I can day-dream about them all day long … greenhouses and cold frames! They are such effective structures to extend the season, allowing us to grow an abundant garden year round even in the cold winter!
Here are some of the BEST tutorials on how to build amazing DIY greenhouses , simple cold frames and cost-effective hoop houses.
You will discover that you can have a great productive greenhouse or cold frame even when you have little budget and little carpentry skills.
There is a perfect DIY greenhouse for everyone! ( Note: this post has been updated: now we have 42 greenhouses! Just have to add some really great new ones! )
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Every one of these greenhouses and cold frames contain lots of inspirations to learn from. You will find ingenious ideas such as passive heating elements of painted jugs, straw bale as building material that needs no tools, using tree branches, old bottles, windows, and even a trampoline! ( Some of the helpful resources are affiliate links. Full disclosure here. )
Before we dive in, I want to share with you two of my FAVORITE books on greenhouse gardening-
The classic is Four Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long by Elliot Colman. He gardens year round in cold Vermont, and shares simple, inexpensive designs for cold frames, unheated mobile greenhouses, and root cellars in this amazing book.
The new ground breaking ( literally) book The Forest Garden Greenhouse is written by the brilliant permaculture designer Jerome Osentowski who grows bananas and citrus on a rocky hillside in Colorado with winters in -30s.
1. Cut Bottle Mini Greenhouses
The easiest 1-minute DIY greenhouse, yet surprisingly effective. Check out the 3 secrets to success here at A Piece Of Rainbow !
2. Cedar Branch Hoop House
This DIY cedar hoop can last 30 years! If you have Cedar or other rot resistant trees where you live, they can be an attractive and all-natural alternative to PVC pipes. Just add good quality greenhouse plastic or less expensive plastic sheeting such as this one!
3. Instant Small Greenhouses
Just want to include these no-work version of greenhouses: these collapsible covers are made of Polyethylene greenhouse fabric. They are inexpensive and easy to store when not in use! You can find them here and here.
4-6. Straw Bale Cold Frame
These are very easy cold frames to build. So simple and so ingenious! Straw Bales hold the heat as walls that need no tools to construct, just add windows or plastic, and frame.
Notice in the second design where the glazing is sloped towards the south to allow in more light with tiers of growing space! ( Source: 4 | 5 | 6)
7. Old window cold frame
Tara shares a tutorial from her fabulous book: Raised Bed Revolution on how to build a cold frame using an old window.
8-10. Easy DIY A-frame greenhouses
A-frame greenhouses are very easy to DIY. Here are 3 variations showing different easy-to-work-with materials such as straw bales, old windows, and poly sheeting. ( Source: 8 | 9 | 10 )
11. Hardware Fencing Hoop House
An easy way to create a hoop house tunnel is to use hardware wire mesh! The livestock panels used here are a heavy gauge galvanized welded wire fencing material. The plastic cover can be removable to allow beans, gourds etc to grow in the summer! ( Dave’s Garden , and Peak Prosperity )
Remember the AMAZING gourd tunnel here?
12. Pallet Greenhouse
Having 2 greenhouses is 8 times more amazing! ( The Green Lever )
Here’s our favorite tool for taking apart pallets – a Duckbill Deck Wrecker that makes it so fast and easy!
Related article: All about how to find and use pallets as a building material!
13. Hoop House Over Garden Bed
Two variations of PVC hoop houses over garden beds – first one has a great video showing how to secure the PVC onto rebar stakes, while in second one the PVC goes into the ground directly. ( Bonnie Plants , and Whole Lifestyle Nutrition )
14. DIY Hoop House made easy
Cut sections from an old hose to clamp the greenhouse plastic to the PVC hoop. Great idea here! Continue to next page –
Sheryl
I LOVE THIS! I hope to have a greehouse…one day. 😉 This is great info. I love the pics, too!
Bethany Magnie
The cob oven at the end is fantastic! I want to build one so badly. Also love the hanging squash idea!
Miss Angie
Ahhhh! So I’m in the process of house hunting now for my first house-all on my lonesome… And I’ve been trying to decide between a house and a townhouse-townhouses have HOAs but they take care of the snow removal for you and that’s nice… But I WANT these. So maybe I’ll get a house so I can make a little greenhouse, how lovely!
