My Summer Project: A Greenhouse

I recently designed and built a new greenhouse in my yard. It was my summer project and it took me a month of Sundays, plus some! I installed skylights that are heat sensitive and start opening when the temperature reaches the upper 70's along with fans that are also heat sensitive, coming on at about 80 degrees. 

We can grow most vegetables on the Southern California Coast all year long, but the cool and overcast weather in the early summer makes it hard to grow tomatoes, peppers, melons, and even cucumbers without the heat in a greenhouse.  Now I can grow these vegetables year round, along with my gourmet lettuces and kale which I grow in raised beds outside throughout most of the year.  My plants are thriving in the greenhouse, along with some very happy lizards!

Tomatoes and cucumbers are thriving.  Basil is growing fast.