"Really, look at the "Greenhouse" forum to see how many people finally got their very first greenhouse, and sized it "to meet their needs" - until they used it for one year, then wanted one 3-5 times bigger. And those who got them, filled them!"
LOL, I'm afraid Rick is right about this! (well, he's right about a lot of stuff... but right now, this in particular)
My Rion is 8x16; when I got it about 12 years ago I really wasn't sure how I wanted to use it, other than for starting seedlings in (or, more accurately, continuing to grow seedlings started under lights -- I don't start putting anything out in the GH until mid-April, it would just require too much heating where I am to be practical. I do heat with propane when necessary after mid-April, though.) So, the way we set it up was really for that purpose, and then I also store a lot of my gardening supplies in big Rubbermaid totes underneath the shelves. More recently I've discovered how much of an advantage an unheated GH can be for putting plants in the ground much earlier than normal; this year (for the first time) I put tomato plants that I started from seed about a month earlier than I normally do, in the ground inside a hoophouse on April 29th (I usually plant my tomatoes around June 1st), and I believe I could have put them out 2 weeks earlier; as it was, we had temps that went below freezing, but inside the unheated hoophouse my plants thrived and are way ahead of any of the others that I have outside. So, my hope is that this fall -- or maybe next year, I tend to overestimate how quickly things will happen -- we can take down the Rion (which is slowly disintegrating at this point) and replace it with a 16x20' hoophouse where I can grow seedlings in the area formerly occupied by the Rion, and grow plants in the ground in the remainder of the space. Who knows -- maybe I'll even have room for a little table and a couple of chairs where we can enjoy a pitcher of margaritas on a sunny winter day!
If I decide I need to go larger than that, I'll probably just cover my entire 25x80' garden and be done with it! (or, wait! we have lots more yard available...
