pod said:It would be a temporary fix but I have seen folks line the perimeter with either straw or hay bales. It adds insulation to help maintain the indoor temps. Most cold enters at ground level. Aesthetically maybe not so attractive or easy to weed eat around. Perhaps others will have better ideas.

Thats a good idea I did that some last year , than turned around and used the straw for mulch in the late spring . I put the bales on the inside .

That sounds like a good plan for you. How large is the tunnel house? Did you find that the bales took up too much indoor space?

I'm also curious how cold your area gets in winter?

Its 30 x 80 Gothic with two 8 food rolling doors , a walk in and roll up sides , with two layers of plastic with a inflation fan . It gets cold sometimes it the teens , sometimes zero . I don't run it all year I just start up in early spring . The straw didn't take up two much space , it was getting wet in some places and maby giving places for mice to live . Well got to go to work thank you .

looks like you have a gap and some wood
What about using that roll of rubber/plastic they use as baseboard along the kitchen cabinets.
It comes in rolls and has adhesive backing ,the stuff in my kitchen is 8'' deep ,it may come biger?, I would staple it in place don't know if the glue would stick in the weather.

gardengus said:looks like you have a gap and some wood
What about using that roll of rubber/plastic they use as baseboard along the kitchen cabinets.
It comes in rolls and has adhesive backing ,the stuff in my kitchen is 8'' deep ,it may come biger?, I would staple it in place don't know if the glue would stick in the weather.

Thats a good idea , thats one thing I've learned , is recycled and stuff thats going to the land fill is good materials ,today I will be getting plastic pallets from a glue factory throw away and at home I have some of that floating floor material the size of roof singles and is tough stuff .

Apropos of nothing at all - just I have to share with somebody who might care:
I love my new immersion heater. It came a few days ago. I does exactly what I need it to do. Raises the temperature of 15 gal. tank from 17 to 22 degrees C in about 15 minutes. Doesn't endanger the plastic sheeting, doesn't exhaust the solar batteries. Keeps the plants happy. And when they're happy, so am I.
It's a Loutytuo (don't know what happened to the terminal L) 1600 W 120V immersion heater, cost about &60.

A lot of great info here! I currently use what I call temporary greenhouses bought from Amazon of EBay to protect my cold hardy palm trees in Pennsylvania during the winter months. I like some of the ideas I read on here of extending the growing season on edible gardens. I want to explore using the greenhouse for other uses. Great stuff everyone!

Ahhh! Telephone booths for little palms - love it! But what if they grow big?

I wiped out on hydroponic tomatoes. Something happened to contaminate the tank and the roots started to rot. I rescued them in time and planted them in earth.
The up-side is: they're okay and might even produce. Some of the strawberries are still doing well, and the one soy bean is fine, but the peas are kind of weedy and cucumbers are not particularly happy.
So I'll bring in more planters and reserve the water tanks for the green leafies that did well last year.
Useful device: an electric toothpick for pollinating flowers in the absence of insects.

Sweetgreen said:Its 30 x 80 Gothic with two 8 food rolling doors , a walk in and roll up sides , with two layers of plastic with a inflation fan . It gets cold sometimes it the teens , sometimes zero . I don't run it all year I just start up in early spring . The straw didn't take up two much space , it was getting wet in some places and maby giving places for mice to live . Well got to go to work thank you .

As long as you have the straw bales inside why not condition (fertilize) them for 10-12 days and then plant vegetables, flowers, etc in them. Tomatoes do wonders in straw bales.
I have never had mice, etc. in my bales. I think they don't like the wetness.

That sounds like a great idea! I suppose you need to replace the bales every few years?
I could never have mice in the greenhouse" it has its own resident cat, who's bored most of the time. Of course, she's also lonely, so she might make pets of them.
Besides the not very demanding chores, I try to spend an hour or so in there every evening. I put in a chair a plug for my kindle, and recently hit upon the notion of using my immersible heater in a 5gal bucket (takes 3-4 minutes) and soaking my poor aching legs while I read and Sammy runs up and down the benches.