Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

It's a very good thing that you're thinking this through as thoroughly as you are. Putting up a gh that meets your needs, as well as your expectations, is half the battle! Also, it will require an enormous amount of designing and planning...even if you go with a Harbor Freight model.

Unfortunately, you're not going to be able to provide a significant amount of fresh vegetables for your family in a HFGH. You'll have something special to put in a salad once in a while as a treat, but nothing on a regular basis -- unless your expectations aren't high. You could grow enough herbs and vegetables for "flavoring," etc., so, if that were the extent of your expectations, then it would be a success.

Some vegetables can produce quite well in a small space, such as onions, radishes, and lettuce. Others, such as green beans and peas are notoriously space-inefficient. Another issue you may have with growing densely-packed vegetables are pests, such as whitefly and aphids.

If I had to make a wild guess as to the size necessary to feed a family with quantity and variety, I'd say something on the order of 18x30. Simply utilizing floor space would not be enough -- you'd have to use staggered growing trays.

And finally, don't forget to weigh the heating needs of such a structure. It's very satisfying to grow your own, but does it make economic sense? Perhaps an HFGH would be enough to be a seed-starter, which would extend your season by several weeks.

I totally understand the covenants you're trying to stay within. Frustrating that others don't seem to care, and aren't reprimanded. I think you would have the most peace of mind if you investigated things to your satisfaction before you began. That way, you won't always be wondering what that knock on your door is for!

Good luck!

-Bruce

I don't know what your cost constraints are, but you may want to look at a hoop house, double layer, solar powered (not for blower, tho), and insulate the ground down to ~18" or so with R-3 -ish insulation. Take a 55-gal barrel, heat the water, run PEX tubing in the ground via a solar-powered small pond pump. You can get a smaller hoop house from Greenhouse Megastore, do some decent insulation, maybe $250 for the ground work, another $250 for barrel and PEX and pump, then all you need is a solar panel. For really cold nights, you can use row cover and that should protect from all but the historic freezes.

Just a thought.

Dan

Hi bcfromfl, thanks so much for the quick response and excellent feedback.

First, I guess I didn't mean feed completely a family of three. Oops! That's what I get for being over-zealous with my dream and not conveying my thoughts accurately...lol! What I should have said was that I hoped to have a staple of tomatoes, greens and herbs over the winter months. And of course start my seeds for the spring and summer garden.

Which brings me to Dan's awesome idea! Thank you for your response too, Dan! I really do not think that the contemporary style of the hoop house would be something that I could get away with in my small neighborhood. I agree the hoop GH would better fit the needs of what I am trying to accomplish with my vegetables(and should I move and acquire enough land, I will be building one of those for sure!).

Please keep the ideas and suggestions coming! I really want find a way to make this work for my family.
Thank you
:o)

We have wacky goings-on in our neighborhood too (things clearly against city code.) Still, I completely agree with your plans to check with your HOA as early as possible. All it takes is one unhappy neighbor to call attention to a violation (and, I realized that one neighbor might be someone who arrives in the future.)

We don't have a HOA, but we felt a hoop house would not have been well received by our neighbors on our very visible (urban) lot. As it is, our neighbors can hear the hummmmmm of my GH exhaust fan, especially on the highest speed, so I'm glad we took the time to pay attention to how the structure would look. We also worked hard to make the shadecloth look presentable, and did some basic landscaping around the GH. Hopefully this prevents folks from storming up the driveway with pitchforks and torches. I also wave and smile a lot. ;-)

I have a 10x12 HFGH but I don't use it to grow anything edible. As Bruce suggested, it seems like it would at least be a help for seed-starting. Or (probably goofy idea) perhaps you could use it to grow something more space-efficient...and barter those plants for vegetables with someone who has a larger greenhouse?

My greenhouse is purely for fun and learning, and not practical in the least, so I'm very good at coming up with justifications for spending money (life is short, etc etc.)
Sheri

Hi Sheri!

Your GH is awesome and was a great inspiration to me! I am impressed how beautiful a job you all have done with your GH, I found the thread with pictures a few pages back, and you have given me the courage to at least take my dream to the planning table.

I wish I knew people in my area with larger greenhouses. Maybe I could barter some space, definitely something for me to look into if I can't make the build happen. :o)

I have tried indoor gardening, grow lights etc, and tried a different variation on it over the past three winters. Between the kids and the dogs something gets knocked over or eaten prematurely. lol My veggies need their own space.

This is what I get for not explaining myself, apologies.

I'm an urban planner, and by all means have plans to present to the HOA. One of the motivations for the hoop house idea was its low cost and easy tear-down if the neighbors complain. The alternative would be to build a nice one to go with the house so the neighbors look catty if they complain.

Nonetheless, you'll still have to heat the ground if you want veggies year-round. I just had radishes yesterday (in Denver) and baby greens about once a week, so its definitely doable for you if I can do it in Denver. But you have to heat the ground, and water in poly/PEX tubing is the way to go IMHO. You'll definitely need more insulation in your ceiling and maybe bubble wrap on the sidewalls. If the HOA doesn't like the all-glass thing maybe a shed-type with solid north wall may sway them, and more insulation for you.

Dan