raised bed greenhouse

[wpbullock]

I built my own greenhouse around raised beds and built a 1500 gallon tank into one end of the greenhouse. This picture shows the tank at this end of the greenhouse. The tank is 5'x16'x3' deep. I used 4x6’s on 5.333 ft centers to support the treated tongue and groove planks that make up the raised beds and the tank. Since my property sloped I used a bobcat and an excavator to dig out the center aisle and the area where the fish tank is (nearest end of the greenhouse in this picture). Important details: Use cross-tie rods between the two sides of such raised beds or else some SERIOUS deep poles with lots of concrete to hold them steady. I used 3/8” all-thread rod to cross tie the posts from side to side of the raised bed and this worked out well. The best deal I could find on this all thread was just threaded rod as used by electrical and mechanical contractors for hanging pipe or conduit. If you don’t do this I expect your raised beds will splay open when you put the dirt in. Mine held up fine with the all thread cross-ties at all posts but they are under some serious tension. Likewise, where the wall of the fish tank at closest end of this picture is, I didn’t use any dead men when I first backfilled and two days later we got a rain storm and the wall bulged in about 12 “ in the middle. This led to an afternoon of fun in the mud with some fairly large timbers, a spud bar, some ingenuity, etc, until I got the wall straight again and then I dug down about 3’ and put some 6x6 deadmen in the ground and fastened them to the posts in the fish tank using more all thread. I cranked the nuts tight on the all thread and it has stayed plumb since then.



This picture shows the aisle way up the center of the green house. As you can see, the beds are 6 board-widths high and each board was 5-1/2” so that makes these about 33” high. I scraped all the topsoil off the site before I started with a bobcat. I used an auger attachment on the bobcat to dig the holes for the posts. The finished greenhouse is 48x16 and the wood I used for this project was on the order of $1800. Pretty pricey. I just kept telling myself “I’m not in it for the money”. If you look closely you can see the all thread sticking through the center of the posts along the aisle way.



This is me giving a mock GQ pose with my cordless drill. It looks warm out but it was actually about 25 F that day. This view gives a bit of an idea of how I put the end walls on but it would take many pages of description to tell the details of what I did. I suggest that you find a hat as nice as the one I’m wearing and wear it as fashionably as possible (as shown).



This photo shows the way my property slopes where I built the greenhouse. I will point out a few things about the way I made the ribs for the greenhouse and fastened them in place. I made the ribs out of 1-3/8” chain link fence top rail galvanized tubing. I bought the tubing from a local fence company for about $700 and installed the ribs on 5.333’ centers. This number is just 16’/3 as I planned to use 16’ tongue and groove wood for the sides of the raised beds. The tube I bought was 21’ long and so there is a joint on every rib since the total length of a rib is about 29 feet. To bend the tubing I just laid it all out on a scale drawing and then just cut some forms to bend against out of scrap 2x8’s and such. I screwed the forms down onto the big work bench and the my dad held the pipe in the form while I bent it to a stopping point. You have to be a little careful and use some good engineering judgment while doing this operation but if you have some ability as a builder/craftsmen, I believe you can bend your own ribs in this way. The first rib took a while to make but after that, they went pretty quickly. The $700 also includes 5 lengths of tubing that I used for the rolling curtains (see below). I don’t know if I saved as much money as some of the advertisements for bend-it-yourself greenhouse kits say, but I suppose I should have saved something. I attached the ribs to the posts of the greenhouse using 3-1/2” long x ¼” diameter galvanized lag bolts. I put three bolts in the middle ribs and 4 bolts on the two end ribs. The 2x3 purlin that is running the length of the green house was installed to hold the top of the curtain. In hindsight I wish I would have placed the top of the curtain about 18” higher to be able to open things up more in the summer weather.



