Adding a greenhouse to your garden or homestead is a great way to extend your season, grow vegetables that require a more controlled environment and is a dream for many backyard gardeners. When we first started planning our homestead layout I was sure to save place for a dreamy greenhouse of our own and in the spring of 2020 we made it a reality for under $200!

We have made the building plans, shopping list, cut list and instructions available here for just a couple of dollars in our shop. Everything earned goes back into developing our tiny sustainable farm and into inspiring and encouraging others to live more sustainably.

We love that our greenhouse sits on top of raised hugelkultur garden beds to grow peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes inside and extends our growing season to grow spinach, kale and swiss chard in the winter months although these tender winter crops will need another layer of protection inside.

The floor is made with left over shale rock from our driveway which works to capture the heat of the sun throughout the day to passively heat the greenhouse on cool nights. It also gives the greenhouse a very charming cottage look which I am smitten over! You could also use sand, pea gravel or just the bare ground as well but using what we had around is money we didn't spend.

We chose to use 6mil plastic and staples to wrap our greenhouse which is essentially vapour barrier plastic and can be found at your local building supply store. It has held up remarkably well in the wind and rain but in the future we hope to add clear plastic roofing panels to ensure we can enjoy this green house for many many many years to come. 

Other siding options include glass, salvaged windows (although they'll come in a variety of sizes and are tricky to frame around like a jig saw puzzle), polycarbonate or acrylic panels (expensive).

All together, the greenhouse cost us under $200 to complete. This doesn't include the white exterior paint we already had on hand to paint the frame of the greenhouse.