",bought it online from H E R E and after the first treatment,all go black away ( i deeply hope and pray thats true).







Heating,ventilation and humidity all working ok these days.
I hope that my wife and I will be able to run a full spring clean-up in the GH with cleaning the spiders,painting the wood timber with new layer of protective paint (if i can find based on copper) and refresh the ground / soil within the right natural NPK parameters.

Over the winter,due to lack of sun and ventilation,the soil has developed some sort of green mushy texture that i had to remove it before digging and tuning the soil.
I am planning to get some quality top soil / organic manure and mix it in the existing beds.



I had the seeds ordered online fom the organic seeds centre H E R E,received them last week and already put them in the plastic containers and in the home,nice and warm.They will need to be warm for the next 2-4 weeks and then will require heat and light to grow.Some growers i found will force the seeds the grow with the help of heaters and artificial lights/LEDs but i say, leave it to the nature course !?

I have planted some tomatoes (plummy and some fatty ones),cucumbers (small and big fruits),courgettes,French beens.Once they will come up the ground,i will move the best stronger ones in to a single dedicated organic pot and trans_plant in the greenhouse soil by April.That organic pot (escapes me the name now,allows planting directly in the GH soil without creating any thermal or soil composition shocks to the plant itself).

Last year i had a flooding of tomatoes and cucumbers,all at the same time of the season ...this year,i learned the lesson: i plant few plants of each type in April and wait to develop and grow and give tasty results and then,i guess by June-July,plant again seeds and repeat the process hoping to have complete outputs until late in the year,with a month overlapping of maximum output.

Keep you posted and i wish you same tasty rewarding results...

rolion

My "strawberies_in_pipes" are doing ok as well !
I cleaned up the dead brown leaves and left only the healthy ones.










More plants have resulted as the runners are growing nicey and warm outside (i had to put them inside the GH for the snow cover)




I had a check on my garden,covered by white warm snow...i hope it will create some "damage" to all the microbes that have badly affected my trees and plants last year... ( sorry microbes )

rolion

And...again,the green wonder hapening for the second year...
Seeds planted just few days ago are trying to get their lovely tiny fragile heads above the secret work going under the soil...

I could share a little "secret" here: i've planted a bit higher / closer to the surface this year and they are doing better and, i guess an easier job (compared to last year when some of the seeds havent made it due to the been too deep in the soil).

In the first stage,they just needs good soil,warm conditions and good watering as well,helping to break the seeds exterior shield and get their DNA "wake-up call" ... that is time ... to raise and shine.
After the tiny heads appears,they will need a good exposure to light as well,beside previous environment conditions.

Looking forward...

pooljinx

Hi,
Really enjoyed reading your project. Do you have an estimate of the cost for all the materials?

Cheers,
Philip

rolion

pooljinx wrote: »

Hi,
Really enjoyed reading your project. Do you have an estimate of the cost for all the materials?

Cheers,
Philip

Hi Philip,

Thanks, no ideea as i bought the parts as i neded.I will guesstimate maybe 3k ?
Most of them were suplied from local builders shop,such as Goodwins then Mulch and some garden centres.

I did most of the work myself so no cost associated except my time off from my work.
I guess the most expensive was digging the hole,then pebbles,then piping and then the top soil. Not lastly a rubbish bin for the left overs.

I wrongly guesstimated the required pebbles and soil,massively under and i end-up with 3 deliveries as i was short first time,then worried that i will have too much,wrong evaluated ending up with a third delivery.

I regret that i didnt digged deeper for a better geothermal exposure and i didnt do the foundation of concrete (as now i can convert in to a living space and charge my adult kids .. .rent) !

Overall,there is no RoI on the unit compared with a local supermarket... as the pleasure of hiding away and chat with your plants is beyond any monetary reach...

If you think in building one,i can help you happily..

emo72

great thread. im subscribing to this one.

rolion

And...my green friends decided to come and meet me but they dont know is too cold outside for their tiny roots...
Today,at lunch time were 30" inside the GH but over night drops to a mere 4-5 only...quite risky for them.
I will keep them close and warm until they will reach at least another few more centimeters...

Also,i have some organic compost from HERE and i hope to mix it with the existing soil,trying to rejuvenate the magical works of the soil...

Anyone wanting to get started on this adventure,i can help you or you can see it live over here.Same,i am open to exchange and sharing of photo / information !

quietsailor

It's a fantastic thread, thank you for posting all the information up on Boards, it makes a great reference guide for people

Calahonda52

Wonderful project: thank you for posting all the detail.

A few questions:
How does the heat recovery work:
You take the hot air from the top of GH and pump it through the perforated pipes into the stones and it also comes up through the pipes around the edge?
How do you change the air once a day?

recedite

Its not going through the stones, just the pipes. With those 100mm pipes and that many of them, there would be quite a large volume of air stored in the pipe.
If OP is still looking at automation options. I suggest maybe see how long it takes to "flush" the pipes (after which time the air coming out is closer to the same temp as the air coming in.) Maybe 10 minutes or so.
Then set up a timer on the fan to operate for that 10 mins or so every hour (or half hour) during the sunshine period. To charge the soil.

