The long-time dream of most gardener: a backyard greenhouse
I have dreamed of building a small backyard greenhouse for the last decade. I bounce between two ideas: gradually collecting chippy old windows and doors to create a DIY dreamscape or keeping it real and ordering a kit that we can put together over one stressful weekend just so I can have it right now.
Last spring, I pulled into my favorite plant nursery, and at the entrance stood a stunning black wrought-iron greenhouse with a crank that opened the roof tiles. She was gorgeous, and later that afternoon, I found myself tumbling down a new rabbit hole of greenhouse designs on the internet. The price tag on that beauty nearly gave me heart palpitations, but it reignited all my big feelings about needing a greenhouse sooner rather than later. I could immediately imagine myself doing all the greenhousey activities I ever wanted in a space like that.
Planning Ahead
The greenhouse was entirely out of my price range, but I decided that making a list of greenhouse features I couldn’t live without so I could be ready to pull the trigger when the time was right was the wisest plan. I mean, you can never know when your dream greenhouse will go on a clearance sale...
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Greenhouse Wish List
So, what would I really want in a greenhouse?
- For starters, a long counter that runs the length of the greenhouse. What a perfect place to start seeds on one of the first warm days in March (windows closed, of course) or for cutting and arranging flowers on a gorgeous July evening (windows open).
- I’ll require shelves for the succulents I can’t help but overwater when they’re in my house. Maybe I’ll be able to get the amount of water right out in the greenhouse.
- I’ll want a few hooks for hanging plants. The lipstick plant who lives in my bathroom would love to spend a holiday outside the house, and the poor pothos can come too to save it from my naughty cat Toby. Even though it’s incredibly poisonous and out of his reach for his safety, he makes it his weekly mission to try and pull down a few leaves.
- I’ll need space below the counter to stack empty pots in the fall and to store my gardening baskets because there is nothing better than an organized greenhouse.
- A disco ball would be darling. And of course a comfy chair or hammock, where I can enjoy a book and cup of coffee and read the day away. I’d even bring the kitties out for an afternoon snooze in my slice of Eden. Maybe a little writing desk in there where I could write my next novel.
Honestly, the possibilities are endless. Maybe my naughty cat and I will be hosting guided tours of my Greenhouse Paradise someday. I’ll keep you posted.
When Jamie isn’t dreaming of greenhouses, she’s planning trips to parts of the world she’s never been.
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