My "Greenhouse"

Buy this one at ShelterVision

This is what my greenhouse frame would look like if this was my backyard.

I keep mentioning my greenhouse as if it were really a "greenhouse". It really is a car or boat shelter in disguise. Although the photo (above) taken from their website makes the shelter look a whole lot more pleasant as a picnic canopy.

It started a few years ago with my move from my rent house to my sweetie's house. I actually had a closed in porch on my old house that would hold my collection. When I moved to my sweetie's house the collection grew. Since my collection seems to focus on tropicals I would have to cart them all into the patio each winter.

(My sweetie likes it when it is a little more roomy - like this)
(There are more plants in here now. Took this photo from the real estate listing...)

The collection soon outgrew the patio and my sweetie and I started looking at greenhouses. I will tell you our taste and our budget were not about to be anywhere close to each other.

This would have been nice but the collection would be a little tight.

This is the kind my sweetie wanted to buy for me. (There is a reason why I call him "my sweetie".) Other than the price, we had to consider the wind since we lived in "hackberry heaven".

Raising the roof on the cedar addition to my shed last year got me into the beginnings of a better permanent structure. Alas, my sweetie and his job puts our home up for sale and us in another city... and me back to the "shelter".

Part of the shelter is being used for TufaWorld and the rest is set up beside it for the "greenhouse".

I have the 10x20 model so I have enough parts to make 2 separate shelters. If you notice the shelter in TufaWorld actually has the connector pieces used at the top since I will not enclose it.

Now, the next part of the story. I have delayed further construction on my greenhouse. I have never had one of these in my backyard.

I have had squirrels but not in my stuff...

He prefers the water from the drip plate over the water in the birdbath on the left.

Every morning I watch Mr. Squirrel's antics from the kitchen window. Our dog, Spice, thinks it is great fun to chase Mr. Squirrel as he runs back and forth along the top of the fence. So far I am envisioning the greenhouse will be nothing more than a huge trampoline for Mr. Squirrel to bounce on from the fence to the top of the house all to avoid and taunt Spice.

I am frantically watching the weather each day and surveying the plants trying to decide how low the temperature can go before I have to bite the bullet and engage in a war with Mr. Squirrel. So far, so good. Lows will dip down tonight to the high 40's. I will loose a lot of leaves on my tropicals but they should be good, right?


Maybe the house will sell before the first frost and we can move to a place with no squirrels. Or, maybe I better plan for reinforcing the trampoline.