Greenhouses allow the backyard farmer to grow food year round. I built my greenhouse in 2008, modified it in 2009. My greenhouse is technically a high tunnel since it has no external heating or cooling system. In 2009 I housed my aquaponics system in the greenhouse...since then I have really enjoyed my greenhouse and love to spend time there steadily improving what is what I call the heart of my backyard food production complex (BFPC).
Anyone interested in building a greenhouse like mine can use this free plan developed at North Carolina State University. It will cost less than $500 to build this greenho
use and much less if scrap lumber is used.
Even an unheated high tunnel like mine can have a significant impact on what can be grown in the back yard. A greenhouse produces an evironment which simulates the weather about 500 miles south of your location. If the plants inside are covered in a hoop cold frame then another 500 mile south leap is possible. This information comes from Hobby Farms.com in a article titled Tools of the Trade: Hoop Houses which provides more details on the versatility of the inexpensive yet very effective hoop house. Using this information my greenhouse transforms USDA hardiness zone 8b here in North Carolina to about zone 10a which is around Naples, Florida but not quite as warm as Miami and Key West (zones 10 b and 11).
I can vouch for the effectiveness of hoop houses as described in the Hobby Farms article. In the winter of 2008 I kept an avocado tree and a taro plant alive in my unheated greenhouse all winter...
with temperatures down in the high teens and low twenties. I only used black barrels of water for
solar heat storage. I used a secondary covering over the test plants inside the greenhouse which allowed the plants to survive through the winter.
Today in my greenhouse I have a gran nain banana, meiwa kumquat tree which I have learned is (very hardy and it may be moved outside), Meyer lemon tree, and a Mexican lime tree.
Of course in my small greenhouse I have a 4' X 8' aquaponics table and another 18" x 10' table under construction.
I encourage anyone with a garden to install a greenhouse since it can open up a world of plant growing opportunities not available otherwise.
