13 Creating a Greenhouse out of Electric Metallic Tubing EMT

Picture of EMT frame, draped with plastic
So how do you grow 365 days a year when you have cold winters? A greenhouse is a big part of that answer. [In fairness, 365 Aquaponics also requires attention to fish selection and plant choice, but that’s for another post.]

The lightbulb went off for me when I saw a video of Michelle Obama’s hoop house garden, at the White House. An evening of internet surfing later, I knew all kinds of information about high tunnels, aka hoop houses.

But a standard hoop house wouldn’t work for me. The typical cross section of a hoop house is a circular arc, 12 feet wide if it’s 6 feet high. Not bad for crops grown in the ground, but murder if my crops are sprouting 3 feet above ground level, as in an aquaponics system that’s wholly installed above the surface of the ground. Besides, all that area at the edges is practically useless for either growing plants or allowing the gardener to walk around.

There are some nice greenhouses available for sale. Harbor Freight has an inexpensive 10’x12’ model that is used by many gardeners. But my townhome community has covenants that limit how tall my backyard structures can stand.

Besides, I wanted to see if I could come up with a sturdy greenhouse someone could build themselves from standard materials available at local hardware stores.

Now that I’ve lived with such a greenhouse for a summer, I prefer a simple hoop house over standard greenhouses. When it gets hot, you can simply remove the plastic from the hoop house for the hot months. If you need shade, drape shade cloth over the hoops. Nature takes care of ventilation and pollination. When the days and nights start cooling, put up the plastic again. 6 mil plastic will be stronger and provide better insulation, but 3 mil plastic lets in more light and still keeps things moderately toasty in the sun.

I used Electric Metallic Tubing (EMT) rather than the more typical PVC pipe because:

• EMT allows me to achieve a precise shape
• EMT is stronger
• EMT won’t break down under UV sunlight the way unpainted PVC does.
• EMT is sold in 10 foot lengths, allowing me to create an arched form that is 8.5 feet wide and around 7 feet tall from just two 10 foot lengths

Pictures (better, moving pictures) are worth thousands of words, so here is a movie showing how to set this up.

Cansolair heating air to 150+ degrees on a 17 degree day

Well get to 365 days a year of growing season yet...

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Ryobi 40 Volt Electric Chainsaw Review

I hope I dont lose you at the word ELECTRIC or BATTERY.  I know what youre thinking because I was thinking the same thing when I purchased this electric chain saw to go with the Ryobi 40V battery system I was already starting to collect.  But, like we always say here at Simple Suburban Living, we have a small yard and, although I would love a more powerful (and expensive) chainsaw, we really dont have a need for it around here. 

The saw is fairly powerful for an electric saw and is able to cut through 12-inch logs with no trouble.



























Of course, this is no saw mill chainsaw and nothing you are going to be milling lumber with, but for a quick around-the-house saw it is great. I try to give a thorough review when I review products and I hope that anyone looking to purchase this saw will be better informed.  I have had the chainsaw for about a year now and have had a chance to use it throughout the winter and this summer. I really had a hard time finding anything wrong with the saw and am extremely happy with its use.

I will also do a review on the weed-trimmer at a later date. 

Check out this video to see the Ryobi 40-volt chainsaw in action.







This post has been shared at:  Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, Simple Saturdays Blog Hop, The Backyard Farming Connection Hop, Natural Living Monday, The HomeAcre Hop, Front Porch Friday

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