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  • From: "nan and stewart" <stewart AT watervalley.net>
  • To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: greenhouse questions
  • Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 19:38:32 -0500

Dear friends,
 
If this a topic that is in the archives already, just let me know and I will go research (I am relatively new to the list but don't recall such).  I will go back and reread my Growing for Market articles - but if other advice, I would much appreciate it.
 
I am in a position to purchase a greenhouse - I will have some help to build one but cannot quite figure out where to go to order the parts.....the best price and materials among all the options
 
Here is what I want - one with dimensions approx. 16 (to 20) width and as long as I can get while still allowing for adequate ventilation (that info is in the Growing4 Market article)...it will be UNHEATED and there is NO SNOW in my area......
Is there any preference for shape (quonset, arched, etc.)
Is metal better than pvc pipes (i live in such an incredibly windy area year round that my screens are ripped off my two porches)-----i am assuming some kind of metal frame is a better, sturdier option....I am willing to spend what I need to in order to make sure that my greenhouse DOES NOT BLOW AWAY     (I should emphasize that it is REALLY WINDY here.....friends even from just a few hours away cannot believe how WINDY it is here, so that is my biggest concern in purchasing and building a greenhouse)
 
and should i go with plastic, or the stiffer materials (more like a plastic glass) or the third option, a kind of wired plastic that comes in a roll but goes on rather stiff
 
one farm had an opaque (looked white) greenhouse plastic for winter time because it helped moderate the heat spikes of a southern winter and he kept his chickens in there over the winter (they were on pasture rest of year but left behind a wonderfully composted planting bed)....never thought of that before....still got plenty of light...but i will be growing winter lettuces and greens in half of it, so can you put half clear and half opaque on it?
 
i live near BWI in memphis and they have all kinds of greenhouse frames for sale but whether price is the best, I don't know where else to check....all the "garden" catalogs look pretty pricey.....
 
i am a complete dud when it comes to technical things (though I can milk any goat and raise a gorgeous seedling!) so please forgive any stupid questions (my husband, if it is possible, is even less talented in this area than i am....so i am throwing myself on the mercy of strangers!)
 
there are some big commercial nurseries nearby that use greenhouses for storing their trees and shrubs, but no working farm greenhouses....only what i read in books.....
thanks so much
nan at dancing goats farm
water valley, mississippi
 
p.s. on a happy note, friends and colleagues have already offered to have a "greenhouse-raising" party for me, so we can probably assemble and/or create almost anything that folks suggest (thank goodness it is not just me alone.....it pays to be a good neighbor is the first thing the farmer under whom i apprenticed taught me!  the next was always to give the customer a bit more than they expected and you will win their loyalty)



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