My GreenHouse Build.

[mikethecactusguy]

Gravel arrived. Arizona River Rock 3/4" or less in size

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I don't own a wheelbarrow, so this is my makeshift wheelbarrow. A heavy duty dolly with 3 plastic pots.
It works

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You can see the large bags bags of rock through the fence.

[K.W.]

Good evening Mike,
you did a good job!
It's a nice greenhouse.
The details are good and meaningful.
I read about where you live - you don't really need a greenhouse, do you?
With the weather in your city, anything could grow outside. . .
I would have something to consider because the house is not anchored in the ground. Isn't there a strong wind?
My final point is about the ground. The stones will store the heat and release it at night.
A little cooler night would be good for the plants.
What do you think of a wooden floor on top of the stones?


Courage dear friends!

Best wishes

K.W.

[mikethecactusguy]

Hi K.W.
The greenhouse is for 4 things. 1- wind protection. They can get as high as 60 miles an hour in my area. 2. The temps at night can dip down to the low 30 f range over the next 4 months. It is Winter in the desert. I wanted a safe place for my melocactus and smaller specimens. I also wanted a safe space for seed germination. 3rd would be sun protection. In the middle of summer it gets to 110 f and the sun is intense. The shade sail cut out about 60% of the sun. All but 3 survived the move and heat under the Shade Sail. I'm going to try a 50% shade cloth at first. 4th- a greenhouse is just cool to have and look at.
It was in the mid 70's f today. The greenhouse was 90F. That is without shade cloth and a fan running to move the air. I was going to put down a wood path from the door to the back after I built the shelving. I wanted something more than just dirt under all the plants. It got down to 55f last night and when I checked this morning the interior temp matched the outside temp. I have noticed that as soon as the sun goes down our concrete pool decking cools of immediately. The vents stay open until temps get down to 60 f or so. So heat will still be release from the greenhouse.
It is anchored right now with 18" wood stakes. I plan on this weekend driving 1/2" x 30" long rebar into the ground and then anchoring the base to them. Palram claims that as built the structure itself will hold up under 80 mile an hour winds.
All my larger opuntia and golden barrels will stay outside. Also some of the larger euphorbia will be safe. I need to keep an eye on things and watch closely this first season.

[mikethecactusguy]

Bench Building time. First. Locating Redwood. I called every lumber yard in the area. No one stocks redwood. I had to go to home depot to by redwood.
2x4's and 1x4 rough sawn fence boards.
I wanted the slats to be removable if I needed to have additional height. A router was easier than trying to cut the rabbet on the table saw. I haven't use that monster Hitachi in 20 years. The shelves are 24" deep x 113" long. The space between shelves is 24". the first shelf is 6" above the rock. The top shelf is at 64" above rock. The roof of the greenhouse peaks at 107"
The Support ladders sit on the wood foundation. They are not anchored to the greenhouse walls. There will be 3 addition shelves bridging the 2 side wall at the back. Those will be 36" deep. I am also going to have 2 "floating shelves.
I spent 5 1/2 hours on the build and got 4 of the 6 long shelves finished.

[Steve-0]

Great craftsmanship on the shelves! Should last forever. Really coming together. Those cacti are dreaming greenhouse dreams.

[mikethecactusguy]

Thank you Steve-O

[cactushobbyman]

[mikethecactusguy]

The First 4 set of shelves was built Yesterday, Friday. With setup and initial cutting I worked from 7am to 1pm. 6 hours.
Today I started at 7:30am. The Shelving was finished at 12:30pm. I started to move some plants in for 30 minutes and then took a break. Around 4 I decided to move all the smaller plants in. My wife pitched in.

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[mikethecactusguy]

Second set of pictures.

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[mauicacti]

Well done!!

[mikethecactusguy]

I'm so used to building decks, stairs fences out of redwood I never gave it a second thought. I mentioned earlier that I called 6 lumber yards and all said the same thing. Redwood?
In Los Angeles I considered Home Depot my competition. In Indio Ca they are my only solution for redwood. They had 2x4s available in 12 ft and 6ft lengths only. The fence boards were standard rough sawn dog eared redwood.
It is so rare that both the gardener and the pool guy wanted to know what the wood was. Go figure.
I will need to heat up the electrical line. Outside air temp was 92f today. With the door open it was 110 f in the greenhouse. We have hazy sky's today so no direct intense sun today. I bought a 14" wall mount fan designed for greenhouse installation. That will move air around well and help cool off the space.

[mikethecactusguy]

Thank you mauicacti

[mikethecactusguy]

I'll get the fan mounted and the plants organized better and post more pictures.
The additional bracing I wanted was ordered yesterday from Palram. The additional braces were $5 each. $30 plus another $20 for shipping

[K.W.]

It couldn't be better!


K.W.

[mikethecactusguy]

Thank you K.W.