How to Build Your Own Greenhouse: Designs and Plans to Meet Your Growing Needs
Ebook
Overview
Unlock new growing opportunities and increase your property value with an outdoor conservatory. In this illustrated guide, Roger Marshall shows you how to build our own greenhouse using simple, easy-to-follow techniques. Covering everything from selecting a site to glazing glass, Marshall includes tips on laying a foundation, construction materials, ventilation, and much more. Whether your goal is to stretch the growing season or create a lush space for a year-round hot tub, you can build the greenhouse of your dreams.
Introduction
1. Questions to Ask before You Begin
How Much Time Does a Greenhouse Require? What Is Your Budget? How Large Should Your Greenhouse Be? What about Structure and Systems? What Are the Pros and Cons of Kit Greenhouses? Build It Yourself or Hire a Contractor? What Aesthetics Are Important to You?
2. The First Glasshouses
The Start of Growing under Glass * The First Conservatories * Orangeries and Pineries * Nineteenth-Century Colossal Greenhouses * The Hobby Greenhouse
3. An Overview of Greenhouse Options
What Type and Structural Style Do You Want? * Five Basic Types * Basic Structural or Building Styles
4. Choosing the Greenhouse Site, Size, and Interior Layout
Site selection * Determining the size of your greenhouse * Making the floor plan * Designing the entrance * Getting permits
5. Controlling the Greenhouse Environment
Water in the Greenhouse * Lighting and Electricity in the Greenhouse * Heating, Cooling, and Ventilation Systems * Hydroponics * Insecticides in the Greenhouse
6. Greenhouse Building Materials
Wood as a Construction Material * Sheathing * House Wrap * Exterior Siding * Other Greenhouse Framing Materials * Framing Materials Insulation * Vapor Barriers * Doors * Alternative Building Materials * Painting the Greenhouse
7. Glazing
Understanding Light Transmission * Types of Glazing Materials * Combining Glazing Materials * Caulking and Weather Stripping
Checklist for a New Greenhouse
8. The Foundation
Types of Foundations * Types of Floors * Constructing a Concrete Foundation and Slab * Finishing the Foundation
9. Building Techniques
Building a Kit Greenhouse * Building a Conventional or Do-It-Yourself Greenhouse
10. Wiring, Plumbing, and Heating: Systems Design and Installation
Installing Electricity * Installing Plumbing * Installing a Heating System
11. Greenhouse Accessories
Benches * Shelving * Growing Beds * Tools and Equipment * A Germination Chamber or Seed-Starting Box * A Growing Chamber * A Potting Bench * Storage * Greenhouse Clothing * Accessories to Control Insects
12. Greenhouse Maintenance
Regular Chores * Monthly or Quarterly Maintenance * Biannual or Annual Maintenance
13. Greenhouse Plans
Basic Conventional Greenhouse
Slant-Front, Insulated Greenhouse
Slope-Sided Greenhouse
Gothic Arch Greenhouse
Lean-to Greenhouse
Greenhouse Built on Piers or a Deck
Hoop House or High-Tunnel Greenhouse
Window Greenhouse
Garden Shed/Greenhouse
Multiuse Cold Frame
Potting Bench
Resources
Index
“Roger Marshall’s book…shows gardening enthusiasts how to grow colorful flowers, tropical fruits and abundant vegetables year-round, no matter what the weather is.”
Los Angeles Daily News, January 27, 2007
“Marshall leads readers through myriad options and provides well-organized details on the whys and wherefores of each, along with how you (or a contractor) can design and build the greenhouse to suit your gardening needs.”
Arkansas Democrat, March 3, 2007
“The book’s strengths are its many and varied schematics and highly detailed, step-by-step instructions for building growing structures, from cold frames for just a few vegetables to a large free-standing greenhouse that can double as an entertainment area…There’s even a four-page check-list of what to plan for, materials to buy, and approximate costs.”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 25, 2007
“If you are interested in building a greenhouse, here is the definitive do-it-yourself guide. This is the only guide needed to plan, situate and build your dream greenhouse.”
Lexington Herald-Leader, June 30, 2007
“If you’ve ever contemplated adding a greenhouse to your property but didn’t know where to start, How to Build Your Own Greenhouse by Roger Marshall will point you in the right direction.”
The American Gardener, Sept.-Oct. 2007
“The author gives gardeners the inspiration to take their hobby indoors for the winter months, and then he gives them the means to do so, with step-by-step instructions….Nothing seems insurmountable under the guidance of master gardener Marshall.”
Berkshire Eagle
- Title: How to Build Your Own Greenhouse: Designs and Plans to Meet Your Growing Needs
- Author: Roger Marshall
- Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
- Print Publication Date: 2016
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Pages: 256
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781612122601, 9781580175876, 1580175872, 9781580176477, 158017647X, 1612122604
- Resource ID: LLS:9781612122601
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T07:17:07Z
In addition to designing boats, Roger Marshall regularly lectures and gives talks on gardening and greenhouse growing. He writes a monthly blog post for Hartley Greenhouse, and is the former editor of Home Greenhouse. He is also a member of the Garden Writers Association, The American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Society of Authors (UK).