Salvaged Greenhouse Build Raises Urban Garden to New Heights

Louis' salvage greenhouse build

 After dabbling in vegetable gardening for 20 years, we've declared 2025 to be the year that we take our green efforts to the next level. We love getting our hands dirty, sharing our bounty with family, friends and guests. With a recent lifestyle change that has turned our side hustle of vacation rentals into our full-time gig, we now have the mental capacity to take our hobbies to the next level and find new ones. This momentum is fueled also by idyllic lifestyle social posts, the unsteady economy, the unnerving political scene, and all the madness in the world. In this chaos, we find the motivation to ground ourselves to the earth, grow our own food, and raise the stakes with our gardening knowledge and techniques. The first thing we did this Winter was rearrange our vegetable and flower garden area. With urban farming aspirations of eventually getting chickens, we raised the beds into 10, 2x4x6 feet cedar boxes. Arranging the boxes throughout the former lawn allows us to cut down on land dedicated to grass. Unintentionally, the raised garden bed grid became a hide-and-seek maze for our French bulldogs (and future chickens). Next, and without discussion Louis started picking through the wood bone yard and before we knew it he conjured up a whole vision for a salvaged greenhouse where the former vegetable garden grew. After several runs to pick up free or low cost supplies on Facebook Marketplace, we found ourselves the benefactors of an old playset made from aged 6x6 cedar posts. This combined with a random inventory of on-hand supplies we almost had what we needed to build a greenhouse from salvaged windows. Adding glass doors to the mix, is our old interior kitchen door, one from Shawnigan Lake School, and two random side-of-the-road doors that need new glass.  Piecing it altogether is exactly what is happening, there really isn't a plan but its all coming together nicely like mismatched puzzle pieces that don't quit fit but work. The structure is up, we learned how to use a spray paint gun in between rain showers, and next up will be the twin-wall polycarbonate roof, then the salvaged windows and doors. If all goes as unplanned it should almost be ready in time for gardening season to host our seed starters and Pintrestesque vision. Until then enjoy our progress thus far. If you have a reservation to stay with us this summer at Welch Homes and Hospitality, be sure to look forward to helping yourself to some locally grown herbs, veggies, fruit, flowers, and maybe even eggs.