The Door Garden is a project that my sister Donna Wheatley (Meridian, Mississippi) and I (Cookeville, TN) hatched while our families were on vacation together in 2007. We’re both interested in gardening and growing things but in different aspects. Donna is especially interested in ornamentals and landscape design while I am more into sustainable organic food production. We both like to try out different ideas and techniques, and we hope that our readers will be interested and entertained by what we learn. Thanks for visiting. You can contact me directly at david dot laferney at gmail.
David LaFerney
Please send me an e-mail. I’d love to talk to you about your Greenhouse.
David, like your site and your can do on the cheep attitude. You were right were are alike
Bill
Well, if I’m gonna do it at all it pretty much has to be on the cheap. I don’t mind though – with the way the world is right now more people will be helped by “on the cheap” information than any other kind.
I don’t know if it was because of the way I was raised or not but My wife and I have always attempted to do things on or own for nothing if possible. My greenhouse is a permenent one that cost us near nothing. The problem with this type of make due system is that one needs to collect the stuff in anticipation of what to do with it. Then you need to work the bugs out because it is a one of a kind there is not another you can copy exactly. I am always looking at other peoples projects like your hoop house construction to see if I can improve on the way I have done things. We have temporary hoop houses that we can take up and down with the seasons and I learned alittle looking at yours Thanks!
Bill
I know what you mean. I packrat stuff away all the time with an idea to use it in a future project. Since I’ve been doing that for a long time quite often I can build something without buying much of anything to complete it.
Totally accurate regarding “on the cheap.” As a one income family on the verge of losing our job, we will definitely be helped by your site. My husband is going to love this!
Great site – found by “Stumbling” (gave it a thumbs up).
Thank you for doing this, your tutorial for the greenhouse will be shared with many of my less than wealthy friends here in zone 8b on an island off the West Coast of Canada.
Cheers.
Teri
Thanks Teri, I really do hope it’s helpful.
Great website, totally found it on accident. Love the advice on the coldframes, in GA, so I just have to try and stay ahead of you by a couple weeks! Thanks so much.
Thanks Bill, I’m glad you like it. I would think that in Georgia you shouldn’t have much trouble extending your harvest year around with just a bit of effort.
I’m using that same cold frame right now to coax summer squash into coming up a bit early – however with record daytime highs for April (mid to upper 80s) If I’m not careful I’ll cook them instead.
David,
Thank you for providing so much great gardening information! I am not able to load the page for the 50 dollar greenhouse, cam you advice me? I am very interested in building one for my winter gardening. I have 2 4X7 beds, and wand to create a hoophouse over them for the winter.
Thank you! Debbie
I just found your website and I am really excited about going through your content…just don’t have enough time right now (at work). It looks like a great resource and something that I will definitely come back to. Keep up the great work.
Due to the colder, wetter than normal weather in Maine (zone 5) this year I have been looking for ways to guard against the same problem next year, and also looking for ways to extend the growing seasons on both ends. Thrilled with what looks like a “doable” greenhouse! Hopefully I can make it happen. The news here is “late blight” – think Irish Potato Famine.
You might find it interesting to do a google search on Four season farm, here in Maine, run by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman – who are growing almost year round here on the coast of Maine without adding heat.
I love this website. thank you for the detailed instruction and also adding what you would do differently. I think you are a genius!!
I just built a glorified cold frame….almost a greenhouse for my tomatoes and we just ate our first tomato last week. However it was only one. I think it’s because I forgot to open the plastic when it was really hot. I think there is definitely a science to how much heat/humidity they need. This is a great resource for NW gardening!
I also saw something on a commercial greenhouse that I hope to incorporate in mine. They used two layers of plastic on a hoop style greenhouse with a small furnace style blower blowing through a fitting in between the two layers of plastic. felt tape was attached to the plastic in between over the hoops and it created an air space. The blower was on a thermostat that came on when the temperature got below freezing and when it was dark. We do occasionally get sub zero temps here and I feel this would help on extremely dark winter days.
thank you ,
your site is on of my favourites now.simple no frills get it done attitude. im building a cold frame for my mache tomorrow.
thanks again
Thanks Andrea. I’m glad you like it. I wish that I had something to post more often, but I really try to do something helpful or interesting every time.
so wonderful to run across your blog – someone who shares a similar philosophy. i’ve learned a lot from you so far. we are building our radically recycled greenhouse now and i will post pics as we go. because of the winds we’re using the mound of scrap lumber we got for free from the rapidly spreading subdivisions out here in the desert. thanks for your sight and your insight!
