My Greenhouse My Sanctuary
I don’t know exactly why it has become my sanctuary, it just is. I was the typical kid that hated having to pull the weeds and everything else that Dad required with his garden. So as an adult I did not garden, until I finally bought my own home. I was well into adulthood in my thirties when I bought my first house.
Suddenly, I had a place for and more surprisingly, plans to set up a garden. I bought what I thought I needed and began. I just felt like I wanted to. As I worked my new garden and learned how, step by step; I began to realize it felt good to get my hands in the dirt. It felt good to grow plants and even produce fruits.
I wasn’t sure whether it was stopping too much prissiness from happening with me having an office job, or it was the benefits of physically creating and accomplishing. Maybe that’s why my Dad did it too. Regardless of what it fulfills in me, my garden just became my greenhouse because I made it so.
Mind you it was not a snap decision, it was 3 years in the making. I chose to keep gardening through the winter. So yep, I did it. I turned my garden into a year- round garden (That is my hope at least).
I used online research to figure out what to do and how to start. I learned that pre-made kit parts were expensive. I also discovered that no kits would fit my garden dimensions. So, I decided to engineer it myself. No, I am not smart like that. I am more masterful in the creative, in the ways of words, art, and literature. The technical side of my ideas are what I would normally leave to the professionals, not my strong suit.
Turns out a professional is also expensive, so I had to buckle down and use that side of my brain. I figured out the blueprint on scratch paper. I factored in the materials that were less costly, and the type of covering that would hold snow. Then, I built it pipe by pipe, to fit the weird size of my garden. Since I realized I couldn’t afford a pre-made greenhouse, I got creative. I had to make do, so I did.
Part of the reason I did it myself is that I wanted a temporary or mobile greenhouse that I could take down and take with me. Apparently, they don’t make them that way, so I had to craft that into my design also. I like to wander a bit. I find myself happier and healthier when I do. None of the greenhouses out there were affordable, mobile, collapsible, nor did they fit my garden, so I designed my own. It’s been a work in progress for sure, quite the personal experiment.
It did take me 3 years to complete, partly because I don’t always use a team or support that I have and partly because I don’t feel like I have proper support sometimes, so; I just do my thing and take too long. This winter is the first time it’s actually been a real, true greenhouse. And it’s been so exciting! The immediate joy I felt once the frame was covered in the plastic literally brought tears to my eyes.
My children who helped put the cover on, didn’t really know how to react to me. I got a huge natural dopamine hit. It just felt so good for this all to come together and finally be here, possible and happening. The accomplishment feeling was astounding!
The first storm of the season demolished it, of course… it flew into the property behind us and the frame partially collapsed too. I got help and reinforced the framing with more connection support. We got the plastic back and put it back on. We weighed it down, as I had planned but not yet implemented at the time of the storm.
It wasn’t in too bad of shape, surprisingly. The tearing was minimal and fixable. Last year I didn’t get the right type nor a big enough piece of the plastic. Truly, this greenhouse has been a work in progress for a hot minute.
The first year I was figuring out the ‘how’ of making a greenhouse and constructing the frame to get started. I went through several iterations of build outs to get it to what it is now. The 2nd year was my covering failure. I didn’t buy the right kind of plastic nor enough of it. I also started too late to have time to make mistakes before the freezing weather ruined my garden.
This year it’s covered! I had the right plastic and enough of it this time and started before the freezing nights. So now I’m figuring out how to economically keep it warm as the nights get colder. I think I have tackled keeping it enclosed at least.
There are all kinds of materials you can use to make a greenhouse and to do it quick, easy and simple… but the costs are high or the learning is consuming. I’m partly doing this to keep my garden longer, partly to ease the grocery bill, partly because the world seems to be uncertain and I want to remain as prepared as possible.
There is also the healthiness of doing my own, pesticide free, naturally organic, ripened on the vine food. All this goes into my choice to garden and to greenhouse. I've been doing all this on the side while I still worked at my job.
In working with myself, I do as a good friend taught me - I follow the energy of the day. I do my best to keep moving forward, even when things are slow, I move forward. Switching to another project when I no longer feel the one I’m currently working on and switching over to something that feels like a better use of my energy. Regardless, I move forward. Changing things up keeps me constantly working toward what I want.
I’m so proud I keep telling everyone about it and wanting to show it off. I realize people don’t care, it’s just a greenhouse to them. Suddenly now though, it seems like my garden greenhouse isn’t just that for me. It’s become more; a respite, a transforming place to go because I transformed what was there.
It’s away from the cares of family life, because it’s so foreign to what our life is. It’s peaceful like a habitat or secret space of my own because I created a habitat, literally a secret of booming plant life behind walls of UV plastic.
It’s my me-cave, a place all my own. It’s Narnia behind the closet door, a place within the multiverse, a hidden passage to a magical place that only I know about, station 9 ¾, another dimension. When someone comes in, all they see is a greenhouse.
It’s not like anyone wants to come out to weed, let alone in the winter cold, so I’m left to my own devices. When I go out to the greenhouse, I feel peaceful and content. I enjoy my time. I lose track of time. I’m instantly in the mood to be there, instantly happy. It feels good. It feels like a special place that is just mine.
In transforming a little area, I have not only transformed the physical space, but myself as well. I always seem to have something to do there. It’s warm inside while it’s cold outside and that is awesome too. I sit and watch the snow outside, listen to the sounds of dripping condensation water and return to my digging, in my personal sanctuary.
May your New Year be filled with accomplished goals, dreams and projects. And may You be the one driving the completion!