This is a view of the side of the greenhouse after I installed the 6 mil plastic. I used wirelock channel and wiggle wire to hold on the plastic. I covered the whole greenhouse with two layers of plastic, then we held up the curtain with the rod already rolled up on it and “framed in” the top of the window so that there are three layers of plastic in the channel above the window. After the whole window was framed in like this, I cut out the plastic for the opening. I used rope and I-bolts to hold the curtain against the side of the greenhouse to keep things tight. It wasn’t shown in any other pictures but I ran a 2x6 all around the bottom edge of the greenhouse on the outside of the posts. I just rolled the plastic in some lath and nailed it to this base board all around the outside edge. I later put gravel in the space between the greenhouse and this baseboard so that it would not hold water and decay the wood but would still provide a barrier against wind coming up under the walls.



This is a view with the curtain rolled up. There is a crank on the end closest to the camera that is not shown in the picture. There is about a 50 foot long piece of the 1-3/8” rib material that is what gives the structure to the bottom of the curtain. The curtain and two layers of plastic covering were all fastened to the side of the greenhouse along the purlin I built in for the purpose using channel and wiggle wire. The easiest way to fasten the pole to the bottom of the curtain is ON THE GROUND! Believe me you don’t want to try it the other way unless you have strong medications available. We tried that for a while, then gave up and did it on the ground with our kids providing the extra hands needed to make it go well. We also bought a piece of hardware (also not shown) along with the crank. It is a thing that allows the crank to lodge against instead of lodging the crank against the side of the greenhouse where it could hurt the plastic.



Here is a view of the inside after we got the beds cleaned up and just about to plant.



Inside the greenhouse we also use some coldframes. This allowed me to start some zucchini and tomatoes early in the spring without supplying any heat. You can see here the door on the far end wall as well as the 57 limestone we spread along the floor. I also buried a drain tile in the bottom of the aisle way that crosses under the fish tank and up the fish tank side on the outside of the wall to drain water away that might collect against that wall. I put a tee in the drain tile in the aisle at the fish tank end so I could overflow the fish tank down the drain tile using a siphon.



This is a view up the center aisle of the greenhouse about a month ago. I don’t have any heat inside the greenhouse but we planted spinach, lettuce, broccoli, peas, cauliflower, etc, at the first of February. We did have some nights where a crust froze on the surface of the ground but it didn’t kill the plants. The fish tank is all the way across the back end of the greenhouse. I filled in the spaces between the posts in the tank part of the greenhouse using insulation board to give a smooth surface inside the fish tank and then installed a rubber liner. I am still trying to figure out a reasonable way to raise some fish without getting too crazy with back up generators, etc. I hope to trade less intensive culture for a simpler set up. Still working on that. Total cost of this project was about $5500 and counting. I hope to incorporate the fish part of the plan for about $500 more and then I will be done!

[JCO]

OK folks...here it is...I encouraged them to post this with their photos and now you can see why. This is an example of a great idea, a lot of hard work and a beautiful end results that will serve them well for many years to come.

Thank you for posting this...it is greatly appreciated as I'm sure you'll find out as soon as the other members see it

[wolfracer]

That is awesome! Nice job. Makes my little greenhouse jealous! I can't imagine how much time and effort that took, but you certainly ended up with a first class greenhouse. Thanks for the pics. Looks like you have a nice place there.

[badflash]

I have a few ideas how to add AP to this. Awsome setup.

Start with a recirculating system similar to mine. Back wash the sand filter twice a week, de-water via settling, and put the clear water back in the tank. Add the slops to the garden. Use fish water for watering. Eventually make room for at least one AP grow bed.

[wpbullock]

Thanks, all! Badflash, when you say a circulating system similar to yours - what do you mean and where can I find a description of it?

Wes

[JeffW]

1 word..awesome!

[mpugh5@aol.com]

very nice and wonderful documentation welcome aboard

[badflash]

Check http://www.diyaquaponics.com/forum/s...asement-system

Thanks, all! Badflash, when you say a circulating system similar to yours - what do you mean and where can I find a description of it?

Wes