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My suggestion depends on the wildlife in your area. Once you get rid of the bees you can keep them out, but here, raised beds or any other outside veggies and plants will get eaten by the deer, rabbits, squirrels, or even crows. My greenhouse has 1/2” “rabbit wire” on the door and windows so that even mice can’t get in. In fact, bugs are rare, Some plants like cucumbers require that I hand pollenate.
Hmmm....well, seeing as how I'm in suburbia right now, I'm not too worried about deer and rabbits. I've never seen any squirrels, but I know we have a lot of birds. I'm not even sure who ate my tulips (my dogs or ???). I did see a mouse once running around the greenhouse, but it didn't go inside. I also know ants attacked my bag of soil in there If I keep it, I may have to look into the vents and see what I can do to keep wildlife out of it. And then if I have raised beds, I can always have my bf construct something so I can cover it to keep it safe from birds (or at least try to). Thank you for reminding me about wildlife....there are some things we can't control, right? Oh, and it was wasps in the greenhouse, not bees. Bees I'm fine with; the can pollinate my lavendar and berries.
My suggestion is to have your bf clean it out. You're going to feel a lot better when its all cleaned and bug sprayed to prevent any future bugs in there. It will look clean, new, and you will appreciate having something not many of us have.
Look at this like this... If you get rid of it, you're getting rid of good money. How much do you think that is worth? $1000? Keep it. Enjoy it. Plan on future plantings. Take pics of it all cleaned up and post here.
No clue how much it's worth, but that's why I'm hesitating. Also because I wish I didn't sell my bike and treadmill years ago because I could really use those today. LOL. I feel like, if I sold this one, if I got another one, I'd want a larger one. BUT, my backyard isn't big enough. I told BF, I'd like one that I can sit in and enjoy the ambiance.
When I was rural, I liked to build protective structures on my raised beds. If the OP is within Portland city limits, she won't have too much trouble, unless she's growing berries. I've seen many caged berry plants on backyard garden tours.
Yeah, I shouldn't have too many issues. I'm not in the city, but I am still in "suburbia" so fenced in yard backed by houses on 3 sides. I do, however, need to figure out how to secure my blueberries. They're still baby plants, but I'm sure someone is eating them.
Thanks everyone! You've given me a lot to think about. I'll have to discuss with BF a bit more about cleaning it out, maybe having raised beds in addition to the greenhouse. I may ask him to make me some skinny ones. We have a border on the side made with bricks, which is nice, as I can plant things between the fence and bricks (about 1-1.5 feet wide), BUT, it's a pain the rear working in that area. Gotta do some research about what food we want to grow and how much sun it all needs.
I'm going to address the bug thing first. I realize that bugs can be good for plants and detrimental. It's more the digging in the dirt to plant things that I don't like all the squirmy bugs that are crawling around. I just hate creepy crawly things, so not too sure I'll get over that; it's totally irrational, but that's what phobias are, right? Oh, I don't typically kill them, I just move them but it still freaks me out.
Then google 'soil life' and read about them. They're magnificent, and you have depended upon them all your life. A soil without plenty of insects and other creepy crawlies living in it is a dead soil, and dead soils don't support life. The more life you have in your soil, the more you will reap from that soil.*
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Originally Posted by psichick
You said you wouldn't try to heat a greenhouse that small; do you mean like space heater type of heating (vs seedling mats)?
Yes. There's not enough thermal mass in that small structure to hold heat, so a space heater would run all the time and cost quite a bit in energy. And in Portland, it's just not necessary, unless, as I said, you want to grow tropical plants. And even then, a dedicated space in your house would be better, because you'll need additional light as well. It's just cheaper and easier to provide those things in your house than in a small greenhouse. Adding insulation to the greenhouse would help, but it would still cost a lot to heat. Unheated, it will provide quite a bit of frost protection, and it will warm up some during the day. In fact, along about February, you might need to keep an eye on the high temps and ventilate. Another thing that a greenhouse offers during the winter is protection from driving rain, which can be hard on seedlings and potted plants.
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Originally Posted by psichick
Lastly, it's an either/or because of the location. That spot where the greenhouse is, unfortunately, is the only place that gets sun almost all day long (darn backyard is north facing).
You'd be surprised how well some food crops will do with less than full sunlight.
How did the previous owners use the greenhouse?
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Originally Posted by psichick
Thank you for the feedback, I have some thinking to do and some more reading.
Keep in mind that gardening in the PNW is different because of our cool Mediterranean climate, which makes a lot of general gardening books a bit iffy. Look into these -
Backyard Bounty by Linda Gilkeson - a good intro to food gardening here, using a modified square-foot gardening approach
Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest by Binda Colebrook - just what it says - our mild winter allows us to grow fresh greens all year
Anything by Steve Solomon - He's just IT. See especially Vegetable Gardening West of The Cascades
Anything by Robert Kourik - a man who cares deeply about roots, and who wrote the book on drip irrigation
Anything by Carol Deppe - The Resilient Gardener is full of interesting techniques. I think this woman has chlorophyll for blood.