Add a thermostat in series too, so it only kicks in when the air temperature has reached a certain point, say 20 degrees in summer, or less in winter.


Then do a time control for the coldest part of the night, to take the heat back from the ground and heat the air in the greenhouse. I think this would have to be a second timeswitch, so the power goes straight to the fan from it without going through the thermostat.

rolion

So,there are few mechanisms independent and working togetehr.
Very important that the plants are not exposed to shift changes and extreme values... i lost a lots last year due to temps reaching over 40 for hours,for days !

For cold days,i have a mini MHRV unit fitted that takes out the CO2 air from inside and warms the fresh oxygeneted air from outisde,then spreads on 180 degrees at the roof level.
This is to keep the humidity and air at a certain levels when is cold outside.

The geothermal system,is a closed system.We know that some plants loves CO2 and they grow betetr with it.Also,they are overreacting when changes abrupt in temperatures.So the two big fans takes the hot air from top and moves it through pipes inside the soil and then force it in many directions,inside,at ground level,under the plants leefs or at their level.The system brings about 3 positive degrees in the cold and over 10 degrees when is too hot. Is not the most efficient system...i seen after i built mine a dual piping one,with major pipes at 150cm and other smaller size at 30cm .Deeper for constant heat,higher better for plant roots. Next time...

I have 6 (six) cooling fans that can be programmed to change speed and direction. Can go slow or fast. Can bring cold air inside or extract hot air outside.There are DC motors from car radiator's fans. As well, the outside extractor holes can be covered or left open,with a piece of mdf timber,controlled ( i truly hope) with a linear actuator,to be ordered online.Now,i just pull up or down,as needed.mostly down as high temperatures.

i have a home dehumidifier that work smostly at night time,in the morning,when higher values are being recored ( plants sweat due to temperatures changes).

Also,i have in plan a black-out foil that will open or close,rolling under the acrylic roof,covering sections of the ground against high solar light / heat /radiation.Roof being acrylic,it already disperses the sun rays.

Working curently to tidy up the controllers and the wires inside the GH. Just delayed and plants / seeds went in already.
I have SONOF controllers and i ordered another temperature logging system for graphs and historical analysis,to see reaction to changes in fans. With SONOF, you can create timers,actions based on events and / or scenes.Very handy !

Never ending story,work,improving,playing,testing,enjoying,eating,talking to my lovely plants...

recedite

Its a lot of fans alright.
Do you think the dehumidifier is needed? Plants usually like a bit of humidity.

Looks like a fire waiting to happen.

rolion

recedite wrote: »

Its a lot of fans alright.
Do you think the dehumidifier is needed? Plants usually like a bit of humidity.

Yes,you are right.
Last year,i had only the geofans and ... the doors.
I lost a lot due to heat and humidity.
Summer time,over 40 degrees.
And,most important,when the big plants are "big" i still need to get the air flowing under their leafs / ground levels,at the ground level. Otherwise,is going to be a heaven for diseases...

For tomato and cucumber,there is a plague that makes the leafs going like white powder,that bacteria thrives in heat and humidity.
I empty twice a week that dehumnidif water container... and in cold seasons keeps the algeas away too.

BrownFinger wrote: »

Looks like a fire waiting to happen.

Thanks, thats why i have the black metalic cabinet on the floor,waiting for a free Saturday to fit and tidy and label all in there.

recedite

Is that a tomato seedling growing out of an upside down plastic bottle suspended from the ceiling?
Not that there is anything wrong with that, I was just wondering.
You'll be able to stand underneath it and just nibble the little cherry tomatoes off the plant

recedite

Oh and I see a grape vine too. Even better for nibbling.

rolion

Well spotted my friend ! Nice...

Grapes runnign too wild in the 3rd year as i want to give it a form / length around the greenhouse inside / roof.
Already blossoming and few fruit shots are happy.
Every week i need to spray it with washing up liquid and water, lots of flies and insects around attacking the stem.






Tomatoes,i tried something new this time.
Last year,the ones inside riped faster but at a cost of the taste while the outside ones way longer and slower but with a deeper sweety taste.
So,this year i want to give it a try to both,in the bottle hanging and see if the gravity does any difference.
And easy to feed and water too.
Is amazing how quick they turned against the earth force...

recedite

Its an interesting idea alright. Tomatoes don't seem to need much soil.

At the end of the summer when you pull up a big plant its surprising how small the root ball is. Even when the plant has plenty of room, it doesn't seem to expand the roots out to use it.
Use some kind of liquid feed mixed in with the water later on, and they should be grand.