Green Houses (Fairbanks: buy, gated, living in)

[ltdontcare]

Does any one have a green house? It seems to be the thing to do. Do you use it all year long? I see the kits that they sell on the net. Looks like they wouldn't last that long.
Is it worth just spending the money to get a glass and steel green house like on a Wendys?
Do you have to pollenate the plants yourself?

[Marylandkitten]

Originally Posted by ltdontcare

Do you have to pollenate the plants yourself?

I have absolutely nothing to offer this thread, but am curious to see what real answers people might provide!
A lot of the vegetarian concerns on living in Alaska they were saying an easy fix was by establishing your own greenhouse.

My concern would be.. how well would something you can buy over the internet, hold up under piles of snow come wintertime?

[Rance]

My Dad used one (still does) for years. It has a steep pitched roof and sheds the snow nicely. He built it himself from 2x4's and fibreglass corrugated panels. He only puts tomatoes and zuccini in it. There are some decent kits out there. I'd just shop around and ensure they have a good tall and steep roof.

[Metlakatla]

Depends on what part of Alaska--keep in mind it isn't all snow.

For the snowy parts, the roof is of course the most important thing. You can get some good kits but like Rance said, shop around. A lot of people do build their own.

As for using it all year long, many people find the costs involved with that to be prohibitive.

Whether you hand pollinate or not depends on what you're growing

[Arcticthaw]

In Fairbanks, people buy or build them. Spenards had a barn style one I built for the house, but it quickly turned into a shed. A hazzard of living here. Garages are not for cars! especially in the summer. The people I know use them to start plants in the spring after they started them in their windows, yes mainly tomatoes and other warm weather plants. The green houses turn into sheds up here around September when the bicycles need a place to stay. My former inlaws had an attached green house similar to the wendys idea. It would get cold in there but never extremely cold, in the winter. So over wintering was out of the question. Though some people put certain plants in their heated garage to over winter.

I have a year round garden about 5 minutes from the house, and if what I want is not ripe I just come back a couple of days later. I call my garden Freds as in the grocery store Freds.