It’s that time of year when we all get seed catalogues in the mail and start making plans for next years garden. With the unusual amount of precipitation and surprise killing frost we experienced this last year, I felt it would be a good idea to post plans for a very affordable high tunnel that enables you to control your gardens environment.

This is from a posting made a few years ago by a fellow forum member (with permission). The component prices have obviously risen but still remain easily affordable.

I am basically done with building my cattle panel greenhouse, still a few small things to do. It’s 25 feet long, 8 feet wide and 7 feet tall. 6 cattle panels were 23 bucks each (Tractor Supply), 50 bucks for the 6 mil 3 year greenhouse/high-tunnel covering (buddy had a 36′ X 18′ roll he sold me), scrap wood (free), lag bolts, fence staples and a few nails. I used thick heavy duty Zip Ties to connect all the 6 panels together. I used 3 Lodge Pole/Jack Pine logs from my property for roof support since we do tend to get a lot of snow up here in the wilds of North Idaho.

I am also setting up solar power for it, have one 100 watt monocrystalline panel, a 30 AMP charge controller and a 110 amp hr 12 volt AGM deep cycle battery. Going to use LED lights to light the place up and power a fan during the day (bought a 12 volt heating/cooling control unit to automatically power on/off the fan when needed.

Started germination in mid March so I have 30 or so plants that shuttle back and forth from the house to the green house, all in 1 gallon containers. Another 40+ plants germinated and soon to be moved to 1 gal containers.

I decided to only do container gardening in here for now, maybe add a raised bed along the front wall at a later date. I do have 3 raised beds in a fenced in area by the greenhouse.

And then, there’s the video we created for Small & Beginner Farmers a few years ago documenting the build at Purely Wholesome Farm in Loudon, NH ….