Building My First Greenhouse

A couple of months ago I found a greenhouse on sale at Big Lots. It is the Village Green basic walk-in greenhouse. Full price is $70, but I got it on sale for $50. I have been wanting a greenhouse for several years, so I couldn't resist the price. Buying it, I knew full well that there was a very good chance that it would be a big pile of junk and I would have to return it. It's been eating away at me that it's been sitting in my garage, just waiting to be put together. After many snowstorms and ceaseless rain, I finally got a day off when the weather somewhat agreed with me. It was a little chilly, but hey, you've got to take what you can get.

 

 

Inside the box are bags with all the parts.

 

 

Each bag is labelled...

 

 

...so you can tell what parts are shown in the instructions. The instructions are very simple, which had me worried for a little bit, but luckily no description is necessary. Putting it together reminded me of putting together a tent.

 

 

Eva even helped with it.

 

 

 

The frame was really easy to put together. I have been more frustrated trying to put together those pressed wood furniture kits. It felt slightly flimsy, but the whole time I kept reminding myself that it was a budget greenhouse. I could have put it together myself, but Eva wanted to help. Connecting the top frame to the base frame was a little tricky on my own, and an assistant would have been helpful for putting on the cover, but it was all doable alone. It took me about 30 minutes total, and probably would have been a little less without waiting for Eva to delicately put the frame together, but the time invested was worth it.

 

 

Then I forgot to take a picture of the finished product until it was getting dark out.

 

Pros:

Price

It's fairly sturdy

It heated up pretty quickly inside

It's a greenhouse!

 

Cons:

The shelving is pretty flimsy. I'm going to try to figure out something to make it better though.

It's really light, which is great for moving around, but bad for the winds we get at times. For tonight I have it weighted down with the milk jugs full of water that can be seen in the photo, but I will be getting concrete blocks to tie it down. It comes with little hooks to put into the ground, but as I have it on my concrete driveway that isn't an option. They look like they'd just pull up in strong winds anyway.

The zipper on the flap seems like it's going to be an issue. I already had some problems with it and it tore the cover in a small spot. I can fix it with duct tape, but it's definitely an issue.

 

Overall, I'm happy with my purchase. I knew from the beginning that it wasn't going to be a premium product, but was pleasantly surprised with how well it's actually put together. Like everything else in my life, I will probably be fiddling with this to hopefully improve it, but out of the box it's a pretty solid product.