trampoline frame greenhouse

[rebecca100]

We are getting ready to start biulding a greenhouse. We have an old 16 ft trampoline frame some pvc and some plastic sheeting. We plan on splitting the frame in half and putting the halves on 4 ft poles and using pvc and wire fencing to connect the two halves and then putting plastic over it all. At least that is our preliminary plan. I thought about doubling the plastic. One sheet on the inside and one out with air between them to help insulate it some. I also want to use passive solar to heat it. you know like barrels of water.....maybe with catfish in them? Heat and fertilize and eat all in one. LOL The main thing I am worried about is heat loss at night and too much heat during the day. I will try to post pics as we get started. Any ideas would be welcome.

 

[buckeye lady]

This is very interesting!!

 

[The Vail Benton's]

Sounds like a great way to repurpose your trampoline! I can't wait to see how this project progresses - I bet there are quite a few unused trampolines out there that can be had cheaply.

 

[hwillm1977]

Here's the greenhouse I'm going to attempt to build... it's a 12x32 foot hoop house, I've priced everything out and it should be about $400, with the plastic being half of that.

http://www.albertahomegardening.com/how-to-build-an-inexpensive-hoop-style-greenhouse/

The trampoline one sounds really interesting, definitely take some pictures!

 

[The Vail Benton's]

That's pretty cool & looks relatively simple to build, hwillm. Thanks for posting.

 

[hwillm1977]

The differences I would suggest for the hoop house is:

1. don't put the rebar/pvc on the outside of the frame, put it on the inside so you can have a continuous seal with the plastic on the frame.

2. put a door in both ends... make two doors for each end, one with plastic, one with screens... once it's consistently warm out, put the screen doors in for ventilation.

3. attach the strips holding the plastic on with double headed nails so you can easily take them off in the fall to take the greenhouse down (if you aren't leaving it up all winter).

 

[The Vail Benton's]

I would use mine to keep tomatos & peppers going through the winter - (I actually have a volunteer tomato plant that has not only survived our cold snaps but is STILL holding & vine ripening fruit). We would not need the greenhouse most of the year, but it would be nice to have a place outside to start my seeds
Thank you for the tips

 

[hwillm1977]

I would use mine to keep tomatos & peppers going through the winter - (I actually have a volunteer tomato plant that has not only survived our cold snaps but is STILL holding & vine ripening fruit). We would not need the greenhouse most of the year, but it would be nice to have a place outside to start my seeds
Thank you for the tips

lol... in my climate I need a greenhouse just to get tomatoes and peppers to really do well during the SUMMER, it extends our growing season by almost a month on either end... which is great since we only have about 100 days without frost in the summer.

I'm really looking forward to the trampoline greenhouse pics... that sounds really interesting Our neighbour has one that he doesn't use in his yard, maybe I can scrounge it from him...

 

[The Vail Benton's]

We don't really get a fall (I think last fall was the first time I saw the trees here actually turn colors), but we usually get a second spring instead. Than BAM! It's winter, and we can conceivably see snow one day and 75 deg f the next. It's hard to keep up sometimes.
This winter I wish we'd had a greenhouse. I think it's been the coldest, most winter-like that I've seen in the 6 years I've lived here. It's certainly been the wettest and this morning I was amazed to walk out into the garden and find onions growing that I guess we missed when we harvested last years crop, the artichoke plants I had so much trouble starting from seed last year are gorgeous and will hopefully flower for us this year, and although I think I lost my asparagus, I noticed that my one seedless red grape is budding out already. I hope we don't have any more freezing weather, which is really the problem -it gets wickedly chilly and then warms up, tricking the plants into thinking it's spring, and then it freezes again. The trampoline greenhouse would be a really inexpensive way to grow fresh throughout the year. Or the hoop style that you posted.

 

[rebecca100]

We decided against using the trampoline in favor of a much larger hoop style. I ordered the plastic yesterday. A 4 yr 6 mil greenhouse poly film 32 by 34 came to 141.00. The pvc and fittings came to $205. So we will have about $400 in the greenhouse whose finished size will be 20 x 30 x about 10 tall. We are going to reinforce it with wood to help hold the load of snow and hanging plants.

IMG]http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss96/rebeccajoy100/DSCI0011.jpg[/IMG]

The pics aren't great. And we still need to finish the poles. It was getting cold and trying to rain so we quit.