Green house

We only have a small greenhouse. There is a steel black barrel in it. I forgot to drain it this winter and This week I just noticed that it had split. Not sure what I will recycle it into. You would have to heat the greenhouse. Its the usual "We live in Canada, Dummy" problem. A lot of great ideas...don't really work here. Im recently intrigued by this idea but Im pretty sure it wont work here, either. http://www.peakprosperity.com/wsidblog/85009/walipini-style-greenhouses
Im curios because Im trying to find some way to salvage a disaster of a problem. I call it my "C5s Folly" and I walk past it regularly to keep me humble. Most of a summers back breaking labour lost.
I buried a cube van to use as cold storage. In retrospect...of course it was a really, really, REALLY stupid idea. What a waist of a cube van...and a seasons heart attack inspiring shovelling. Well...its not completely crushed in yet so I am thinking of turning whats left of it into this underground greenhouse idea. Im pretty sure its still not going to work...but there is only one way to know for sure....and that's to make C5s Folly even folly..er.

For windy Alberta particularly, or anywhere, i really like this design....and will likely use it up north this year. It's virtually hurricane-proof...and they probably have a few more design improvements by now.It's for year-round and can be well-adapted for aquaculture. http://www.biodomerevolution.com/
In my small 8x12-ish greenhouses in the past, i used many plastic 45gal waterbarrels on both sides of the aisle, and put mosquito screen on top, then planks on top to do my seedlings. The heated water in the barrels during the day definitely gave me an edge in temps most of the nights till mornings...but it's even better if you lay out 1 1/2" rigid foam on your sand-levelled floor,extending past the perimeter walls,.... before covering with patioslabs as an additional heatsink., and even surrounding with one layer of strawbales helps....then use as mulch in spring.

Thanks village got the PDF of the book so much info to learn from
Not sure how to proceed with this but I'm really wanting to put my aquaponics system in a green house for year round growing and hopefully line the whole edging in the inside with plastic black barrels if it works

We only have a small greenhouse. There is a steel black barrel in it. I forgot to drain it this winter and This week I just noticed that it had split. Not sure what I will recycle it into. You would have to heat the greenhouse. Its the usual "We live in Canada, Dummy" problem. A lot of great ideas...don't really work here. Im recently intrigued by this idea but Im pretty sure it wont work here, either. http://www.peakprosperity.com/wsidblog/85009/walipini-style-greenhouses
Im curios because Im trying to find some way to salvage a disaster of a problem. I call it my "C5s Folly" and I walk past it regularly to keep me humble. Most of a summers back breaking labour lost.
I buried a cube van to use as cold storage. In retrospect...of course it was a really, really, REALLY stupid idea. What a waist of a cube van...and a seasons heart attack inspiring shovelling. Well...its not completely crushed in yet so I am thinking of turning whats left of it into this underground greenhouse idea. Im pretty sure its still not going to work...but there is only one way to know for sure....and that's to make C5s Folly even folly..er.

"Not sure what I will recycle it into"- You could make a killer BBQ / smoker! http://simpsonbbq.com/2012/02/25/making-a-55-gallon-steel-drum-into-a-bbq-smoker/ I'm a huge fan of Folly. You know - "Friends don't let friends do stupid things..... Alone!"

i use a commercial tempo frame , good for 6 cars

Can u explain that more mikofeil

The walipini style makes the most sense. With some attention to details...
Shouldn't be a peaked roof. Lean-to type facing south and our glass would be quite steep for the low winter sun. Enough room for a small wood burner (maybe heat a large container of water) for those weeks where you get little sun. Dark bricks or blocks on the north wall to catch what heat there is from the sun.
Create an area of dry earth around the thing to act as insulation.

Any sites you can suggest for a walipini style

try this
http://www.bensoninstitute.org/Publication/Manuals/Walipini.pdf
or this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_esu0qnKZU

Thanks perfesser

I don't know if this is on anyones radar or if anyone has tried it, but we have been looking for an old school bus to use as a greenhouse. The main reason is that it would be hurricane proof as I suspect storms will continue to get worse as we age. You are in Lethbridge so you know all about wind storms and hail, which would trash most green houses. Busses are dirt cheap in alberta because of the ten year rule. As a bonus, if you cut the back of the seats off, the bottom seat is a nice platform to build raised box beds which is good as you get old and can no longer bend down. Some come with roof hatches but you can do heat control simply by opening the windows or to let in pollinators. Add gutters to catch rainwater of that big steel roof for a water barrel, and if you put a wood stove in it, its damn close to fire proof, especially if you get a grass fire sweeping through. A decent place to sit out a fire, with supplies stored under the seats...as long as you've drained the gas tank or propane tanks.

Hehehe. For the full on hippy factor. paint flowers on the sides (It will attract pollinators). Of course, that would get you driven out of alberta. I can here the banjos now.

Thanks cernunnos5 never thought about using old busses

Oh, good. Im not the only one that came up with this idea.
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Hi All.

I am interested in building a small greenhouse ...however my backyard has water pool in various areas on a regular basis.

I was thinking about a brick foundation with raised soil beds.

What I would like to know is what do you recommend for the rest of the structure? Plastic? Glass?
What is a good way to control the heat and ventilation?

thanks

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