If you think that you can’t grow vegetables in winter, even in a greenhouse without heating it and using gas or electric, you will want to see these so;ar passive greenhouses. They are in Colorado and they are built with a concrete platform along the back wall and then water barrels are stacked three high all across the platform. The water heats the greenhouse in winter and cools it in summer. Penn and Cord’s Garden share pictures, instructions and even have classes to help folks build their own solar passive greenhouse.
They tell us, ” Our sustainable greenhouses run themselves year round with the use of stored water as thermal mass. The water both heats and cools the greenhouse – regulating it in spite of Colorado’s wild fluctuating temperatures.” and ” Cord’s greenhouse can grow tomatoes year round with no supplemental heating – it brought the plants through temperatures as low as 31 below zero! ” That is pretty amazing. They have a blog where you can see what other green house builders are doing and there are loads of pictures so that you can see the different sizes and styles folks have built.
Most are built from scavenged or salvaged materials and looking at Penn’s greenhouse it looks like it would not be hard to set one up. Here is what they say about Penn’s greenhouse. ” We built this simple greenhouse for about $150! We salvaged almost all of the materials and this little 10’X13′ greenhouse has rocked out the food for the last 14 years – 365 days a year! ” 150 dollars to grow food year round, everyone should be doing this. I know many folks that are longing for fresh homegrown produce in the winter and many who are itching to get back in the garden. This is the way to go. You can garden all year and have fresh produce all year round.
