An inexpensive way to start some seeds or over winter greens, this DIY mini pallet greenhouse will only set you back about $5!
Make A Mini Pallet Greenhouse for $5 !
Living in the Northeast area, I struggle every year to get my vegetables growing early enough so that we can have some ready before August. Needless to say, I have failed every time. Even when we plant early it seems nothing is ready until the end of summer. The bottom line is, we need to start seeds indoors. I don't have the room!
Using Pallets
I started to look online for greenhouses and was blown away at how expensive they are. A 6 x 8 with a door and vent can run upwards of $1,000 and that is on the cheaper side. The greenhouse would also take up a lot of yard space.
I decided to build a small one. The idea just kind of came to me. We recently built a full size chicken coop from pallets, so I was still feeling ambitious. The best part about using the pallets is that there is hardly any cutting at all, oh ya and pallets are FREE !
What You Need:
- 2 - 4 x 4 pallets (One dismantled, one not )
- 1.5" wood screws
- 1 roll of 8x8 plastic sheeting ($5 at Walmart!)
- Staple Gun
What To Do :
1. One pallet will act as the table of the greenhouse, so decide which is the best platform and start with that. You will remove 4 of the boards from the backside of that (which will be the bottom of the table). These will be used for your legs. With the pallet flipped over on what will be the tabletop , screw each board you removed into each corner of the "tabletop". Shown in the picture below
2. Next, carefully flip the pallet table over onto it's legs, this should take two people just to make sure the legs do not buckle. Once it is standing, use 4 boards from the second pallets to brace the legs also shown in the picture above.
3. This part is a little tricky and depending on your DIY skill level, may take two people. Create a pitched "roof" on the tabletop with 4 pieces of board from the second pallet. Shown the picture below, it is not pretty but it works and is free !
4. Finish by stapling the plastic over the whole frame. To make it easier and to ensure that I did not end up with my piece cut too small, I just unfolded half of the full piece of plastic and threw it over it. Then stapled and cut with scissors.
Our table top pallet greenhouse holds about 50 seedling pots !
I cut a slit in the plastic and glued velcro pieces so that I could easily open and close it. The velcro I used did not stick, so I suggest using the heavy duty commercial velcro. It is worth the few extra bucks. This is big enough for 12 gallon sized pots or more smaller ones. It is perfect for over wintering spinach, lettuce and other cool weather crops.
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