While on our vacation into Europe in general we found the food to be much better, to a great extent this is attributable to the quality of the ingredients they used; this is most evident with something as simple as a Caprese Salad (Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella Cheese, Olive Oil) where it takes no skill to detect the quality of the ingredients.
This got us thinking, how can we improve the overall quality of our meals we eat at home; well starting out with fresh produce and designing your meals around that would go a long way to that end the problem is that not only is it cost prohibitive to go buy organic produce its time consuming in that for it to be fresh you have to shop very regularly.
This got heather and I talking about the possibility of starting a small greenhouse, the other option we discussed was joining a produce commune that I pass on my way to work (you buy into their harvest and can stop off and pick up whatever they say they have for you each week). The upside of the greenhouse is that with some planning (and investment) it could work into the winter while the produce commune only is a viable option during the summer/spring.
Certainly one of the downsides of the greenhouse is the need for space but luckily we have a few “dead spots” in our yard as a result of easements that we can’t put permanent structures on and a greenhouse would be a reasonable thing to put in one of these locations.
As with most things I started looking into what to do here on the Costco website, to see what they sell; they seldom have the best price but are usually fair and have above average product quality; they had two products of potential interest:
The EZ2Build unit was about what I was looking for, although more than I had hoped to spend and it only had a poly sheet cover not polycarbonate panels which insulate much better (should help with a winter harvest).
The EasyGrow unit would be wonderful, its powder-coated so it would look nice for a very long time, has two vents, polycarbonate panels, built in shelves but at $899 the entire project could break $1000 before a plant found its way into the unit.
Since my Mom and Dad retired they have been growing cucumbers, tomatoes, peas, etc. in the backyard and last year my Mom constructed her own small patio greenhouse so I figured I should contact them before I made any decision; when I spoke to them they pointed me to Harbor Freight I have been there before with my Dad picking up stuff for my Mom, their quality isn’t great but in the end their prices can’t be beat.
As a example Harbor Freights OneStopGardens 6x8 Greenhouse was only $399 before one of their 15% of coupons which brings it down to $339.15, that’s $560.84 less than the Costco one which is somewhat comparable.
There are a number of things going for the Costco unit, its Powder Coated, has a aluminum base, has two vents not just one, built in shelves, spring loaded door to keep the door closed when not in use (useful with the dogs) and since its from Costco its probably easier to put together but is it worth nearly $600 more?
We did find a neat site about the OneStopGardens 6x8 unit, here and this will take much of the guess work out of putting it together but it does confirm some of the quality concerns I have with Harbor Freight (having to file down pieces to get them to fit right and not working smoothly once together).
I am still not sure if we will do this project, nor am I sure which way we will go if we do but if we do but I figure I would share our findings so far.