So I do a lot of experimenting on what can grow in my area and how I can push the dates to grow. I don't do a lot of conventional gardening as I mainly follow permaculture principles, but every so often there is an area that I know can thrive if I just gave it a little more help, that's where my portable greenhouse idea came in. I needed it to be big enough that it would support all the plants in an area, but not so big that it was cumbersome. The end result was an 8' by 4' greenhouse that I can easily move by myself and so far has withstood 35 mph winds...
Here's how it went if interested
Pictured here is pretty much everything i used to construct it. 5 ribs that are 3/4 inch pvc pipe 10' long. 3 2 by 4's that are 8 feet long. Some 2 1/2" screws and some standard poly sheeting covering that i got from home depot a long time ago.



Here is the box, pretty standard. I joined the boards so that they were taller instead of flat to the ground, figured this would give the ribs a little more room to be attached and stay sturdy.



I then attached the ribs 2 feet apart with 2 screws. I think in the picture I have only attached one screw, but in the end each rib has 2 screws on both sides...if that makes sense



The next picture shows how everything went together before i put the plastic on. To attach the plastic I used a staple gun.



And here is the final product. There is no vent so i think i will add one of those stick on zippers along the top. Lately I have just been lifting it off of the plants at night and propping it up a little during the day if it gets to hot.



Hope this may help someone out. Nothing too ground breaking here but it was fun none the less!

Really nice. I like it.

What kind of plastic is that?

It's just the cheap 6mil plastic sheeting, figure it'll last a couple of seasons. I bought this roll http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hus... a couple of years ago and use it here and there on little projects like this.

I have used that very thing before and found it does indeed work well for a season or two. The lack of UV protection does cause it to break down and the trick is remembering to throw it away before it crumbles and makes a big mess!

What are you planning to grow in it? Nice looking project.

I'm trying to do some bigger earth works stuff this year, so hopefully I won't need one of these little guys after this winter. Still want to try to get the big greenhouse set up though. Keeping my eye on harbor freight....

A thought just occurred to me, Joe. You could get a sheet of solar covering which is basically incredibly strong and long standing bubble wrap and use it for future projects like this. It holds the heat and lasts a decade of more. The thread is here: The thread "Solar Covering Over Our Greenhouses" in Greenhouses forum

I think these solar pool covers would work really well on this little frame idea you have here.

Txtea said:What are you planning to grow in it? Nice looking project.

Thanks! Right now I have a mix of things growing in it, some cucumber, some herbs, some tomatoes, all stuff i want to start for spring that has made it out of seedling stage. I mainly direct seed and try to observe and see what does good, where it does good, and the temps it needs. The nice thing about this greenhouse is I can move it to wherever the plants look like they are struggling. I have a smaller version of this with wood frames that i use to start the seedlings and then I have some going in the house where the little baby chicks live right now as they always have a heat lamp on so i use some of the overflow of light.

That solar pool cover looks great! thats a really good size too, i could just double up the ribs, extra support them and tack that on. I think I'll have a new project in the works now...

Just a comment on solor pool covers. We had one on our pool, it disintegrated in a year, and all the little bubbles separated and were floating in the pool. I'm not sure if the same thing would happen when used as a greenhouse.