[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or years now, the first thing my husband and I do when we move to a new location is put up a greenhouse. Actually, for the last two homes one of the main criteria when house-hunting was where a greenhouse could be placed. For me this structure is not a luxury, but a necessity for many reasons from getting a jump on spring veggies to housing my collection of cacti that need protection from our occasional rain events.
Greenhouses don’t have to be fancy. You can frame out a small one using cedar (what I have now), buy a kit or just borrow a pipe bender and create your own hoops from metal pipe. I have even made inexpensive cold frames out of PVC, bent over a frame and covered in plastic for winter, shade cloth for summer.
The internet is full of plans for greenhouses from the very basic to the most elaborate. An unused shed can even be converted by replacing the metal roof with fiberglass.