Tianna
so many cool ideas! Thanks for sharing these! I’ve been looking to start a garden for ages, but I don’t know how practical green houses are when you live in an apartment haha. that being said, I think I could do a small one.
stop by and chat: http://storybookapothecary.com ♥
Chelsea
Oh my gosh. These are all AMAZING. It’s a dream of mine to have a huge garden or greenhouse someday!
Christine
I have always liked the idea of green houses. They are so simple and organic. There is nothing better than growing things in your own backyard. I never have owed a property to have one of my own. I need a balcony/ tabletop sort of green house. Thanks for sharing!!
Emily | Rainbow Delicious
The gourd tunnel and the geo domes are my favorite but all of these are amazing! What a great round-up; I have pinned it for later.
Cheyenne
Oh I just love this post. We were just talking about how we needed to do this. Thank you for all of the GREAT ideas! We are here from “The Blogger Life” group by the way. Following you!
Amy
Wow, the cd case one blew my mind. I actually had to stare at it for a while to try and figure it out. So creative.
Ann Capozza
Amazing ideas!!! I love the gourd tunnel!!!
Fernanda
I always wanted to have one! thank you for all the amazing info =)
Breanna
These are all really great ideas! I love how organized everything was in your post – and I really love your blog design, too!
Mary @ Green Global Travel
These are all great DIY Greenhouses. I’d love to find plans/photos for a greenhouse make from a swing set frame. We’ve got an old swing set in the backyard and I know that it would make a great greenhouse. Please let me know if you come across any swing set greenhouses. Thanks!
ananda
hi mary!
i just came upon a swing set coop, https://jojochooks.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/the-girls-have-new-home/
it may give you a starting point on the greenhouse! maybe stretch some greenhouse plastic on wood frames …
Jane Fox
These are some great ideas for greenhouses! I’m especially partial to the ones made out of windows–15, 16, and 17. I think they fit with my traditional ideas as to what a greenhouse should look like. What should I be looking for in greenhouse windows? Is being double-glazed important, for example?
ananda
hi jane! they do not need to be double pane, because even plastic greenhouses can be so effective, but it doesn’t hurt of course! habitat for humanity stores are good places to start =)
Christopher
Amazing piece of content, breath-taking images.
Wanted to write an article about DIY greenhouse but with this kind of ideas who needs more!
Nice job, really.
Cathryn Baird
Excellent, inspiring ideas!
Abul Qasim
Punjabi with ‘Gurmukhi’ alphabets is not understood in Pakistan as mentioned in the ‘translation switch’ of your blog. Urdu with Arabic alphabets is widely spoken language of this country.
ananda
thank you abul! i use auto translation, hopefully they still do an ok job! =)
Kerri
Hi I’m looking for part 2 of all about raised garden beds.
Thanks
Kerri
ananda
here it is =) https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/20-diy-raised-bed-gardens/
Madara
Wow, the cd case one blew my mind. I actually had to stare at it for a while to try and figure it out. So creative.
Nick Weymiens
Amazing! I hope to one day build my very own greenhouse in a garden. Depending on the garden it would either be a lean on green house or that beautiful geo dome greenhouse. 🙂
Николай
And of all the greenhouses of options, the most reasonable design seems Straw Bale. Its main advantage is that it gives heat plants, and this is important for the gardener.
Tom Bradly
This is a nice addition to a spacious garden! I’d love to have something like this if only I have the space.
Heather
Thanks for the tip about the bottle mini greenhouses. I’m always looking for an easy way in the spring to keep the quails from nipping on the tender shoots. This might just be the solution
ananda
that’s a great idea heather! thank you for sharing! =)
Candace
Wow, I never thought about those cold boxes! I wonder if they will stand up to Interior Alaska’s cold and snow. Will do some more digging! Thanks for the wonderful ideas! I love the idea of repurposing old windows.
Handyman
I love these, the Hoop Houses look amazing and something I might have to try and create in my own back garden if I ever get the time.