Greenhouse - Step 2

The excitement of our new greenhouse has been on hold since we ordered it back in the first week of September. We knew it would take 8 weeks to come from the factory in Vancouver, Canada.  Of course the wait has become even longer than that.  We might see it around Thanksgiving.

That's really okay, because it is taking us at least that long to get the prep work done.  We immediately took down the pine tree that was struck by lightning.  See Greenhouse - Our Big Fall Project  That is where we are locating the greenhouse.  Building permit?  No problem - DH is friendly with the building inspector; we had our permit in no time.  Then on to building the base. This didn't sound too complicated; we needed a footer of treated lumber set in a couple feet of crushed limestone.  But small projects have a way of growing and taking on a life of their own.

First, how to dig the base out?  The tree was gone, but not it's thousands of roots.  Digging by hand was impossible.  My son owns a skid-steer, but although he's only 10 miles away, he had no way of getting it here. Then DH started thinking about what he would need in his greenhouse to fully enjoy it -- electric and water.  Hmm.... that means laying lines to the house... 4 feet down.  Time to call in professionals.  Yesterday, our talented contractor came with a couple workers and a small excavating machine.  One solid day of work and now the base is ready to build upon. 2 trenches have been dug, laid, and filled - 1 for water and 1 for electric. (Yes, we considered putting both water and electric in the same trench, but that would have meant going through the patio, resulting in re-doing the patio pavers.  Please, not another project.)  Our contractor promised to return on a rainy day to finish the water and electric hook-ups now that the outdoor work is done.

FUN!  WOW!  Very tough on the back.

This greenhouse was supposed to be a "do-it-yourself" project.  Well, today we finally did a little ourselves.  Those trenches needed raking and readying for seed.  Two flower beds needed patching where the trenches chewed through them.  Lucky for us the weather is remarkable - high of 67 degrees and bright sunshine.  I'll admit it didn't take long before my back was screaming at me; thank goodness for DH! He was a workhorse today.

What's next?  The greenhouse should be delivered before the end of the month.  My first job will be to stain all the wood (cedar) parts.  I know I can do that myself.  Can we assemble it ourselves?  Stay tuned.  We'll give it a try. If need be, we'll call in the troops for a good old fashioned "greenhouse raising".

Greenhouse foundation - Water just outside greenhouse - Electric cable sticking up in the corner. We destroyed a huge section of our lawn for this small structure.  Hope it's worth it.