There is a possible freeze or frost Monday night so I decided to bring in the rest of my plants. I had to do a lot of moving around and my dining room is crowded, and that's only half of my plants. I wish I had a greenhouse lol. Here are so pictures of my crowded dining room

OMG, Cameron - well, you'll certainly have a very tropical looking house this winter!

LOL you should have seen the look on my families face when I started bringing plants in one by one.

Cameron, perhaps it is time for a greenhouse or a dedicated garden room?

lol I wish I could afford a greenhouse.

I'm supposed to pick up an old swing-set this week. I'll take the swings off and throw some 3 or 5-mil plastic over it (after spray painting the gawd-awful looking thing!) and voila - instant green house. Cold frames made of old windows also work great - you can stack them on mounded earth, straw bales or actually construct wooden boxes.

Wow thanks Sheryl, those are clever ideas.

We all have to do what we can to shelter our lovely plants..and I do know the feeling when our hubby's get annoyed with all our plants indoors You can always say it only occurs when we have cold weather every year

You got lovely looking plants Cameron! Like you I have shelterd some, like my frustratingly hard to grow Plumeria cutting and my Adenuiums.
I always tell my hubby, this is part of being a responsible home grower.

Thanks Tarev! That's something I could tell my family, its part of being a responsible home grower lol. They would probably look at me like I'm crazy lol.

I agree. You can build a simple one without spending much money. 2x4's and 3x8' polycarbonate panels (translucent on the roof, clear on the sides), screen/aluminum door, and perhaps a few pre-hung windows (used ones work fine), and you have a very functional greenhouse. You might even find the 2x4's, door, windows, and polycarbonate/acetate/fiberglass panels at a discount or salvage place. My first greenhouse was built when I lived ont he Gulf Coast was huge and beautiful, a whopping 14x34', made of glass, marine aluminum and brick. I won't even go there when putting a cost on it. It was partially destroyed by two hurricanes and rebult each time. I no longer lived on the Gulf Coast when Katrina hit, but Katrina took it all away, right down to the foundation, and the home-owner did not rebuild it. When I moved up to Starkville, MS, in 1995, I built my own greenhouse, using the materials listed above. It also had three pre-hung windows and a screen door. Not too pretty but quite functional. It was 8x12'. I have now moved again (2010), still in the same neighborhood, and have two 10x12' greenhouses, built from kits. A lot better looking than the home-made one, but of course much more expensive. Ken

I know there is a Habitat for Humanity salvage place in my town. Maybe I will go in there to see if I can find some of those items. I'm not really good at building things lol. That's terrible your greenhouse was destroyed twice. I saw some very beautiful greenhouse designs in Horticulture magazine, I could only imagine how much it would cost to build one

Yeah, Habitat would be a good place to start and there may be other places not too far away that sells seconds (wood, door, windows) and close-outs (other materials). You can also temporarily cover it with heavy guage visquene (sp?). That would get you through a year. Also pvc piping would work. That's the backbone of one of my "lean-to" greenhouses, and it is two years old and holding up well. I can perhaps help you plan a greenhouse if you want, since I have now built three of them, all different construction. You'll just have to promise to buy some plants from me. Ken

I have my houseplants indoors already. But there are still some very large tropicals that need to be protected eventually. I still like this idea from the Greenhouse forum. It is fairly inexpensive depending on the type of doorways installed, if any and can be easily heated.

The thread "My homemade greenhouse" in Greenhouses forum

You don't want to know the cost of that custom-built, 14x34' greenhouse. There was a similar one shown in "Architectural Digest" one year. Looking back, I wish I had invested the money. Ken

That's a combination greenhouse, using both pvc and wood framing. You don't need any wood framing if using (correctly) pvc. You just have to remember to anchor this structure well since it so light and strong wind will literally blow it away.

I am thinking of over lapping the plastic covering to use as a doorway since I plan on dismantling the greenhouse in early spring. Anchoring the pvc over buried rebar will keep it stable in the ground and cable ties to secure the plastic to the pvc. Would like to use something more durable than plastic. Any ideas??

I've seen a few greenhouses online that use pvc. That's something I could try too. If I did make one with pvc would I have to put a heater in the greenhouse to keep it warm? I have a small yard so I wouldn't be able to make a decent size greehouse.

Well, plastic covers an awful lot of products. I guess when you come down to it, plastic is everything except glass. Vinyl, polycarbonate, fiberglass, visquene, etc. I use marine vinyl panels to close in my porch in the fall-winter. It also just covered my pvc greenhouse with it, to give it another layer of insulation. It is guarenteed 10+ yrs, and that's transparency, not life. Fiberglass and polycarbonate have life-spans of 10-20 years or more. My first self-built greenhouse was built in 1996 and it looks almost as good today as the day it was built. It depends on the material. How long a life do you wnat from your greenhouse coverings?

Cameron, you would need to heat your greenhouse unless you are in S. Florida or S. California. I have two heaters in each of my greenhouses. One is the primary and the other the backup. They are all electric and are either 1200W or 1500W. They are all on thermostats, just like we have in the central heat/air homes. One is set at 55F and the other is set at 50F. If one can't keep up with the cold, the other kicks in. Measure the amount of space your plants take up now. That's the size greenhouse you would want. The house would then be the future overflow. I started with one greenhouse, then enclosed a 8x20' porch and then built a second greenhouse. Like our homes, regardless of size, we fill up the available space. At least I do with my plants spaces. Ken

I would love to have a long lasting greenhouse. I'll measure the area in my dining room, I also have several plants in my room (mainly low light plants) There is a nursery a few miles away from my house and they have a huge vinyl greenhouse. I wanted to do something similar. Another thing I would be worried about, would be the cost of running heaters.

It really depends on what you're growing, and when. I used to grow vegetable plants for one of the farmer's co-ops while I was in TN, zone 7. I only needed heaters for about a week or two, at the end of February or so, and only for a few hours each night. Much more troublesome was venting the GH when it was warm - in March the sun was bright enough to bring the temps up to 100º during the day, then drop into the 40's at night. Having roll up sides (which were very easy to construct - this was a hoop house, BTW) were a real life saver, as long as you were home at the right times. If you're in zone 8, I suspect you might have even warmer temps.

Ken, if I understand correctly, you're using your GH for tender plants that aren't going dormant? Orchids and such?