Green House Build- The Site

And so begins our green house build.  We arrived at this idea a couple years ago- started hunting down old windows on craigslist, and then changed out minds.  Too much time.  Too much money.  Too much effort.  Too many other projects.  But inevitably, every spring rolls around and we longingly wish we had that green house.  Our house is wonderful, but we do not have enough sunny windows to sustain our seedlings in the spring.  We plant our seeds indoors, and set them in the couple south facing windows we have, to get as much sunshine as they can get.  The seedlings always get leggy as they reach, reach, reach their hearts out to get sunshine. 

Recently the Laird changed his tune, and this project has been on the forefront of our minds while we finished up a the blueberry enclosure and chicken run.  A few weekends ago, we picked up a bunch of old windows from a friend who had their home windows replaced.  With our collection of windows in possession, I could now work out a lay out.  I spent a couple hours one night, with all the window measurements, and thought I came up with a super plan for each wall.  Then I translated that to laying the actual windows out on the ground and seeing the configurations.  Well, let's just say all my well laid plans on paper flew out the window when it came to fitting all the windows into a tidy wall formation.  I figured out each wall and then had about 6 windows to spare!

While we've been finishing up other projects, we have been moving plants from the green house site.  We considered two sites for our green house.   We have always thought right near the house  and barn, amidst our flower beds, and near the stream would be a lovely place.  But it's not a full sun location.  It gets decent sun in these spring month, when the sunlight is most important for our seedling.  The other spot we considered was out back in a full sun spot near our garden and berries.  We decided that near the house and water source was a better spot as we would have easier access  being in proximity to the house.  We would also be able to appreciate it's loveliness more every day, being within sight of our kitchen and entry door.  

Here's a photo from the 2012 Zillow listing of our house when we bought it.  Clearly the photo was taken in June, since the peonies are in full bloom and all the greenery is in full.  That tree in the center of the photo is the former tree belonging to the stump that the Laird has been working to cut down.

Here is the current state of the future site of the green house.  It is north of our barn and east of our house.  

The green house site

The Laird has been working hard to shorten this enormous trunk. 

This beast of a tree trunk had to go- it was blocking the view

With the trunk cut down as far as the Laird wanted to spend time chain sawing it, we could move onto the foundation.  Originally we planned a 6' x 11' layout, with the long wall on the south side.  Then we decided to rotate and have the long wall face our house.  And then the layout grew to be 8' x 11'.... lots of changes to accommodate and maximize materials to be used with the least amount of waste.  We planned to have the green house closer to the tree trunk, but once we started digging holes for the corner posts and the foundation we ran into huge roots.  Roots so big that the axe wasn't big enough for the job.  It was as though a flat table of wood was 3 inches below the surface of the soil.  The Laird chain sawed a channel through the enormous root so that we could lay down the concrete block for the foundation.

Digging the borders for the foundation 

Massive roots had to be chainsawed out

We have done enough projects to know that our original plan is not what we usually end up with for the finished product.  So we just go with the flow of changes that come up as we go.  We will figure out how to make it work.  Usually things end up better than we planned.  Now that we are building a different size green house than the original plan, means all the layouts I created with the windows before will have to be reconfigured for the bigger walls.  We also need to decide where exactly we want our door to be located.  Eventually we will decide the interior layout.  That is a long way off, as there are many steps between here and there!  Please follow along as we build our "Better Homes and Gardens meets Pinterest" green house!

Yesterday we set the 4 corner posts with concrete.  The past week has consisted of a steep learning curve- we had no idea the enormity of the underground root plate we would encounter!  We had to move the site out a few feet from the tree stump just to be able to dig the 24" corner post holes.  Which then meant all the foundation trenches that I dug last weekend.... will have to be re-dug this weekend.

Please follow along as we build our "Better Homes and Gardens meets Pinterest" green house!

Next up:  Laying the foundation