David,
Like your site nice to find someone with similar goals and values. I have a hoop greenhouse I built several years ago, started square foot gardening this year, have several solar panels and a wind generator and have been a beekeeper for about 25 years. I am incorporating a passive solar heater(made from scrounged materials) connected to a garden hose buried in the soil of the green house for thermal storage. Not sure how it is going to work but I live in Northeast Ohio and can use the extra heat in the winter.
That’s awesome stuff Joe. I would love to do photovoltaics, and I’ve had my eye on the cost/benefit for several years now. I think before too much longer we will turn the corner where the cost of solar and grid power pass each other going in opposite directions.
Love, love, love your site! I just found it today. I’ve wanted to build a hoop house for a long time and had an unsuccessful attempt at one this past summer, finally gave up – it was just getting too expensive to buy the “fixes.” Your site is the first one that really explains and gives great photos on how to do the end walls so I’m going to try again early in the spring.
Did you ever publish the instructions on making an automatic vent for the hoop house? I could not find them on the site.
Keep up the great work and thanks for the education!
Thank you very much. I did not ever post an article on the automatic vent project, because I found that I never really needed it. I just open the door when the weather is nice (for days at a time usually) and close it when it gets cold. Even with the door open the plants are very sheltered in there.
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And even thought the air temp can get up to the 90s with the door closed it just isn’t the same as when the summer sun is high in the sky and the radiation is intense. I haven’t had any problem with cooked plants at all.
I just discovered your site while looking for good sites about building a greenhouse. What a wealth of information you provide, and I like your writing style too.
I’m thinking about bees myself. I live in Wisconsin and am learning how to take care of 44 acres here. That’s what I blog about.
I linked to you today.
http://digginginthedriftless.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/10-great-build-your-own-greenhouse-sites/
Thank you very much for the kind words and the link. I’m glad you like it.
I like your site too. I’m with you on raw milk (and other related) issues – When you consider the fact that industry scale food production has made once safe things like raw eggs, and pink hamburgers potentially deadly it seems like they should have bigger fish to fry than small dairy farmers.
Just found you thr Bentley @ RedWormComposting.com[funny and very helpfull on vermicomposting]. I have a one-women greenhse business and grow all my plants in a homemade greenhse and under shop lites in the basement. Since the greenhse was built on a deck with a slider door to the house I can heat the greenhse with a box fan blowing warm air from the house. I close the slider door up against the fan and put a double layer of insulation board above the fan to close the opening. I also have a bathroom vent fan in the wall between the house and greenhse for backup on the coldest nites. This system has worked to keep the greenhse at least to 45o on the coldest nites here in Ne. for very little cost.
I live in frigid Minnesota and I am interested in extending the growing season of my vegetables. I want to learn more about building inexpensive hoop houses. Thanks.
Bruno
Greetings From N.FLorida,Jax.
Its fortunate to find your site. I like the
family feel, with data factors (esp costs)
Thanks for the NewsLetter!
warm reguards,
Marta m4)
Marta says:
January 23, 2010 at 5:06 am
ISP block chgd eMails…Still ME!
__Boo Juno__
Greetings From N.FLorida,Jax.
Its fortunate to find your site. I like the
family feel, with data factors (esp costs)
Thanks for the NewsLetter!
warm reguards,
Marta m4)
How can i contact you directly ?
Im interested in advertisement on doorgarden.
Please reach me at my email address which i entered mail area.
thanks.
ahmet.
Can I use your article from last June on bees by mail in a non profit beekeepers newsletter?
You sure can. Just include the web address along with them.
I start my seeds indoors in Feb. every year (school vacation week).I have the indoor green houses-they are 4feet tall covered with a plastic cover- I also have light tubes on each shelf. When it is warm enough I put them out in my green house which is only heated by the sun. The last two years I have been getting these little black flys in my indoor green houses. I dont know if it is from the soil or too much moisture build up.
Please help if you can
Sounds like you have fungus gnats and yes overly wet conditions are to their liking. One good way to combat them other than keeping your plants drier is to hang those sticky fly traps near your lite sources. You can get them at WalMart and they come 4 in a box for about $2. Another good method for trapping them is to put cider vinegar in containers[I use yogurt cups] with a few drops of dish soap. I also every fall dig up small plants of nicotiana[flowering tobaco], pot them up and place them in various places in the grnhse. The undersides of their leaves are sticky and catch many of these pests. You want to get rid of as many of them as you can cause they feed on your plants roots. As a last resort an organic spray called pyola works also. Goodluck!
Thank you, I love this web.page found it by accident but it it great.