For years I have wanted a partially underground greenhouse, and now it’s happening
The start
This is the beginning, the start, the hole being dug. The greenhouse is being built beside my garden eventually there will be a door entering it from the garden as well as the other side.
Hoping this will be ready for spring 2024 planting. We have a grape vine along the garden fence which will be in the greenhouse when that side wall goes up. With the cooler climates we have the grapes have grown, but very slowly so hoping to get a nice feast in a few years having it inside the greenhouse rather than out.
In this picture, you can see the walls are getting put up as well as the roof. The plan is to get the roof up before the snow starts falling so we can work on putting the windows in etc.
The size of the greenhouse is about 16′ x 40 ‘ should give us lots of growing room. I plan on building rock beds as well as using pots and garden beds. It will be a work in progress. Scott wants to build a water feature at one end and of course, we will have a table and chairs to kick back and enjoy a beverage or two after working in the garden.
Here are a few pictures of the progress we made from fall to winter. It was nice to have the wood stove warming us up while putting the rest of the windows in and placing rocks, and of course dreaming of what it’s going to look like and what we will put in here. One friend said we should put a small hot tub in one corner lol. Don’t think that will be happening but it will be a nice place to be in I’m sure.
The wood stove that we put in the greenhouse was in the cabin, we bought a smaller one for it. The concrete mantel built above the woodstove was poured into the metal that was taken from a c- can. We cut a door into the c-can so used that metal from that as well as concrete around the wood stove. Below are some pictures of the wood stove.
The green metal that makes part of this concrete shelf is metal from a C-can.
A door was cut out of the C-can. We try to reuse everything we can.
The windows in the greenhouse were given to us by a neighbor that had his replaced.
The only things that we had to buy were the insulated stove pipe, gravel, and the roofing material.
The wood used to build this greenhouse came from cedar logs that were given to me in payment for doing bookkeeping for a client.
Scott milled them up with his sawmill to the sizes and lengths we needed. The beams in the ceiling are nice and large.
I will eventually put hooks in them to start my hanging baskets in the spring.
I did order two large solar grow lights, which will be placed over a shelf that will be built for starting plants. Pictures will be posted on the website and or face book page once I have them up.
The gravel is in and our helper is having a nap. Stay posted for more pictures and info as I get this greenhouse planted.
#offgridliving #greenhousegardening #greenhouse
This is the solar grow light I ordered. I will post more pictures when it arrives and let you know how it works.
It’s amazing to see how much thought and creativity went into building your underground greenhouse! I love how you’ve repurposed so many materials, from the windows to the metal from the C-can and even the cedar logs from bookkeeping work. It not only keeps costs down but also gives the project a unique, sustainable touch. I imagine the warmth of the wood stove will make it a cozy retreat during the colder months too. I’d love to hear more about how the grapevine thrives once it’s inside the greenhouse—it sounds like a great way to extend your growing season!
Hi Jonelle, yes this was our first year. I was able to grow canteloupe and watermelon when normally our growing season is not long enough. Our grandkids planted some beans when they were visiting in Aug and low and behold we have little beans starting. It’s a work in progress, but I’m sure it will help with the grocery bill 🙂