Just to throw another version in that is very easy, we have used 16' livestock panels for years to put up both shelters for animals and greenhouses. You need two panels and six Tposts or other post. Also plastic or tarps and fasteners. In a nutshell you sink the posts and bow the panels, tying them to the base of the posts. We also connect the two panels together along the bow to keep movement down. We cover with a tarp, and tarp the ends. We take it down in the spring, when is that again, and are good to go.

I didn't end up buying one. All I did was put an old shelf in the garage and place a grow light on a timer. So far it had worked quite well. Most of the plants are still alive!!! I had a few bigger plants that are on the floor nearby which are looking more stressed.

Anna, I think a lot of us in TX will lose plants this year. Your garage is probably a warmer place than a greenhouse this year. It was in the mid-70s yesterday and sunny. Today is dreary with expected freeze tonight, and up to mid 70s again for the weekend! Whatever plants haven't frozen to the ground yet are budding out only to get zapped again.

Joy, that's another good alternative to a greenhouse. Do you heat it also?

Bubbles, I just use two lights with the aluminum shields. One is a heat lamp and one is an incandescent bulb. With it on the south side and tarped close, two provide a lot of heat, I will turn one off sometimes. When the temp got down to 16, I did drag out my radiant heater for a night or two. I would pull back the tarps when the temps got above freezing for daylight, everything seems to do ok. One thing that helps is to use Walmart baby pools, troughs, or concrete mixing tubs as giant saucers to make watering easier.
Dave bought me a small greenhouse from TSC this year ($99) and it is awesome. I still have my panels set up but didn't need them since I got everything to fit in the new one. So the bottle babies have a tarped hut this winter while they are in my back yard.

I will have to remember to get some wading pools next summer when they go on sale. that's a good idea. I was in my patio gh and found a few plants in pots that were overlooked and are now dead. At least one was a fruit tree. I know I'll lose some things when I put them away, but it's still a disappointment.

It was 72° at midnight yesterday. It will be 29° tonight! Some of my gardening friends "jumped the gun" and uncovered plants and trimmed back everything. They were scampering yesterday to re-cover plants, as it is raining and windy today.

Sandi, that is some crazy weather you have going on there.

The temp when I got into the shower was 76º. We were heading out for the evening. When I went to get into the car it had dropped to 47º! I ran back in to get out of my shorts and grabbed a sweater! --- My temp greenhouse is not holding up. The front blew through like a wild wind. I have half a front and half a back door. And the ceiling is coming down in the middle. I have the heater on now that it is 36º. I don't know if it will help at all but hey, I guess it can't hurt?? Unless...unless it decides to all fall down over night? I hope it warms up again SOON!!

It really is, Margaret. Last year by this time, I had all the plants out in the garden and the greenhouses put away.

Cheryl, did you get the rain too? We had rain all day and fierce wind. At least the rain and wind stopped before the temp really dropped. It's 27 now, even colder by the airport. Heaters are on in both hoops.

Light rain most of the day yesterday but fierce winds. I am going out to repair the greenhouse as best I can and re-cover the tender tropicals. Predicting winter precip tonight. I can't wait for all this end. I am not a very happy girl when winter gets cold!

Sorry about your plant loss, Sandi. I hope somehow they come back to you. This one took me by surprise. There was simply no forecasts for it. Or I was too busy to see it?? But we are forewarned about tonight's stuff. So I', heading out while it's warn(er) to take care of business.

We're going to have ice tomorrow. It's been a while since we had such cold weather into March. North TX took a big hit.

Tomorrow morning traffic will be bad here. Most don't believe the weather will be as predicted, some can't afford to stay home, and they all converge on the Interstate about 7:30 AM.

Sorry about your greenhouse. I hope you can make it last until spring comes again. Maybe you can repair it temporarily?
I'm glad we took the plunge and bought new plastic this year. Even with the strong winds we've had, the greenhouses haven't had any "lifting" or swaying that we can see. The batten tape helps too, I'm sure.

I got the greenhouse back in order with my handy dandy stapler. The winds tore off the clips even. So I put those back up. The duct tape is simply not holding up. But it looks like it will hold up for the next few weeks, I hope. It is all stapled together and the plants are happy again in 80º. We are at freezing right now. The City is planning for icy roads in the morning. I don't think anyone saw this one coming this far south. It's not even in the Farmer's Almanac.

We're having rain and thunder now. One of the forecaster predicted thunder sleet! I've heard of thunder snow, but I'll have to Google thunder sleet.

There have been a lot of new winter terms I am learning about this season!

Looks like Houston is about to get iced in. Fire up your heaters!

Thank goodness I am not at work tonight. It will be iced in by the morning when I would have been coming home. I hope it clears up by the time I head in to work tomorrow. It's been one crazy winter! Be safe and stay indoors if you can, Sandi. It's not looking very good out there at all. We're Texans. We're not used to this stuff!

"Gropple". They just talked about Gropple on the news. It is the rain that collects and looks like Dippin Dots and collects on things. Do they just go and make these things up??

Should be gone by noon tomorrow. All the school are having late start. There's another round of sleet coming. We're having lightning, thunder, and now....thunder sleet. I was happy with the rain, but not the rest.

Good that you didn't have to work tonight. The trucks are out sanding and ready to de-ice. By tomorrow evening, it'll all be back to normal.

Gee, I learned something new! Thanks, Cheryl!

Graupel , also called soft hail or snow pellets, refers to precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water are collected and freeze on a falling snowflake, forming a 2–5 mm ball of rime. Strictly speaking, graupel is not the same as hail or ice pellets.
While graupel is sometimes referred to as small hail, the World Meteorological Organization defines small hail as snow pellets encapsulated by ice, a precipitation halfway between graupel and hail.

I like Dippin' Dots better

Its a Three-Dog Night!
(see Post #565469> Co-op Forum>Atlas Glove thread)