Any Special Requests?

We’ve worked hard to offer a high-quality line of cedar garden products, and Charlotte area gardeners do seem to like what we build.

Cedar-framed greenhouses and chicken coops. Cedar garden beds. Cedar compost bins. Cedar arbors, trellises, and outdoor furniture.

And sometimes, we’re asked if we can ‘make something special’ - something that’s ‘not on the menu’. 

Could duplicate or modify a unique raised bed design that a customer found on online?

Would we consider building cedar arbor or pergola designs that were inspired from photos or drawings discovered in all those little nooks and crannies on the internet?

Whimsical cedar trellis. 

Cedar potting bench, with lots of extra features. 

 

Cedar Rose Arbor.

 

Cedar Obelisks.

 

Cedar Orangerie boxes.

 

Cedar storage sheds.

 

Kids’ Tree house.

 

Cedar tiki bar.

 

Cedar dart board cabinet

 

Cedar hexagonal-shaped planters.

 

Even a Japanese-Style Tea House, made with red cedar.

And our answer to special requests like these?

It’s ( almost ) always:

“Sure, we can! And we’ll be delighted to build that for you, too!”

 

Now, our Kitchen Garden raised bed design has a sleek look, with 1”x6” red cedar boards glued and screwed to a 4”x4” red cedar post in each corner. The 1”x6” red cedar cap board gives the gardener a comfortable, sturdy place to sit - and it gives the raised bed more visual appeal, too. 

 

Because of the 19’ height of the Kitchen Garden raised bed design, 2”x4” cedar reinforcing stakes are installed on any span on a cedar garden bed that’s longer than four feet. So a 4’x8’ Kitchen Garden raised bed, for example, would require two reinforcing stakes - one stake placed at the center of each of the 8’-long sides of the cedar planter.

 

These stakes help anchor the raised bed in place, and they also keep the long sides of the Kitchen Garden cedar garden beds from bowing out when the planter is filled with organic soil. The soil in a 19”-tall, 4’x8’ Kitchen Garden raised bed, for example, weighs well over 1000 pounds, and would easily push out the 8’-long sides of the raised bed, if these reinforcing stakes weren’t installed before adding the soil.

But in the standard Kitchen Garden raised bed design, these  2”x4” cedar reinforcing stakes are typically placed inside the planter, giving the exterior of the cedar garden bed a sleek appearance - and creating a little more room to walk around the planter, when space in the garden site is limited.

 

When Jennifer Robin called us, she already knew that she wanted three Kitchen Garden raised beds in her Charlotte backyard. But, before she called, Jennifer had prudently perused our Flickr photo gallery to see examples of cedar garden bed designs, and other Microfarm projects. 

In our series of garden project photo albums, Jennifer saw a modified version of the Kitchen Garden raised bed design that caught her eye. 

This adaptation of the Kitchen Garden design features 2”x4” cedar reinforcing stakes placed on the exterior of the cedar raised beds, and also includes a touch more overhang on the 1”x6” cedar seating cap board.

 

Otherwise, this modified version of the Kitchen Garden raised bed design is the same as the standard version ; made with rough sawn red cedar to a height of about 19”, and filled with a premium organic soil blend.

Now, Jennifer’s organic garden site gets practically all-day sunlight exposure, making an automated drip irrigation system for her raised beds essential for her organic garden to thrive during the summer months. So we fitted all three cedar garden beds with drip irrigation grids, routing the water supply to a single watering zone at the home’s primary landscape irrigation control panel.

This convenient set-up will allow all three cedar garden beds to be watered simultaneously on an automated watering schedule, whether the family is inside having breakfast, or away on a month-long summer vacation.

With the two 4’x8’ Kitchen Garden raised beds and one 4’x10’ Kitchen Garden raised bed leveled, staked down, and filled with organic soil, and with the drip irrigation grids carefully placed in each raised bed, just two final tasks remained : place a border of steel edging and decorative pea pebbles around Jennifer’s organic garden, and build a 4’-tall garden fence with red cedar frame clad with 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth to keep out rabbits - and the family dog.

Done deal. Another special request delivered, and another happy customer. 