Anything by Toby Hemenway - Gaia's Garden is a permaculture manifesto
Sunset Western Gardenbook - your general reference book
The Portland Public Library will have these authors. As will Powell's Books, which if you haven't discovered it yet - well, you need to.
I am most influenced by the permaculture approach, and there are at least a couple of permaculture groups in Portland. Also check out www.permies.com, which has some very active forums, with a lot of posters in the PNW.
*I had my own epiphany about bugs the night I emptied nearly a whole large can of Raid onto a single inoffensive 1/2" spider, which was running from me in terror and desperation but wouldn't die. Choking on the cloud of poison, I suddenly saw what I was doing and was ashamed.
Thanks for the very detailed suggestions. Couple of questions.
1. can you suggest a good bubble wrap?
2. how about a space heater?
I'm pretty sure they previous owners just used an extension cord since there's a fan in there. Would that whole vinegar, dishsoap, salt mixture kill the plants? Maybe I can buy a full hazmat body suit. LOL. Seriously need to hire someone.
I'm going to have to see where else I can maybe put the raised beds. My stupid backyard is north facing and the sides get a lot of sun. I'm going to have to figure out where else I might be able to put some. BF just finished building his workbench in the garage, so y'know, he should have time to start making me some shelves in the greenhouse. I can wait for the raised beds for next year.
I won't suggest a specific brand of greenhouse bubble wrap because your budget and your climate is probably different from mine, and you may be able to get more variety of products in your own country - but please check out the several websites here that sell it in the states https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q...w=1120&bih=583 and research about the benefits of bubble wrap for inside insulation of back yard greenhouses. There are videos there too to show you how it's easily installed. Keep in mind it must be installed on the inside, not the outside of the greenhouse.
Look for either rolls or sheets with big bubbles instead of little bubbles (they come in different sizes and grades of bubbles) made of extra tough double laminated clear plastic that cannot be popped with the fingers. Try to get a grade that is UV proof, it will last years longer and doesn't need to be put up and taken down every year, you can leave it in place. You will need to take measurements of the inside of the greenhouse so you will know how much bubble wrap you need.
Regarding an extension cord - For most of my small greenhouses (and outdoor aviaries or brooder houses) that I've had I've used heavy duty grounded extension cords run out from the garage or workshop to the greenhouse and then plugged in workshop power bars for small low voltage appliances like overhead fluorescent tube lights, heating pads, fans and a small space heater (oil heater with a thermostat). Your boyfriend might have some better suggestions for power sources and appliances.
I'm a bit OCD about herbicides and insecticides. ... well, OCD about a lot of things actually ...... and I personally won't use a herbicide of any kind inside a greenhouse, not even the vinegar/salt/soap solution because I'd be paranoid about accidental contamination from vapours or residue getting on greenhouse plants that belong in there. I may use dish soap and water as an insecticide, and I have no hestitation about using garlic oil solution as a fungicide, but otherwise nothing else. If I have a dirt floor I cover it from wall to wall with a big sheet of heavy duty plastic or a tarp, or else closely fitted sheets of plywood. Weeds won't grow up through that and it's a deterrent for insects from underground. And it's just cleaner than having a plain dirt floor and easy to sweep up spilled potting soil if necessary.
Personally, I wouldn't get rid of it. It's probably more then $1,000. Someone will gladly take it off your hands for free quick. They may even clean it up and resell it
Then google 'soil life' and read about them. They're magnificent, and you have depended upon them all your life. A soil without plenty of insects and other creepy crawlies living in it is a dead soil, and dead soils don't support life. The more life you have in your soil, the more you will reap from that soil.*
Unfortunately, no. No amount of education will make me feel better about the creepy crawlies. It's not like I kill them or anything, I just don't like dealing with them. Maybe I should stick to potted plants where there's less chance of bugs. But thank you for the link about soil biology; that'll be good to read unless there's lots of pics, the I'm going to have to skip it.
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Yes. There's not enough thermal mass in that small structure to hold heat, so a space heater would run all the time and cost quite a bit in energy. And in Portland, it's just not necessary, unless, as I said, you want to grow tropical plants. And even then, a dedicated space in your house would be better, because you'll need additional light as well. It's just cheaper and easier to provide those things in your house than in a small greenhouse. Adding insulation to the greenhouse would help, but it would still cost a lot to heat. Unheated, it will provide quite a bit of frost protection, and it will warm up some during the day. In fact, along about February, you might need to keep an eye on the high temps and ventilate. Another thing that a greenhouse offers during the winter is protection from driving rain, which can be hard on seedlings and potted plants.
