Everyman’s Greenhouse 
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS AND ALL THE DATA FOR BUILDING A GREENHOUSE 
WITHIN THE MEANS OF EVERY HOME OWNER—THE COST IN DETAIL 
by F. F. Rockwell 
Illustrations by the author and others 
[It is not surprising that there are very few small greenhouses, for a little investigation will reveal the fact that even a house of very small 
size, when built to order in the most approved modern methods, will cost a considerable amount. Mr. Rockwell has built greenhouses for himself 
and knows how it can be done well and at,little expense. A second article will take up the details of heating and general management .— Editor.] 
H AVE you ever 
stepped from the 
chill and dreariness of a 
windy winter day, when 
it seemed as if the very 
life of all things glad and 
growing were shrunk to 
absolute desolation, into 
the welcome warmth and 
light and fragrance, the 
beauty and joy of a glass 
house full of green and 
blossoming plants? No 
matter how small it was, 
even though you had to 
stoop to enter the door, 
and mind your elbows as 
you went along, what a 
good, glad comfortable 
feeling flooded in to you 
with the captive sunlight! 
What a world of differ¬ 
ence was made by that 
sheet of glass between 
you and the outer bitterness and blankness. 
Doubtless such an experience has been yours. 
Doubtless, too, you wished vaguely that you 
•could have some such little corner to escape to, 
a stronghold to fly to when old Winter lays 
waste the countryside, and spreads the white 
tents of his regiments within the very heart of 
your garden. But April came with birds, and 
May with flowers, and months before the first 
dark, shivery days of the following autumn, 
you had forgotten that another win¬ 
ter would come on, with weeks of 
■cheerless, uncomfortable weather. Or 
possibly you did not forget, until you 
had investigated the matter of green¬ 
house building and found that even 
a very small house, built to order, was 
far beyond your means. 
Do not misunderstand me as dis¬ 
paraging the construction companies: 
they do excellent work—and get ex¬ 
cellent prices. You may not be able 
to afford an Italian garden, with hun¬ 
dreds of dollars worth of rare plants, 
but that does not prevent your having 
•a more modest garden spot, in which 
you have planned and worked your¬ 
self. Just so, though one of these 
beautiful glass structures may be be¬ 
yond your purse, you may yet have 
Most people, when thinking of greenhouses, picture only the large isolated 
ones that are expensive to build and heat. There is another kind, within 
the reach of every home-owner 
yrall 
1- 
ZZ" yra/h- 
3~7.bench 
1 
ZO" yya/ic- 
3-Xt-‘ bench 
n - 
— m -m-*- 
—p 
The plan of the lean-to type 
shown in section below 
A sectional view of our two-bench, io x 20 ft. house 
built against the dwelling wall. If possible it 
would be well to gain a steeper slope for the glass 
and better headroom 
one that will serve your 
purpose just as practical¬ 
ly. The fact of the mat¬ 
ter is, you can have a 
small house at a very 
small outlay, which will 
pay a very good interest 
on the investment. With 
it you will be able to have 
flowers all the year round, 
set both your flower and 
vegetable garden weeks 
ahead in the spring, save 
many cherished plants 
from the garden, and 
have fresh green vege¬ 
tables, such as lettuce, 
radishes, tomatoes and 
cucumbers that can read¬ 
ily be grown under glass. 
And you will be sur¬ 
prised, if you can give 
the work some personal 
attention, or, better still, 
have the fun of doing a little of the actual 
building yourself, at how small an outlay you 
can put up a substantial structure of practical 
size, say 20 feet by 10—of the "lean to” form. 
Let us “get down to brass tacks” and by 
way of illustration see what the material for 
such a house would cost, and how to erect it. 
Almost every dwelling house has some shel¬ 
tered corner or wall where a small glass “lean- 
to” could easily be added, and the shape and di¬ 
mensions can be made to suit the 
special advantages offered. We will 
consider a simple house of the lean-to 
type, requiring a wall, to begin with, 
20 feet long and 7 feet high, down 
to the ground, or a foot or so below 
it, if you can dig out. Below is listed 
the material such a house would re¬ 
quire. With modern patented fram¬ 
ing methods such a house has been 
estimated by greenhouse building 
companies to cost, for the material 
only, from $325 to $400. Yet you can 
have a wooden house that will serve 
your purpose at a cost for materials 
of $61 and, if you do not care to put 
it together yourself, a labor cost of, 
say, one-third more. 
As our north wall is already in 
place, we have only four surfaces to 
( 9 2 ) 
