I can day-dream about them all day long … greenhouses and cold frames!
Far and wide I searched, to gather some of the BEST tutorials on how to build amazing DIY greenhouses from tiny to magnificent.
Every one of these is a labor of love. You will find ingenious ideas from passive heating elements of painted jugs, straw bale as building material that needs no tools, to 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 greenhouse, yet surprisingly effective. Check out the 3 secrets to success! ( A Piece Of Rainbow )
2. Cedar Branch Hoop House
Find a good quality greenhouse plastic.
The 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. ( Earth Easy )
3. Hardware Fencing Hoop House
Great idea to combine straw bale gardening with hoop house design! 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?
4. 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!
5. 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)
6. Straw Bale Cold Frame
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. I especially like the first design where the frame is sloped towards the south with tiers of growing space! ( High Mowing Seeds )
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I LOVE THIS! I hope to have a greehouse…one day. 😉 This is great info. I love the pics, too!
The cob oven at the end is fantastic! I want to build one so badly. Also love the hanging squash idea!
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!
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 ♥
Oh my gosh. These are all AMAZING. It’s a dream of mine to have a huge garden or greenhouse someday!
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!!
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.
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!
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.
Amazing ideas!!! I love the gourd tunnel!!!
I always wanted to have one! thank you for all the amazing info =)
These are all really great ideas! I love how organized everything was in your post – and I really love your blog design, too!
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!
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 …
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?
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 =)
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.
Excellent, inspiring ideas!
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.
thank you abul! i use auto translation, hopefully they still do an ok job! =)
Hi I’m looking for part 2 of all about raised garden beds.
Thanks
Kerri
here it is =) https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/20-diy-raised-bed-gardens/
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.
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. 🙂
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.
This is a nice addition to a spacious garden! I’d love to have something like this if only I have the space.
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
that’s a great idea heather! thank you for sharing! =)