Do you have a special garden project in mind? Something you’ve seen that inspires you? 

A garden design that dares you to dream big? 

Or just dream differently?

Drop us a line. 

There’s a pretty good chance that we’ll delight in another opportunity to say, “yes!”

 

Raised Bed Upgrade

Even though we build and install cedar garden beds professionally, we still applaud the DIY spirit. We’ve seen everything out there,  from inexpensive raised bed kits with pieces that snap together, to more substantial efforts that are still commendable...even if they aren’t prefectly  level. And perhaps not exactly in the ideal location for an organic garden.

And when we first visited the Laundry family’s organic garden, there was already plenty there to applaud.

A 4’-tall garden fence surrounded the area, which had decorative pea stone pathways and an admirable lakefront view. 

Two 4’x8’ and one 4’x4’ raised beds had been thoughtfully placed inside the fenced area, with plenty of space to walk between and around the raised beds. 

These garden beds were prefabricated kits that we instantly recognized - having seen ( and replaced ) them many times before. These raised bed kits are widely available at Home Improvement chain stores, and to be fair, they aren’t a bad way to try your hand at organic gardening. 

The kits are typically made with kiln-dried cedar, and come in 4’-long, modular sections with cedar connector pieces that allow the grower the option to assemble various sized and shaped planters - without the need for power tools or fasteners. At just 4’ long, these ‘big box’ raised bed kits are easy to bring home in just about any vehicle, and the price is surprisingly low.

But we’ve found that these inexpensive raised bed kits usually only last a few seasons here in the Charlotte area. Sometimes less. 

Even though they’re made with cedar, the boards and connector pieces are thin and dry, and they soon decay in a wet organic garden environment.

Ryan Londry and his son had installed three of these same raised bed kits, and had already had a couple of successful growing seasons with them. This confirmed that the existing garden area gets plenty of sunlight for growing edible varieties

An irrigation system had already been installed in the family’s organic garden, with a water supply running to each raised bed site. 

With all of this infrastructure already in place, our objectives were pared down to:

-Replace the three decayed raised bed kits with three of our 19”-tall Kitchen Garden cedar garden beds - placing the new cedar garden beds in the exact same locations as the old ones. 

-Fill the new Kitchen Garden raised beds with a premium organic soil blend.

-Install a drip irrigation grid in each planter and connect each grid to the existing irrigation tubing at each raised bed site.

Easy enough. We’re Microfarm, and that’s what we’re here for!

We built two 4’x8’ Kitchen Garden raised beds and one 4’x6’ Kitchen Garden raised bed in our Charlotte workshop, and arrived on the appointed day with all three cedar garden beds fully assembled and ready to install.  Arriving with the  cedar garden beds fully assembled makes things go smoothly at the worksite, and by late morning, we had removed all of the decayed raised bed kits, installed the new Kitchen Garden raised beds, filled them with organic soil, and installed a drip irrigation grid in each of the three new planters.

 

By now, you may be thinking, “ Okay, Microfarm. You were gentle about it, but you still kinda threw the competition’s garden bed durability ‘under the bus’. How long will your more- expensive, way-heavier, way-harder-to-build, red cedar garden beds last in the same perpetually-wet garden setting?”

To that, we would say, “Our Kitchen Garden raised bed design is made with burly pieces of rough-sawn red cedar joined with premium exterior fasteners, and waterproof glue.

The Londry family can expect ten years of dependable service from their three new Kitchen Garden raised beds.

Maybe more.

And so can you."

Now, because so much of the beauty and charm of this garden had already been delivered long before we ever set foot on the property, we won’t take too much of the credit for the way it looks now. 

We simply installed three new cedar garden beds, after all.

But the three new Kitchen garden raised beds do cut a fine figure out there in the Londry family’s organic garden. 

Perhaps it’s fair to say that we may enhanced the garden a little ; we added a touch of timely polish to an already delightful organic garden.

Meet the 'Macaroni Elbow' & Co,

Sometimes our customers have a general idea of what they want in their organic garden. Perhaps a wish list of edible varieties in hand, and maybe even a potential garden site in mind.