Ah, good to know in regards to the space heater. I definitely don't want to deal with something running all the time (tried that one year because my BF didn't want my plants in the house - so many of them died and no he's learned....he can go outside while my plants live inside because they came first, LOL). Unfortunately right now, I have mostly tropical plants, but y'know, working on getting more native stuff...or plants that will grow easier in PNW.
Quote:
You'd be surprised how well some food crops will do with less than full sunlight.
How did the previous owners use the greenhouse?
No clue what they used it for. The previous owners were pretty much cleared out of the house when we saw it, including the greenhouse.
Quote:
Keep in mind that gardening in the PNW is different because of our cool Mediterranean climate, which makes a lot of general gardening books a bit iffy. Look into these -
I am most influenced by the permaculture approach, and there are at least a couple of permaculture groups in Portland. Also check out www.permies.com, which has some very active forums, with a lot of posters in the PNW.
Oh, thank you for all the book suggestions and the permaculture info and website, I'll look into all that. Whereabouts are you in PNW? BTW, I love how easy it is to grow things up here. In SoCal, it was always hard to keep things alive due to the heat or the cold snaps that we called winter. LOL. But, at least my plumerias were always bountiful, blooming, and beautiful! Gotta take the good and bad I guess.
Quote:
*I had my own epiphany about bugs the night I emptied nearly a whole large can of Raid onto a single inoffensive 1/2" spider, which was running from me in terror and desperation but wouldn't die. Choking on the cloud of poison, I suddenly saw what I was doing and was ashamed.
The way I live is like this...if it's in my house, it's as good as dead. They're lucky if BF is around as he'll catch and release it. If I'm gardening and it's in my dirt, I move them away with a long long pole. If there's a lot in the dirt, I bury them and go find a pot or quit for the day. LOL. On the upside, I wno't use pesticides in my garden. I will try to find natural stuff to repel the bugs I don't want, but that won't harm the ones I do. I really don't try to kill them; I just don't like kneeling/sitting on the ground knowing they can crawl on me. Yikes!
Again, thank you so much for all the resources and comments. If you don't mind answering some questions when i start looking into permaculture or the books you recommended, is it okay if I DM you here? Or we can share email?
Unfortunately, no. No amount of education will make me feel better about the creepy crawlies. It's not like I kill them or anything, I just don't like dealing with them. Maybe I should stick to potted plants where there's less chance of bugs. But thank you for the link about soil biology; that'll be good to read unless there's lots of pics, the I'm going to have to skip it.
Ah, good to know in regards to the space heater. I definitely don't want to deal with something running all the time (tried that one year because my BF didn't want my plants in the house - so many of them died and no he's learned....he can go outside while my plants live inside because they came first, LOL). Unfortunately right now, I have mostly tropical plants, but y'know, working on getting more native stuff...or plants that will grow easier in PNW.
No clue what they used it for. The previous owners were pretty much cleared out of the house when we saw it, including the greenhouse.
Oh, thank you for all the book suggestions and the permaculture info and website, I'll look into all that. Whereabouts are you in PNW? BTW, I love how easy it is to grow things up here. In SoCal, it was always hard to keep things alive due to the heat or the cold snaps that we called winter. LOL. But, at least my plumerias were always bountiful, blooming, and beautiful! Gotta take the good and bad I guess.
The way I live is like this...if it's in my house, it's as good as dead. They're lucky if BF is around as he'll catch and release it. If I'm gardening and it's in my dirt, I move them away with a long long pole. If there's a lot in the dirt, I bury them and go find a pot or quit for the day. LOL. On the upside, I wno't use pesticides in my garden. I will try to find natural stuff to repel the bugs I don't want, but that won't harm the ones I do. I really don't try to kill them; I just don't like kneeling/sitting on the ground knowing they can crawl on me. Yikes!
Again, thank you so much for all the resources and comments. If you don't mind answering some questions when i start looking into permaculture or the books you recommended, is it okay if I DM you here? Or we can share email?
I'm trying hard not to sound snarky here, but you do realize that even potted plants are subject to insect infestations like aphids or thrips, right? The only plants you will find that will have absolutely no insects around them EVER are plastic.
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If I keep it, I may have to look into the vents and see what I can do to keep wildlife out of it. And then if I have raised beds, I can always have my bf construct something so I can cover it to keep it safe from birds (or at least try to). Thank you for reminding me about wildlife....there are some things we can't control, right? Oh, and it was wasps in the greenhouse, not bees. Bees I'm fine with; the can pollinate my lavendar and berries. 
Couple of questions. 
