My old makeshift shadehouse has been serving me well for several years. I was able to grow assorted cymbidiums, cattleyas, dendrobiums and a few odd orchids in between.

However, the severe frost of january '07 caught me off guard and nearly wiped out my entire collection. We were out of town when it happened. :(

Here is a picture of my collection after the frost. Only a handful of cymbidiums remain, along with a few rotting cattleyas.

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So with that in mind, I decided to invest in a greenhouse kit that would provide some decent frost protection in case we encounter another one of those major frosts again.

I purchased a Rion Prestige 8'x16' resin/polycarbonate kit. I thought that it was going to be a weekend project - my mistake. This project took me about 5 weekends to complete.

Day 1: The boxes arrive!

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Checking the contents of a box: What did I get myself into?

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More boxes: Oh dear! I'm in way over my head now.

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Planning the site for the base:

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Making final preparations before burrying the base. Note my young foreman double-checking my work.

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It all looks level and square from here:

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No no, we bolt the pieces in AFTER we decide where to locate the base:

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After burrying the base, and ensuring that it is level, the first tier panels go up. I will not include the several attempts to level the base. It is frustratingly long and tedious :)

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Second tier walls and roof panels go up:

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All major structure components are up:

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I attached a shadecloth to the greenhouse roof. The shadecloth does not come with the kit.

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Some partial interior views:

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Gotta have a fan.

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I added a water feature that has been sitting in storage. I doubt that it will help significantly with humidity, but it sure is pretty to look at :)

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Empty benches on the west side. I plan to add a shadecloth that can be rolled up along the west wall. Maybe in time I can restock this side of the GH with cattleyas and dendrobiums.

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This is what remained of the old shadehouse after I dismantled it. The four pillars will be repainted and re-used somewhere else in the yard. Perhaps as climbing structures for future vines or veggies.

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Some project notes:

* After completing the structure, I let it sit with the doors closed for a couple of days to monitor the temparature differences inside and outside the GH.

I wanted to make sure that the temperature was within safe parameters before I bring my plants in.

On the first day, it was 75 degrees outside, and it was a whopping 120 degrees inside. Even with the automatic windows and vents fully open, it still was baking inside.

So I installed the shadecloth and an electric fan. With these additions, the temperature improvement was drastic. At 78 degrees outside, the interior temperature was 85 degress.

*I still need to work on keeping the interior cool on warm days, but in the mean time I will have to settle for keeping the doors fully open on warm days.

* I will be installing automatic misters soon, in order to keep the interior cool. But that will be another project altogether.

* I am still considering what to use as floor material. 1" River pebbles, Tree bark mulch or leave it bare. I am leaning towards river pebbles but those things can get expensive and they also could get hot and compound the heat problems in the GH.

That is all for now. I will come back to add more notes if anything significant comes up.