Other times, there’s just vague intuition...a dream of growing edibles that finally led to a phone call to Microfarm Organc Gardens. 

And that’s good ; That’s what we’re here for.

But every now and then, there are times when a customer has every detail of his organic garden design so neatly prepared out for us - with the garden site selected and the raised bed layout designed - that it almost feels like we’re getting off easy.

And such was the case with Charlotte resident David Pitser.

Not only had David chosen an ideal location for his edible garden - one with plenty of sunlight, close to the kitchen, and near a water supply - but he had already successfully grown edible varieties there in large ceramic pots ; confirming that edible plants do indeed thrive in his garden site.

 

David’s garden site was also perfectly leveled and covered with decorative pea pebbles.

In anticipation of our eventual arrival, drip irrigation tubing had already been run to the garden site; the crimped sections of tubing placed right where they needed to be.

This was starting to feel too good to be true. 

This guy knows exactly what he wants.

And this was understandable - perhaps, even a foregone conclusion - as David Pitser’s organic garden wasn’t going to be tucked away somewhere out of view,  in the backyard.

This organic garden site is right beside David and Alice Pitser’s beautiful and striking home in Charlotte’s iconic Eastover neighborhood ; just a few steps from the kitchen and a few more steps to the street. This garden site is on display to the world, and to have a hope of ‘fitting in’, this raised bed design also be beautiful and striking.

Not surprisingly, David had already given the design of his cedar garden beds serious thought.

He had his cedar garden bed design in mind well before he called us.

He described his uniquely-shaped raised bed design as the ‘macaroni elbow’, and he impressively provided us with plan and elevation view drawings with size specs and other essential project details.

While we’ve built all manner of L-shaped and U-shaped cedar garden beds, this would be our very first ‘macaroni elbow’ planter.

“Pretty cool”, we thought - as we love making new raised bed designs. 

And the ‘macaroni elbow’ raised bed design was certainly something new, yet still well within our ‘cedar garden bed’ niche.

 

In just one on-site visit, we measured the garden area and confirmed that the size specs in David’s building plans would indeed yield a ‘macaroni elbow’ - shaped raised bed that would perfectly nestle into the existing garden site. 

And within a week, we had built and installed the cedar garden bed exactly as planned. We assembled a drip irrigation grid and connected to to the existing irrigation ‘stub out’. We filled the planter with a premium organic soil and amendment blend.

As requested, we applied three coats of PPG Proluxe oil-based clear sealer to the exterior of the cedar garden bed. This ultra-premium finish would preserve the natural color of the red cedar from fading due to UV exposure for many years.

And with its vertical trim pieces at the corners and cap board overhang, the elbow planter did seem to have accomplished David Pitser’s objective in fine style. With the three coats of Proluxe clear sealer fully cured, it wasn’t a stretch to call the ‘macaroni elbow’ cedar garden bed both striking and beautiful. 

But we’d soon find out that this organic garden project had only just begun. 

You see, part of the purpose for the size, shape, and placement of the ‘macaroni elbow’ raised bed was to serve as a sort of protective barrier at the back the edge of the existing garden area ,which dropped off substantially behind a low brick wall. 

And while the raised bed wasn’t the same as a fence, it did add substantial peace of mind that someone - say one of the Pitsers’s grandchildren, for example - would be less likely to accidentally tumble over the backside of the brick wall and onto the concrete driveway below. 

Ouch.

To provide a little privacy, a little more peach of mind, and give rambling plants like tomatoes and cucumbers the needed vertical support, David had been toying with the idea of some sort of cedar trellis for the macaroni elbow planter. An early vision for this featured a 2’ tall cedar trellis that ran the entire length of the back side of the planter. 

But with a little contemplation, we agreed that while the 2’-tall trellis concept might be functional, it may fall short of striking and beautiful. And we couldn’t have that.

So we soon developed a new idea - a design that everyone felt confident would deliver the striking beauty that was required :

 

A post and beam style arbor built on top of the ‘macaroni elbow’ cedar garden bed would add more to the feeling of security, add more privacy - in a tasteful way, and give his garden plants a far more substantial framework for vertical growth. 

