Published by: Gourmet Sleuth Last Updated: 10/14/2013
Truth be told I've always been fond of putting things together. Someone in the house need a new Ikea bookcase? I'm the one assigned to the assembly task. So, this new greenhouse structure was right up my alley. The greenhouse is packed neatly in a 14"x37"x6" box. The whole thing weighed about 24 pounds so easy enough to lug around.
I had scoped out a spot in the yard for the little structure before I purchased it. The next step was to prepare the site where I wanted to place the greenhouse. I happen to have an area located on concrete. Clearly you could set up your greenhouse on dirt. If you do that then you will want to weed it, and put down a weed barrier that will allow drainage. Don't just use poly sheeting or you'll have water puddling in the greenhouse, which is not a good thing. If you don't have a good garden shop in your area then a good online source is Charlies Greenhouse Supply.
So, starting with concrete as a pad I didn't have to worry about weeding or weed-barriers. However, I did have to do some trimming and clearing to make enough space for the little structure.
I just had to do a little weeding, trimming and sweeping. With the area cleaned up I can now start the building.
This was the step that would have been difficult to accomplish alone. I had one person (taller than I) place the cover over the top while I worked around the sides to slip it over the greenhouse, kind of like a large plastic pillow case. As we struggled a bit I found it helped to unzip the door section to give more room to spread the cover over the frame.
Here is the frame with the plastic cover in place.
In my situation I was able to place the structure between two fences where it fits pretty snugly. It is on a concrete pad so I can't use the small stakes provided. I have not worked out the details of this yet but I suspect I'll find a way to attach the greenhouse to the fence. While this is not typically a windy area, we can get some winds in the spring that come in off the ocean. It will be best to secure it. These are the small stakes provided for attaching the greenhouse to the ground. They are pretty short so I would be concerned they might not keep this light structure on the ground if it became very windy. You can find good greenhouse stakes at an online greenhouse supply store. Again, we recommend Charlies.
Do not skip this step. These are very light structures and even a medium size gust might land the sucker in your neighbors back yard with seedlings and plants flying. If you do a little searching on Amazon you can read some reviews by people who had this happen.