My Pre-built 8X12 Hobby greenhouse Made by the Amish

I know I’ve been away for a long while. I just didn’t have much content to share until now. (Beware bad photo day it was raining) My dream of having a greenhouse again came true. We’ve lived in the cabin for 15 years without one and I sure did miss it.  Our old house had one for several years and then I got out of gardening so we converted it into a storage shed. I’ve been longing for one for quite some time and it finally happened.

Hubby knew I’ve wanted a greenhouse so I could start all our fruits and veggies for the season. Purchasing flats can be so expensive compared to the price of a seed packet. I enjoy gardening and have great success with starting my own seed. So why not have my own greenhouse?

I’ve done it for years with a shelving rack and grow lights in our home, and it works, but it makes it so much easier and nicer to have a designated space to store all my supplies and a space to works that’s setup for growing.

I started talking about having hubby build me one, and we priced the materials, late last fall. We decided to move forward with it but now he needed to find the time to actually construct it, which is almost impossible with the type of work he does. He had planned to start the build in our shop on a trailer in the fall and hopefully over the winter have time to work on it and have it done before spring. With building it on the trailer it would be ready for transport and with the aid of our Bobcat he could move it into place. We had a well thought out plan, but luckily that plan changed.

I looked into the Harbor Freight greenhouse kit and it looked quite timely and not user friendly to construct and a lot of reviews said it doesn’t hold up will in the wind. Well we live in a wind tunnel so that just wouldn’t do. 

Where to place it was another topic for debate. Of course not only does it need to be in the right position for the sun, I also needed it to have easy access to electricity and water. 3 important things when setting up a greenhouse. I thought on it for quite some time. I really wanted it near my garden but the chicken coop and the fruit orchard are in the way, and neither could be moved.

The next spot I consider was so far from the house, hubby would have a long way to run water and electricity so I didn’t want to make that an inconvenience for him. I ended up placing it on the total opposite side from where I wanted it but I actually like it’s placement and ease for use.  My third spot choice seems to have worked out the best anyway. 

Before we had time to gather the materials Hubby found a local Amish builder that had constructed 2 greenhouses that hadn’t sold and he was willing to let them go at his cost just to get rid of them before snow. Yippeeee! I was so excited. We did the math and only had to add an additional $1,000 to our budget to have the Amish greenhouse.

I’m not sure the extra money could even be considered extra. Buying a prebuilt meant hubby didn’t have to spend his time building one and they delivered, leveled it, and set it up for no additional cost. 

Ain’t she a beauty? I’m in love! I’ve had her since last fall and all I could do at that point was move my growing supplies in but that was one step closer to planting for me. 

It’s now spring and she’s full of glorious veggies starts. She also has heat. I’ll be back soon to show you what I’ve been up too and to show you how I’ve landscaped around it to make it feel more like its in a garden area. Hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to warmer weather!