If the post and beam arbor was well designed, it could only enhance what we’d already created. And it had better do just that, because If the macaroni elbow planter was already center stage and on full display.

The planter with a 7’ tall cedar arbor on top could either be a box office hit. Or a straight-to -streaming flop.

But it was with the calm disposition of an A-list Hollywood  actor that David explained what he wanted : A post and beam arbor design that complemented an existing cedar pergola on the home’s deck, just behind the organic garden.

We soon had David’s illustrated arbor design in our hands and we set about crafting his post and beam style cedar arbor , with curved beam and rafter tail cuts that complemented the existing deck pergola design.

We built the arbor using a combination of 4”x4” cedar posts, 2”x6” cedar beams, and 2”x4” cedar rafters. We anchored the arbor’s 4”x4” posts to the cedar garden bed with structural steel screws, and used a combination of structural steel screws and exterior deck screws to assemble the beams and rafters.

The result was a robust, stout structure that wasn’t going to be jostled in the least by high winds, rambunctious grandchildren, or an overly-ambitious cucumber vine. 

Of course, we applied three coats of the same PPG Proluxe clear sealer to the post and beam cedar arbor. 

 

And by now, this organic garden project was being noticed noticed. In a good way. 

Before that final coat of clear sealer had fully dried, the compliments began to come in thick and fast from neighbors, friends, and strangers just passing by.

Mission accomplished?

Almost.

 

While you might say that David was the driving force behind the organic garden and cedar arbor design, his wife, Alice, hadn’t exactly been watching the process from way up in the bleachers. She signed off on all of David’s designs, of course, and Alice also asked us to build a little something special for her ; a cedar potting bench with unique enhancements like two drawers, extra shelves, and places to hang garden tools and other supplies. And since we seemed to have safely placed the raised bed and cedar arbor within the realm of ‘striking beauty’, we worked hard to craft Alice’s cedar potting bench to keep us there. With all its cool  features and its three coats of clear sealer, the potting bench cut a fine figure sitting there on the porch, beside the ‘macaroni elbow’ raised bed with its cedar arbor.

 

Perhaps the potting bench was the supporting role to these ‘headline stars’ of the show.

No matter, because they’re all in the spotlight together, and that potting bench was 

Alice’s baby.

And we try hard not to deliver ugly babies here at Microfarm - only strikingly-beautiful ones.

More Light, Please.

Sometimes the ideal organic garden site has everything a grower could ask for. 

It’s level. Close to the kitchen. Just a few feet away from a water source.

It’s only missing one thing : enough sunlight.

Without a minimum of  four hours of direct sunlight, edible varieties  - even leafy greens, like kale, spinach and chard - just can’t hit their stride. Seeds sown in an under-lighted organic garden may sprout when the soil temperature has warmed up enough - perhaps giving their grower a brief rush of excitement. But this excitement is short-lived. Without enough sunlight,  those seedlings stretch into spindly, weak stalks, with unimpressive pale coloring and sad little leaves ; an easy target for insect pests and certain heartbreak if their grower ever had dreams of slicing large tomatoes in mid summer.

Jessica Betz and Juergen Fehr  had this very dream - an organic garden filled with sturdy, robust, edible plant varieties laden with their yield. dreams when they began working in the existing organic garden at the home they purchased in Davidson - just north of Charlotte. 

And no one would blame them for being unrealistic daydreamers, either.  The home’s previous owners had made no small effort at building an attractive raised bed layout that included a large L-shaped raised bed with a rectangle shaped raised bed nestled beside it.

Pea stone pathways between and around the raised beds helped the organic garden blend into to the home’s beautifully designed landscape.

A kitchen window looked right out onto the organic garden -  which was only a few paces from the kitchen counter. 

Nearby, a garden hose was neatly coiled up at a spigot on the side of the house, - at the ready,  if the automated drip irrigation system ever needed a hand.

This organic garden seemed to have everything we look for ; the important items,  near the top of the site selection checklist. And at first, their garden even seemed to have enough sunlight - item number one on any organic garden site selection checklist.

