Winterizing the Greenhouse … Day 1

There’s nothing like the announcement of a ‘Frost Advisory” to get me motivated to begin to winterize the greenhouse. The temperature here yesterday morning was 34 degrees … so it is time to start putting the greenhouse into shape.

I had hoped to have the time and energy to remove the plastic and install my salvaged windows on all of the walls this summer … never got to it, though. There was too much planning, and planting, and nursery-management stuff to do, so the greenhouse sits exactly as it was when I took the plants out of it this past spring.

This summer, I have been using the greenhouse to propagate cuttings for next year’s roses. The rest of the space, unfortunately, morphed into a storage space for my jumble of pots and other supplies. Add to this a few tender plants that have already needed protection from the cool night temps (like the big banana here), and I have a pretty good mess to have to deal with.

To create dead air space and help insulate the walls to retain heat, the inside of the greenhouse is lined with bubble wrap … originally it was packing material for canoes, that I got for next to nothing on Craig’s List. It was simple to put up. I attached it to the framing with a staple gun, just like doing upholstery.

Next, I screwed on upright closet hardware.  I'll attach shelf brackets to this later, to hold flats of baby roses.

The vaulted ceiling of the greenhouse is very high. This is good in summer, because the heat rises and is vented by the exhaust fan in the eaves. It’s not good in winter, because all the heat from the sun (or the propane heater) will end up on the ceiling, instead of down by the plants. To help with this, I am installing a clear solar pool cover to create a lower ceiling and reduce the volume of space I have to heat.

The pool cover is like the bubble wrap on the walls, just much stronger. It’s fairly heavy, so installing it by myself is very challenging. I cut the cover into two pieces to make this easier, and I will splice the pieces together along one of the ceiling beams.

It’s held in place by lath strips (trimmings from a fencing project) and 1 5/8” galvanized screws.

I got one of the pieces of it installed yesterday … I’ll see if I can finish the second piece later today.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog)