I ordered this mini greenhouse for protection from deer and squirrels/chipmunks. If you're a suburban gardener, I don't need to tell you about the destruction deer can cause. I've tried motion sprinklers, smelly sprays, and sprinkling cut up herbs around. The herbs and spray work but they require too much work reapplying. This year I decided to try bird netting and enclosing.
This mini-greenhouse is nothing fancy, but it ought to work for covering my vulnerable plants. The claim of heavy duty construction is simply wrong. The struts are metal and connected via simple plastic joints. They just get pushed into the connectors, so you might want to tape them in place for added reliability. I used some aluminum foil tape on the middle struts.
The greenhouse is respectably wide and long. It's tall enough for my okra (for now). I appreciate the top-opening vent flaps. They roll all the way to the roof strut, rather than the strut across the middle. This allows complete access to the greenhouse. I don't, however, like that there are only 4 tie-down ribbons for the rain cover (one at each outer leg). There should be more places to tie the cover to the frame. There is no tie down for the middle strut at all. If you have both vents up, you will have a long loose strip of plastic in the front just flapping around in the wind.
Even with the flaws, I am happy enough with this greenhouse. It's a simple and cost-effective way for me to protect my plants, and provide them with extra humidity.
For 20 odd years I have done battle with the elements, the soil, the slugs and snails, rodents and raptors, without chemicals or traps. I know that I need a greenhouse, but a glasshouse is not in my immediate future, so I have tried a variety of temporary solutions. This is my third portable greenhouse and the best I have found. It is well designed and solves problems the others don't. One of the others is about half the size and has the same shelving. I had been using it for seed flats and seedlings. Seems that the birds have discovered that those little peat pots contain seeds and they have knocked it over daily to get to them. {not incidentally, Hitchcock was a gardener}. The third does not have adequate ventilation and my seedlings have burned up in there. This one is the best for a variety of reasons. You can actually stand inside of it (maybe not fully upright, but). It has windows which provide better ventilation than the others. It is also tinted so it does not get as hot. It comes with landscape staples and tie downs. Despite their best effort, the birds have not tipped it yet! It also has a door which zips on both sides. It is easy enough to open, but the birds haven't gotten in (like they did with the hardware cloth cage I built for my tomatoes last year). It is still a bit hot for our climate (Hawaii). The seedlings I have put in there are OK so far, but I am afraid the seed flats will roast.
The shelves are very light weight, but all of them have been. I would not put anything too heavy in here, but for starts, it does protect them from the elements and the wildlife.
This item came well packaged with parts and directions easily organized. The frame and connectors went together smoothly except for two of part no. 1's ends. Those ends had been crushed inwards so that they would not slide into the connectors. In order to complete the construction, I had to crush one end further and the other re-rounded. Since the metal of the rods is so thin I was able to do this readily with a good pair of pliers I did not see any sign of removing the coating but time will only tell if rust will start.
Basically, I was pleased with the design and ease of assembling and disassembling, the light weight of the greenhouse so I could easily reposition the house, and the convenience of a quick protective cover in case of a cold snap. I expect to try this as a cold frame over my grow bags but that will be some time away.
This portable greenhouse is somewhere between a temporary greenhouse and a row cover. You can use it to protect plants which are in the ground as the weather cools, use it to get an early start, or to transition potted plants. It had a lightweight but very solid steel frame and polyetelene with a green webbing which shields it from harsh sun, and prevents it from heating up too much inside. It has 2 large zipped doors which make it easy to access the entire interior. It is also easy to move as your needs change.
I have 3 similar portable greenhouses. This falls in the middle for me in terms of design and utility. It is, however, correspondingly less expensive than the full height greenhouse (with windows). My only complaint is that it does not have windows to allow for air flow. I am using these mostly to portect my vegetable plants, and seed starts from the birds. The first portable I got has a clear coating, light weight shelves and a lighter frame, despite being bigger/ taller. My plants burned up in it. The birds have knocked it over several times and it has blown over, even in a very light wind. The second is a walk in with mesh windows. It is close to ideal (except by comparison to a glass house ;) This comes very close. really lacking only in windows. If I open the doors for air flow I may as well not have it because the birds can get to whatever is inside. I am currently using it to protect seedlings, since they have started digging up my seed flats, for the seeds, and have also attacked delicate seedlings. It is sturdier than the first and the mesh protects my plants from harsh sun. It does not get too hot, and I can vent it by opening and then closing the doors again if it does get too hot.
Perfect for our lavender starts this fall - it will carry us through winter, into spring when well be able to plant them. We also start flowers from seeds, so this, placed in a sunny spot, is going to do the work of a professional greenhouse - just much smaller! It holds just enough for us - good idea!
The photo on the item is misleading, there is almost no extra fabric around the bottom to weigh it down, and the stakes included to secure the frame are far too short. These are problems because I am on Lana'i in Hawaii and need the greenhouses to protect plants from the almost constantly gusting trade winds. I did order longer stakes but they shipped separately and are late/potentially lost. But the cover fits well, the zip flaps are very large and so make watering and arranging easy. The assembly was also easy and it fit far more of my plants than I expected it to. I just hope it doesn't blow away before the longer stakes get here.
This little walk-in greenhouse was surprisingly easy to set up. We had it together in less than half an hour. I love all the shelf space and have lined them with trays of peat pots full of seeds that will supply our fall and winter garden. Some of the new plants will be moved outdoors until December-February, the only really cold months in SoCal), and then I'll move some back in to get through the coldest nights. I will also put my delicate greenery in the greenhouse -- for once my polka-dot plants will survive!
I've also just potted a couple of young grape tomato plants and look forward to moving them into the greenhouse so that we hopefully have fresh tomatoes throughout the winter. Even our cats will benefit -- moving the pots of catnip into the greenhouse for the winter will keep their crop producing all year.
In the winter months, I'll start lots of seeds for spring planting. This greenhouse is going to make our garden last year round.
Overall it's a good greenhouse, but there's a few slight drawbacks that I didn't like and think they should fix.
1. The cover is like 2-4in too short. Only about a couple inches hang over the ground so I couldn't stack anything on it to hold it down. There's like an inch or two on the corners that are completely open too.
2. The rope and stakes are completely useless. I ended up buying camping stakes and bungee cords to have more stability. It probably wouldn't have originally stood more than 15mph winds.
3. The window covers are also too small. I've only had it about 2 weeks and they've already shrunk in the sun, so the Velcro seals are too far apart to seal completely.
Overall though, it was very easy to setup and it does what it's supposed to (keep your plants warm and protected). If you don't mind taking a few extra steps to stabilize it, and a few other fixes, then it's overall a pretty good little greenhouse for the money.
I love the greenhouse and think it's great for a first-time greenhouse. It's simple enough to put together and set up and pretty durable as well. It's stable with nice windows and a good zipper door that works well too. It can be used for various plants and things. It has a few shelves and a nice little area to walk in and move around to work in with the plants and such. It's a portable, waterproof, and very sturdy greenhouse that can be used indoors or outdoors. This along with our hydroponic gardens will help with being able to keep growing our garden all year round.
This is my first time of using a greenhouse, and it's also the first fall garden I've ever planted.
My small garden sits on a steep, terraced hill with retaining walls. The fill material behind the retaining walls is thick gravel (as much as four feet deep) making the area unusable for growing things. The raised bed garden (ordered from ) sits on top of one of the terraced areas, and it only gets morning sun for a couple of hours each day, with no afternoon sun.
So the other day, when I went to water the garden, I was shocked by how warm and moist the inside of greenhouse was. As I lifted one of the flaps, warm air and steam rolled out and fogged up my glasses.
I'm also going to have to say that this is the first thing I have ever assembled, that was actually fun. My idea of fun isn't usually assembling things, but these tubing parts and connectors reminded me of a toy that I used to play with when I was a small child.
I assembled the greenhouse structure, including the plastic cover, on a flat floor inside the garage. Once it was all put together, I picked it up in one piece and carried it to my terraced area.
I would say the greenhouse took about 15 minutes to assemble, and less than 2 minutes to set up over my raised bed garden.
My radishes and lettuce are thriving in the warm, moist air, and I plan on putting raised bed gardens with greenhouses on each of my terraced areas.
Reviews
Simple way to protect plants from deer
I ordered this mini greenhouse for protection from deer and squirrels/chipmunks. If you're a suburban gardener, I don't need to tell you about the destruction deer can cause. I've tried motion sprinklers, smelly sprays, and sprinkling cut up herbs around. The herbs and spray work but they require too much work reapplying. This year I decided to try bird netting and enclosing. This mini-greenhouse is nothing fancy, but it ought to work for covering my vulnerable plants. The claim of heavy duty construction is simply wrong. The struts are metal and connected via simple plastic joints. They just get pushed into the connectors, so you might want to tape them in place for added reliability. I used some aluminum foil tape on the middle struts. The greenhouse is respectably wide and long. It's tall enough for my okra (for now). I appreciate the top-opening vent flaps. They roll all the way to the roof strut, rather than the strut across the middle. This allows complete access to the greenhouse. I don't, however, like that there are only 4 tie-down ribbons for the rain cover (one at each outer leg). There should be more places to tie the cover to the frame. There is no tie down for the middle strut at all. If you have both vents up, you will have a long loose strip of plastic in the front just flapping around in the wind. Even with the flaws, I am happy enough with this greenhouse. It's a simple and cost-effective way for me to protect my plants, and provide them with extra humidity.
Best I have found
For 20 odd years I have done battle with the elements, the soil, the slugs and snails, rodents and raptors, without chemicals or traps. I know that I need a greenhouse, but a glasshouse is not in my immediate future, so I have tried a variety of temporary solutions. This is my third portable greenhouse and the best I have found. It is well designed and solves problems the others don't. One of the others is about half the size and has the same shelving. I had been using it for seed flats and seedlings. Seems that the birds have discovered that those little peat pots contain seeds and they have knocked it over daily to get to them. {not incidentally, Hitchcock was a gardener}. The third does not have adequate ventilation and my seedlings have burned up in there. This one is the best for a variety of reasons. You can actually stand inside of it (maybe not fully upright, but). It has windows which provide better ventilation than the others. It is also tinted so it does not get as hot. It comes with landscape staples and tie downs. Despite their best effort, the birds have not tipped it yet! It also has a door which zips on both sides. It is easy enough to open, but the birds haven't gotten in (like they did with the hardware cloth cage I built for my tomatoes last year). It is still a bit hot for our climate (Hawaii). The seedlings I have put in there are OK so far, but I am afraid the seed flats will roast. The shelves are very light weight, but all of them have been. I would not put anything too heavy in here, but for starts, it does protect them from the elements and the wildlife.
NICE LIGHT GREENHOUSE
This item came well packaged with parts and directions easily organized. The frame and connectors went together smoothly except for two of part no. 1's ends. Those ends had been crushed inwards so that they would not slide into the connectors. In order to complete the construction, I had to crush one end further and the other re-rounded. Since the metal of the rods is so thin I was able to do this readily with a good pair of pliers I did not see any sign of removing the coating but time will only tell if rust will start. Basically, I was pleased with the design and ease of assembling and disassembling, the light weight of the greenhouse so I could easily reposition the house, and the convenience of a quick protective cover in case of a cold snap. I expect to try this as a cold frame over my grow bags but that will be some time away.
Sturdy, well designed portable
This portable greenhouse is somewhere between a temporary greenhouse and a row cover. You can use it to protect plants which are in the ground as the weather cools, use it to get an early start, or to transition potted plants. It had a lightweight but very solid steel frame and polyetelene with a green webbing which shields it from harsh sun, and prevents it from heating up too much inside. It has 2 large zipped doors which make it easy to access the entire interior. It is also easy to move as your needs change. I have 3 similar portable greenhouses. This falls in the middle for me in terms of design and utility. It is, however, correspondingly less expensive than the full height greenhouse (with windows). My only complaint is that it does not have windows to allow for air flow. I am using these mostly to portect my vegetable plants, and seed starts from the birds. The first portable I got has a clear coating, light weight shelves and a lighter frame, despite being bigger/ taller. My plants burned up in it. The birds have knocked it over several times and it has blown over, even in a very light wind. The second is a walk in with mesh windows. It is close to ideal (except by comparison to a glass house ;) This comes very close. really lacking only in windows. If I open the doors for air flow I may as well not have it because the birds can get to whatever is inside. I am currently using it to protect seedlings, since they have started digging up my seed flats, for the seeds, and have also attacked delicate seedlings. It is sturdier than the first and the mesh protects my plants from harsh sun. It does not get too hot, and I can vent it by opening and then closing the doors again if it does get too hot.
Great idea!
Perfect for our lavender starts this fall - it will carry us through winter, into spring when well be able to plant them. We also start flowers from seeds, so this, placed in a sunny spot, is going to do the work of a professional greenhouse - just much smaller! It holds just enough for us - good idea!
Stakes too short, no fabric lip around the bottom
The photo on the item is misleading, there is almost no extra fabric around the bottom to weigh it down, and the stakes included to secure the frame are far too short. These are problems because I am on Lana'i in Hawaii and need the greenhouses to protect plants from the almost constantly gusting trade winds. I did order longer stakes but they shipped separately and are late/potentially lost. But the cover fits well, the zip flaps are very large and so make watering and arranging easy. The assembly was also easy and it fit far more of my plants than I expected it to. I just hope it doesn't blow away before the longer stakes get here.
A Great Little Greenhouse
This little walk-in greenhouse was surprisingly easy to set up. We had it together in less than half an hour. I love all the shelf space and have lined them with trays of peat pots full of seeds that will supply our fall and winter garden. Some of the new plants will be moved outdoors until December-February, the only really cold months in SoCal), and then I'll move some back in to get through the coldest nights. I will also put my delicate greenery in the greenhouse -- for once my polka-dot plants will survive! I've also just potted a couple of young grape tomato plants and look forward to moving them into the greenhouse so that we hopefully have fresh tomatoes throughout the winter. Even our cats will benefit -- moving the pots of catnip into the greenhouse for the winter will keep their crop producing all year. In the winter months, I'll start lots of seeds for spring planting. This greenhouse is going to make our garden last year round.
Very good but a few flaws
Overall it's a good greenhouse, but there's a few slight drawbacks that I didn't like and think they should fix. 1. The cover is like 2-4in too short. Only about a couple inches hang over the ground so I couldn't stack anything on it to hold it down. There's like an inch or two on the corners that are completely open too. 2. The rope and stakes are completely useless. I ended up buying camping stakes and bungee cords to have more stability. It probably wouldn't have originally stood more than 15mph winds. 3. The window covers are also too small. I've only had it about 2 weeks and they've already shrunk in the sun, so the Velcro seals are too far apart to seal completely. Overall though, it was very easy to setup and it does what it's supposed to (keep your plants warm and protected). If you don't mind taking a few extra steps to stabilize it, and a few other fixes, then it's overall a pretty good little greenhouse for the money.
Lightweight and Great Quality Outdoor Greenhouse
I love the greenhouse and think it's great for a first-time greenhouse. It's simple enough to put together and set up and pretty durable as well. It's stable with nice windows and a good zipper door that works well too. It can be used for various plants and things. It has a few shelves and a nice little area to walk in and move around to work in with the plants and such. It's a portable, waterproof, and very sturdy greenhouse that can be used indoors or outdoors. This along with our hydroponic gardens will help with being able to keep growing our garden all year round.
My first time of using a greenhouse.
This is my first time of using a greenhouse, and it's also the first fall garden I've ever planted. My small garden sits on a steep, terraced hill with retaining walls. The fill material behind the retaining walls is thick gravel (as much as four feet deep) making the area unusable for growing things. The raised bed garden (ordered from ) sits on top of one of the terraced areas, and it only gets morning sun for a couple of hours each day, with no afternoon sun. So the other day, when I went to water the garden, I was shocked by how warm and moist the inside of greenhouse was. As I lifted one of the flaps, warm air and steam rolled out and fogged up my glasses. I'm also going to have to say that this is the first thing I have ever assembled, that was actually fun. My idea of fun isn't usually assembling things, but these tubing parts and connectors reminded me of a toy that I used to play with when I was a small child. I assembled the greenhouse structure, including the plastic cover, on a flat floor inside the garage. Once it was all put together, I picked it up in one piece and carried it to my terraced area. I would say the greenhouse took about 15 minutes to assemble, and less than 2 minutes to set up over my raised bed garden. My radishes and lettuce are thriving in the warm, moist air, and I plan on putting raised bed gardens with greenhouses on each of my terraced areas.
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