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June 4, 2014

Old Windows Temporary Little Greenhouse

Old Windows Temporary Greenhouse

The old window temporary little greenhouse idea came out of necessity. As so often in spring, our house was overfilled with plants that had no room at the windows any longer. They had to go out.

Hardening off plants before planting them in the garden is important. Instead of carrying all the seedlings in and out for a couple of days, we like to simplify it. Read more in our article hardening off plants the easy way. 

The need for a little greenhouse

In order to simplify hardening off plants, you need a sheltered location, ca a little frame structure. An open, sunny and often windy deck will not do. It really will be hard on the seedlings.

Old Window temporary little Greenhouse

That’s where the temporary little greenhouse was born. We wanted wind protection that also does not blow away. And we wanted to be able to provide some shade with a blanket. The shade is important for the first few days, so plants can get used to natural light. We also wanted to be able to give some frost protection if needed. 

The little greenhouse worked so well, that it turned into a permanent raised bed. But for just the task to harden off plants the temporary structure works perfectly.

We do not recommend the mini-greenhouses, they overheat during the day, blow away during a windstorm, and give you a false sense of security at night.


You want the walls to be enclosed for wind protection but open top for ventilation. 

Build a temporary little greenhouse

The idea was to use what we had on hand and make it as simple as possible. It worked.

We had some old light-weight windows and some cinder blocks in different sizes. We used the wider ones for holding the window frames in place on the outside and the more narrow ones inside. The greenhouse was placed right in our sunny but sheltered driveway.

Old Windows Teporary Greenhouse

We covered top of the little greenhouse with a Frost Blanket. It gives some shade and protection from wind and cold, but the fabric lets air in, there is no worry about overheating. The blanket can be held in place with some clothespins, those are handy in house and garden :).

Old window temporary greenhouse

Since some nights are still very cool and rainy we added another layer of protection of bubble foil/wrap for the night and if needed. Again holding it in place with some clothespins. Note, when using plastic it has to be removed as soon as the sun comes out, otherwise, a little structure can overheat very quickly. 

Old Window temporary Window

The temporary little greenhouse is a solution that works very well for hardening off plants and even keep them in there for longer as needed. The natural light is much better than anything indoors. Before planting the plants into the open garden we take the cover off for a couple of days so the plants get used to the direct sun and wind.

Old Window temporary little Greenhouse

The temporary little greenhouse worked so well that we upgraded it to a raised window protected garden that we use in spring for hardening off seedlings and in the summer to grow heat-loving plants in.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shirley Wood says

    June 4, 2014 at

    That worked like a charm! Great way to improvise and make do! I know you were glad to get the plants out of the house! I enjoy starting seed indoors but get tired of them very soon.

    Reply
    • Anna says

      June 4, 2014 at

      By the time the plants get this big, I rely do not know where to put them. So glad I had this temporary greenhouse idea.

      Reply
  2. Kristen from The Road to Domestication says

    June 4, 2014 at

    That worked out great! And what a great way to re-purpose things, too!

    Reply
    • Anna says

      June 4, 2014 at

      Yes, it is nice to be able to do things simple and free, but still useful.

      Reply
  3. Alli says

    June 4, 2014 at

    You always come up with the best solutions! I’ve seen entire (small) greenhouses made from windows on Pinterest. Looking forward to seeing your big greenhouse!

    Reply
    • Anna says

      June 4, 2014 at

      Oh yes, those are cute. There is still lots of work on the big greenhouse. But it is coming.

      Reply
  4. lisa M says

    June 12, 2014 at

    What a great idea! I’ll have to try this next spring.

    Thanks for linking up with Green Thumb Thursday. I hope you’ll come back and join us again this week!

    ~L

    Reply
    • Anna says

      June 12, 2014 at

      Yes, it worked great and much cheaper then those little greenhouses on the marked ;).

      Reply
  5. sapa says

    June 14, 2014 at

    I love this idea will be doing this next year. I have a question was is bubble foil? and where do you get it…

    Reply
    • Anna says

      June 14, 2014 at

      Glad you like it. Bubble foil is what I call it, it is bubble wrap. I posted a link to amazon where you can get it.

      Reply
  6. Ashley says

    November 7, 2014 at

    And I thought I was limited by our Zone 5-6 climate…you guys are rock stars! I’ll have to try and scrounge up some old windows to use this coming Spring as a green house.

    Reply
    • Anna says

      November 8, 2014 at

      Thank you for your kind words, we just do what we can and try to make the best of it.

      Reply
  7. Sarah Koontz {Grounded & Surrounded} says

    May 6, 2015 at

    I love this idea, will definitely be keeping my eye open during my regular visits to the re-store for nice windows to make my own version with. This is my second year starting all my plants, and we quickly outgrew the basement (and can’t afford a greenhouse)…this is going to be perfect.

    Reply
    • Anna says

      May 6, 2015 at

      Wish you lived closer, I could share some of my windows with you. Did you see our version of this this year in the last garden update? It is way bigger, and we do use it all :).

      Reply
  8. Kelley says

    May 9, 2017 at

    What a great idea. We live just outside of Calgary and have been struggling with how to harden off my plants without creating a lot of work.

    Reply
    • Anna says

      May 11, 2017 at

      Glad to be of some help to a fellow cold climate gardener.

      Reply

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