Juergen and Jessica’s seeds did sprout. In spring, their  seedlings showed the encouraging signs of new growth that every grower hopes for. But by mid summer - when several towering poplar and other hardwood trees that soared high above the garden had fully leaved in - the garden’s sunlight was essentially reduced to a paltry, filtered, indirect light - not nearly enough sunlight for a thriving organic garden.

To make matters worse, without the needed sunlight, their garden’s soil, ( which was a premium organic planting mix with excellent drainage and aeration ) seemed to always stay soggy, never fully drying out after heavy rains. 

The plants struggled, and soon became easy targets for insect pests.

Dreams of strong, hardy plants - sagging with the weight of their summer harvest - were beginning to dim. 

But not for long.

Because Juergen and Jessica had an idea...a clever solution that would keep the dream alive.

There was no question that the existing garden site was still the most ideal location on the property to grow edible varieties organically - for all the reasons mentioned earlier.

We just needed was more light. A lot more light, and more control over the growing environment.

How would we possibly pull this off? 

 

By building a cedar-framed greenhouse on the garden site, that included supplemental lighting inside, along with cedar garden beds with drip irrigation... and an automated ventilation system to help create the perfect growing environment inside.

But, consider that the couple’s home sits elegantly at the edge of a pond, in a refined golf course community in Davidson. This greenhouse had to to have the polish and visual appeal to meet or exceed the high aesthetic standard that was already in place in the home’s exiting landscape design. 

 

Luckily for us, Juergen is a native of Austria and an engineer by trade. He soon delivered a precise concept and a clear explanation of exactly what he wanted.

After carefully measuring the area - being careful to allow for ample room to walk around all four sides of the greenhouse -  we settled on a structure measuring 12’ wide,  20’ long and around 10’ tall, at the top of he ridge beam. In order to help the greenhouse ‘nestle’ discreetly into the site ( which sits right beside a covered walkway that leads from a detached garage to the back door of the couple’s home ) Juergen stressed that the height of the greenhouse  should be around the same height as the top edge of the rain gutters on the garage, which were about 10’ from the ground. 

 

This yielded a much lower roof pitch than the standard 45 degree gable greenhouse roof we normally build. And to ensure that this lower-pitched roof would easily handle all the snow, wind, and ice that Nature could heap on it, we would have to build an extra sturdy roof frame, when the time came.

And so we get the project underway and it was admittedly with a touch of sadness that we removed the existing cedar garden beds and raked out their soil along with the pea pebbles into a level site. With this first step completed we measured again to ensure a clearance of about 4’ between the back side of the greenhouse and detached garage, and about a foot from the walkway to the 20’ side facing the house.

We marked the greenhouse footprint on the ground with orange paint and confirmed that the front gable wall of the greenhouse would allow enough room for easy access to the greenhouse, and for the greenhouse door to easily open and close without damaging the existing landscape plants.

The first step in the construction process was to build and install a base made with two courses of 4”x4” red cedar timbers, joined together with 6” structural steel screws. To help protect the greenhouse base from termites and other insects, we applied several coats of WoodLife CreoCoat Black to the portions of the cedar timbers with ground contact.

 

With the greenhouse base level, square, and plumb, the next step was to build and install both 20’-long sidewalls. The sidewalls in this design combined red cedar 2x4 sole and cap plates with red cedar 4”x4” studs spaced about 4’ apart on the center. A 24”-tall knee wall made with red cedar tongue and groove boards added some of the subtle elegance needed to help this structure ‘fit in’ to the existing landscape design. 

The roughly 4’x4’ square-shaped window openings above the tongue and groove knee wall provided a delightful view inside the greenhouse from the covered walkway. Or visa versa.

With the two 20’-long sidewalls installed, plumbed, and braced, it was time build the roof. 

 

Even though the greenhouse is only 12’ wide, the lower roof pitch meant that this greenhouse would have to be able to withstand heavier loads. So we built the roof frame using rough sawn red cedar 2”x6” rafters connected with 2”x8” red cedar collar ties, bolted into place with two galvanized carriage bolts at each end. This created a very strong type of truss design that allowed the red cedar 2”x 8” ridge beam to sit right on top of the collar ties. The result was a very strong greenhouse roof design that ‘shared the load’ and allowed the roof sections to be joined together with structural steel screws for tremendous strength.

