Our Greenhouse Kit Has Arrived!

Greenhouse Construction Progress

I’ve been sharing some photos of this on my Instagram, but our greenhouse kit arrived last month! As you can imagine, I’m very excited!

I wanted to share our progress on the construction here, and of course I’ll blog about the greenhouse again once it’s fully finished. It’s taking time to complete the project because of our travels and my husband’s work schedule. As with growing orchids, patience is essential.  😛

We ordered a 6×10 lean-to kit from Cedar-Built in Canada awhile back, and it delivered in late June. My husband gets 100% of the credit for researching and selecting a kit (he is the best!).

Here’s what the kit looked like when it arrived:

Cedar greenhouse kit materials

Construction Begins

As you can see in the photo above, our back yard had a fountain when we moved into our new home. The fountain was cool, but unfortunately it was kind of in the middle of things and didn’t really fit into the plan my husband came up with for the space. So the fountain had to go. But first, he decided to build the greenhouse frame so that the guys he hired to remove the fountain and dig a foundation would know where to do the work.

Here’s the first bit of greenhouse construction!

Greenhouse frame construction

Then a team of workers spent a couple days removing the fountain and re-doing the stone floor or whatever it’s called (can you tell I know nothing about this, haha!). They also dug out a 6×10 foundation for the greenhouse and filled it in with gravel, which will serve as the greenhouse floor.

Fountain removed and foundation dug
RIP fountain

Here’s how the yard looked post-fountain and with the greenhouse back in place around its foundation:

Refinished back yard

My husband and a friend built the greenhouse up a little more before we headed to San Diego for Comic-Con. When we returned home, my husband sealed the wood with Polyurethane and put some of the polycarbonate sidewalls in just to see how they looked (he took them back out until he’s ready to install them).

Greenhouse with sidewalls

And here’s a dorky pic of me marveling at the interior of MY VERY OWN GREENHOUSE!

Me in my unfinished greenhouse
I’m wearing slippers. It’s fine.

I’ll be honest: I really don’t know much about growing orchids in a greenhouse beyond some freelance research and writing I did a few years back. So this is going to be a major learning experience for me! Our greenhouse will have a vent that opens up on the roof when the temp rises to a certain degree, but we need to decide how to heat the interior in the winter (I believe my husband has some ideas). We’ll also look into a misting system, as well as fans; humidity and air circulation are essential to orchid health. DC summers are pretty damn humid, but it gets dry here in the winter so misting will be needed.

Please stay tuned for another greenhouse construction update here, and you can always follow me on Instagram for updates in the interim.

Hope you’re enjoying your summer!

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