Before I built anything permanent, during my research phase, I hungered to do something tangible. So, using only blue Styrofoam panels and silicon glue I constructed this (picture 01) simple grow box in the far corner of my backyard. The opening accommodated a single recycled glass shower door. This picture shows that it worked perfectly producing fresh spinach all winter! My first taste of success. Meanwhile I did a lot of reading and planning, which included the development of a 3D rendering in my computer. This helped me see it virtually from all angles. I drew it to scale so I could make measurements and estimates of materials needed. For example, in this early rendering (Picture 02) I could count how many bricks and foam panels I’d need, where the wooden guard rails and walkway would go, and I could visualize how the underground insulation (in blue) would go outside of the cement bricks. I planned the wood frame construction as well. (Picture 03)

Picture 01

Picture 02

Picture 03

However, the loophole is the word, "structure." If I build a greenhouse into which I can walk it is a structure that must meet city building requirements. If I build a cold frame, it doesn't. So I have taken all my research and applied it to the construction of insulated cold frames with the exact same floor space as my intended greenhouse. There is no loss of square footage for growing! My costs to build are one third of what it would have been on a full sized greenhouse.

My first growing frame is in place with this writing. It has an inside growing space of three feet by eight feet, and it is five feet high to accommodate taller plants. There is room to build two more of these in the same strip of ground along the south side of my house, which means I will eventually have 72 square feet of year-round growing area, on a budget.

So, the insulated growing frame was my economic and city code solution. The construction item I spent the most money on was the insulation. The foundation is made of used highway guard rails. The inside surface below ground is lined with large cement bricks. The primary structure is wood and the glazing is three recycled shower doors.

The next article in this newsletter is a narrative step by step of how I built my first successful grow frame.