The Greenhouse

We have a greenhouse in our backyard.  It was on the property when we purchased it over 4 years ago.  Our home was built in 1972, and had
one prior owner, a husband and wife who raised 3 daughters in the home.  They built this greenhouse for one very specialized purpose; growing orchids.  The greenhouse has a water line running out to it, and a spigot inside.  There is also a temperature-control system, which opens a vent when the greenhouse temperature hits around 90 degrees.  If the greenhouse hits 100 degrees, it kicks on a fan at the other end of the greenhouse to suck in cooler air.  There's also a heater with an adjustable setting.  I have it set to fire up if the temp inside drops to around 45 degrees.

The greenhouse has a sunken cinder block floor and 3 large built-in work tables with storage underneath two of the tables.  Other than storage of gardening tools and tomato stakes, I use the greenhouse for one thing - starting seeds and growing seedlings until they are ready to transplant into the garden. That's it.  The remaining 8 or 9 months of the year it is essentially unused.  I'm OK with that usually, but every now and then, usually in November, I get the feeling that I'm wasting an opportunity.  Perhaps I'll transplant some things out of the garden this fall and try a little container gardening in there this winter.

Until December, the greenhouse had some serious issues. First, the center roof beam had cracked, and I was keeping the entire roof from caving in via an 8 foot long 2 by 4 board wedged underneath the crack. The middle of the greenhouse roof was visibly sagging. Second, a 2013 summer windstorm had blown off 3 glass roof panels, shattering 2 of them. For most of the fall, a tarp covered a quarter of the greenhouse roof. My wife actually got the greenhouse fixed. She helped our neice's man, Judd, paint a house.  Instead of getting paid, she asked that Judd help me fix our greenhouse. So, one Saturday in December, Judd and I sawzalled out the broken beam, wiggled a new beam in place, and reattached the rafters. Later I recaulked all the glass panels and installed 2 clear plastic panels to replace the shattered glass. The greenhouse is in better shape now than when we moved in. More importantly, it's actually safe to go inside it again. This is a good thing.