A countertop Greenhouse I gave to my mother for Christmas. Designed to help 4 small pots in a herb garden grow on the bay window at her house. Made out of simple wood, vinyl and hotglue, all parts cost less than $20 and can be picked up at various big box stores.
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It all started when I decided to get my mother a herb garden for Christmas. I had a vague memory of a countertop greenhouse I saw at an Ikea store about 5 years ago. It was made of thin wood and thin plastic. I decided that a plain old herb garden starter kit wasn't enough, it needed a greenhouse to go around it. In my folks kitchen bay window, it would do great.
First thing was getting the major materials together. These where:
I decided to use 3/4" sq wood because that is what is available as moulding for those that don't have a way to rip up larger boards into smaller ones. Since a 1 x 4 board is in reality 3/4" thick by 3.5" wide, I just had to cut the board down to a 3/4" width and I'd have my 3/4" square.
First thing was getting the major materials together. These where:
- 1" x 4" x 8' board of southern yellow pine. I could have purchased two 8 foot pieces of 3/4" square moulding, but decided to rip up a 1 x 4 instead. Half the cost, twice the material as the moulding. I picked up the 1x4 at Lowes for $4.75 plus tax. The moulding is $5.23 for 8 feet and you need two of them if you go that route.
- 1 yard of heavy duty clear vinyl that I picked up at Wal-Mart. Cost of $2.57 plus tax.
- box of (24)#8 x 1/2" panhead sheet metal screws. This was $0.83 plus tax. You need ten of them for this project but that's a handy size and style to have around so I don't mind the extras. I had just used up my old surplus in another project last week.
I decided to use 3/4" sq wood because that is what is available as moulding for those that don't have a way to rip up larger boards into smaller ones. Since a 1 x 4 board is in reality 3/4" thick by 3.5" wide, I just had to cut the board down to a 3/4" width and I'd have my 3/4" square.
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A nice addition would be a cheap 12" x 12" led grow light in the lid so you could have an all year round growing period, can be picked up on eBay dirt cheap they are rated at 15w but when tested on a power meter they only seem to use 6w.