[Strawbale] attached greenhouse questions

[Sherwood Botsford]

Mary Fletcher wrote:
>
>> I have one green house built with scrap windows and an old shed.  We are
>> still eating frozen bell peppers from it.  My next one will be designed
>> to get warm in April, and try to stay warm until October.  In winter it
>> is so dark here, that nothing will thrive.  But I can use a green house
>> to turn a 3  month frost free season into a 5 month one.
>> And THAT is worth doing.
>
> You must live in Canada :-)
> We've been toying with the attached greenhouse idea although, 
> honestly, it'd be more of a solarium. Anyway, the REAL greenhouse will 
> be near the garden. I'm curious if you're going to build your 
> greenhouse with mass and insulation (excepting the south wall) to 
> extend your growing season? We're looking at this and wondering if it 
> would be worth the trouble and expense. We live in northern BC where 
> there's snow on the ground from November to April. We don't want to 
> heat it - we just want to nudge the growing season a bit on either end.
> Cheers,
> Mary
My experiments with mass have been dismally disappointing.  Covering 
half the floor of the greenhouse with 5 gallon pails of water ends up 
with a morning temp 3-4 degrees higher than ambient.  I need a really 
tight greenhouse to keep it warm at night. 

A 'solarium' adjacent to the house can be a big win for winter heat.  
Pump air into the house from it when the sun shines. Stop at dark.  Do a 
search for solar heated shop on MotherEarthNews.  Guy heats his shop in 
Montana with about 100 bucks worth of mods to the building.

Two greenhouses form now, I'll attach one to a shop.  Green house half 
the year, shop heater half the year.