Do it yourself hobby: How to build your own small portable mini green house

A mini green house can be a great way to extend the growing season of your garden. Find out how to build your own by reading this informative article!

Whether you are a patio gardener, or you raise plants on a larger scale in a tilled up plot in your backyard, a small, portable mini green house would really be a great help in your gardening efforts! This type of mini greenhouse has many advantages over its full – size counterpart. A full – size, non – commercial greenhouse can measure anywhere in size from four feet wide, and six feet long, and six feet tall, to being the size of a garage, or larger! And, once constructed, a full – size green house is set permanently in place.

On the flip side of the coin, a portable mini green house is just the right small size to move it around wherever you need it. You can grow a few plants on your deck or patio by using the mini green house to give the potted seeds protection from birds and severe weather. It will also provide a constant warm and humid atmosphere for the benefit of the seeds, and later, the plants.

You can also use your own small, portable mini green house in a larger garden plot too. As the seeds sprout up through the ground, you can place the mini green house over them, section by section, to help nurture and protect them too. This type of green house is relatively light and easy to move around wherever you may need it.

You may choose to build your own mini green house with a variety of materials in many different ways. Basically, any type of a green house is a rounded frame with a plastic covering. (The larger models have a door too, but, of course, you won’t need one in yours.) If you want to make the frame out of wood, you should choose a type of wood that is weather – resistant, such as Redwood or Cedar. (Screws or nails that you use in this project should be galvanized so they will be resistant to rust too.) Or, you may choose to use aluminum tubing to construct the frame with.

A nice, portable size for your mini green house would be a rectangular shape that measures about three feet long and eighteen inches wide. Construct the base frame by using wood pieces or pieces of aluminum tubing that are either bolted, screwed or spot welded together. You will then need to add the arched supports on each end of the base, as well as in the middle. To make the arched supports out of wood, you will just need to measure out the size you need on several pieces of wood. Cut them out with an electric saw, and attach them. If you are using the aluminum tubing, just measure and cut the total length that you will need to make one arch. Then, place the tubing in a bench vise and carefully bend it into an arched shape. Make as many supports as you need, then attach them to the base frame however you choose.

To cover your completed frame, you will need to purchase a roll of clear plastic sheeting. It must be clear to let the sunshine in, and it must also be 6 mils thick to hold up well in the weather. Unroll and cut enough of the clear plastic to completely cover your portable, mini green house.

On a wood frame you can simply staple the plastic into place, except for the ends. You will want to allow the pieces of plastic sheeting on the end to be open or closed, like end flaps on a pup tent, for example. This way, you can open the end flaps on hot days for some needed ventilation. With an aluminum frame, you will need to pull the plastic over the frame until it is taut. Then, wrap the ends over the bottom tubes of the frame and fasten down securely with duct tape.