Don’t leave water collection, ventilation or lighting an after-thought. Plan ahead when building your DIY hot house.
Well, that’s our advice, and this is how we did it!
I’m certainly an enthusiastic DIYer, but my Englishman has the wicked creative designs, know-how and can-do to make things happen. In planning our plastic house, there was much to consider:
Self Sufficient Water Collection
Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink. When it comes to a water supply for your hot house, not only is a self-sufficient supply convenient, it is cost effective and you can still water your plants should there be a mid-summer drought, without sideways glances from the neighbours.
You should take the opportunity to collect water from the roof – it’s free and you’ll need plenty of it. A few bits of guttering and a downpipe and you’re nearly in business.
You’ll need a water butt – or if on a budget, look out for an old wheelie bin or a deal on several cheap plastic garden bins. Anything that can safely store water without contaminating it is perfect. We say ‘safely’ – 100 litres of water is around 100Kg, and you don’t want that falling over onto a child. If you are feeling brave, install a tap and you are away laughing.
Ventilation
Even on a mild day, your greenhouse will hold the heat. Try standing in a greenhouse on a hot day! It’s a good 10 to 15 degrees warmer than outside. 40 degrees indoors is easy to achieve and this can fry plants.
So you do need to have a way of cooling things down. Consider windows or roof-vents.
Lighting
As with any outside building – no you can’t wire it to the mains unless you are a qualified electrician.
You could consider getting someone in to wire up an outside socket, but also consider using 12v garden lighting running from a transformer inside somewhere safe and dry.
There are also solar powered lights on the market – though expensive.
You won’t be in the greenhouse a lot in the dark, but in spring you’ll need to check on plants after work and until the daylight saving change in October that may mean a torch.
All hands on deck…
At various stages of your build you may need more then one pair of hands. We needed 5 at one point to hold up the walls while we fixed the roof on. Keep this in mind as you plan and make sure you are always working within your safe limits.
Sounds simple enough? Yes, well… it was simple on paper! Next we look at the build.
