Want to build your own greenhouse at home? Here’s an easy way to make it happen

• Advocate staff report
• Published: Mar 6, 2008

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Building your own temporary greenhouse can be a simple process using a limited number of materials and tools. The following plans, provided by WBRZ’s lawn and garden expert Louis Miller, can be built in a day, and the materials can be found at local hardware stores.

Materials:
6 – 1/2-inch x 20-foot lengths PVC pipe
1 – 1/2-inch x 10-foot length PVC pipe
2 – 1/2-inch PVC tees
4 – 1/2-inch PVC crosses
2 – 1 x 4 x 10-foot boards
2 – 1 x 6 x 10-foot boards
12 – 3/8 x 18-inch reinforcing rods (re-bar)
1 – 20 x 25-foot plastic sheet, 4 mil.
Handful of nails or drywall screws

Tools:
Hammer
PVC pipe cutter or hacksaw
Tape measure
Pencil
Big hammer
Staple gun and staples or some simplex nails

Instructions:
1) Place the boards in a square and connect at the corners with nails or screws. The 1 x 4 boards will be at the front and rear of the greenhouse, and the 1 x 6 boards will be the sides.

2) Inside the four corners, drive a piece of the re-bar about 1 foot into the ground, leaving 1 inch of clearance from the boards. Space the other rods evenly inside the 1 x 6 boards (about 2 feet apart) and drive in also.

3) Cut each 20-foot length of PVC in half and reconnect the halves with the tees and crosses.

4) Place one of the 20-foot lengths of PVC pipe with a tee in the middle over a piece of re-bar in a corner. Bend the pipe so the other end will slide over the re-bar in the opposite corner. Use the other PVC pipe with a tee in it for the other end of the greenhouse.

5) Use the pipes with the crosses to form the ribs in the middle of the house.

6) Use the 10-foot length of PVC to cut five pieces of pipe about 22‰ inches long, and use these pieces to connect all of the crosses and tees. No glue is needed.

7) Stretch the plastic over the ribs of the structure and make sure it reaches the ground in the front and rear. Secure the plastic to the 1 x 6 boards with staples or simplex nails so the plastic is stretched fairly tight. Do the same with the rear of the house.

8) Use bricks, sandbags or other suitable material to weigh down or otherwise secure the plastic in the front of the house for a doorway.

This is meant to be a temporary greenhouse and can be damaged or destroyed in severe weather.

Never use electric lights, heaters or other devices that are not connected properly to a ground fault circuit interrupter, and even then, use caution, especially when watering.