There is a scene in the show The Umbrella Academy where the character Number Five is tending to some plants in a glass Victorian greenhouse in an alternate timeline. I was watching the show sometime last year and I thought to myself, “That is what I want!” Not, the alternate timeline (though some days that seems nice too.) No, what I wanted is a beautiful glass greenhouse to tend my plants in. I think most people want that actually. But, as a market gardener without a propagation greenhouse at the time, it was something I had a good reason to invest in.

Mice, rats, chipmunks, and squirrels. Freezing nights, boiling hot days. Fungal attacks, inconsistent water access, bug infestations. These are now worries of the past, because I built the propagation greenhouse this spring on a shoestring budget. How this farm has survived without one this long is shocking. 

To be honest, I had been planning on building a propagation greenhouse for a couple of years and have applied for multiple grants to try to help to pay for it, to no avail. So, I scraped together some money and self funded the project. The  glass structure predominantly comes from a custom made three season room that someone was getting rid of (and I was able to pick up for free). The north wall is shiplap cedar siding that I got on the cheap second hand. By far the most expensive part was the aluminum framed glass roofing that I ended up building myself from all new materials. All told I think it cost a little over $5000 for what is a $25000 greenhouse if I had bought it as a kit. I know this because I contacted over a dozen greenhouse companies trying to find one that would sell me just the roof. 

It did take a lot more work designing and fitting everything together and the north wall still needs to be painted as it currently looks like some crazy striped clown tent. But it works great! My plants are thriving in it. Soooo much better than previous years. I haven’t had any pest pressure and it has saved me so much time not moving plants around and having a dedicated space for seeding, potting up, and everything else. Maybe the best part is it is just a joy to work in