 

With the 20’-long sidewalls and roof frame fully assembled, we then began building the two 12’-wide gable walls. And since this greenhouse has no automated roof vents, an automated ventilation system that draws fresh air through the structure was essential. So we framed in an opening near the top of the front gable wall for a 16” exhaust fan, with a slightly larger opening high in the rear gable wall for a 24” motorized aluminum shutter. A thermostat would activate this ventilation system as needed to control the temperature inside the structure - drawing in air from outside the rear gable wall, through the greenhouse, and out of the front gable wall, via the 16” exhaust fan.

 

Hinged windows in the front and rear gable walls, with removable screens were requests that we were happy to accommodate. And Juergen’s idea for a 36”-wide hinged door placed near the right side of the front gable wall - so that it opens invitingly toward the house -  proved to be an practical and attractive design modification from the standard layout with the door centered in the front gable wall. The robust stainless steel hardware that the couple selected made these thoughtful design enhancements even more beautiful.

 

By now the greenhouse was beginning to take shape, and excitement was building all around. The cedar frame was complete, and electrical and plumbing contractors were on site running the needed water and power supplies into the structure.

 

As a native of Austria, where high-efficiency building codes frequently require triple and even quadruple pane windows, it was an easy decision for Juergen to select 16mm triple-wall, clear polycarbonate glazing for the greenhouse. It had both the high insulation value and the polished appearance that he wanted for the greenhouse. 

Easy to handle, cut, and install - we soon had the greenhouse frame fully glazed with the  polycarbonate that Juergen had selected. To waterproof the seams between polycarbonate sheets, were first cover them with Tyvek tape, then cedar trim strips screwed into the greenhouse frame that are finally sealed with a premium-grade exterior silicone.

 

The copper ridge cap and copper gable rake flashing added more elegance to the greenhouse roof, and a round copper gutter was installed on the right side of the greenhouse to divert rainwater away from the covered walkway, to a drainage channel behind the greenhouse.

 

With the greenhouse’s glazing installed and sealed, the ventilation equipment mounted in both gable walls, it was time to focus on the greenhouse’s interior design. This included a three cedar garden beds - each raised bed fitted with a drip irrigation grid that allowed for the three garden beds to each be controlled on an independent watering schedule. The six commercial-grade LED grow lights that Juergen purchased had a little heft to them, and this required that we build and install a sturdy cedar mounting rack into the greenhouse’s roof frame. These high-performance, full spectrum lights are designed to be fixed in place 6 feet above the grow area.

Unlike many indoor grow lights, these need not be raised and lowered based on the height of the plants. 

 

Per the couple’s request, we built and mounted 12” wide shelves - within easy reach - on both of the greenhouse’s 20’ long side walls. We also built a cedar potting bench with lower shelf and a separate cedar shelf - specially made for growing seedlings.

The three raised beds were soon filled with a premium organic soil blend. 

The irrigation system was connected to the water supply, and the watering schedule for each raised bed dialed in. 

Another group of skilled masonry artisans installed delightful brick flooring around our cedar garden beds.

When the six grow lights came to life on and the automated ventilation system kicked on, the soggy, shady garden era finally disappeared in the rearview mirror.

The greenhouse interior was bright and inviting. 

The fan pulled a a pleasing rush of fresh air underneath those surprisingly bright grow lights. 

 

Now, we just needed a touch of visual polish around the greenhouse, which we accomplished with carefully selected river rock, flagstones, and square pavers that neatly blended into the existing landscape. 

Juergen and Jessica’s soggy, shady, unsuccessful organic gardening era had finally disappeared in the rearview mirror.

And as we raked smooth the last few sections of river rock outside the greenhouse door, we were especially happy to see that the seedlings and seeds Jessica had planted were already hitting their stride.

Because, for us, knowing that any structure we make will be actually be put to good use is the best feeling of all -  much better than the satisfaction of simply building it. 

Retire in Style

Randy Campbell is on the cusp of retirement. And it would seem that he has every last details of it carefully planned out. Rounds of golf. Wold travel. Gardening. 

And planning is key, because for a man who for decades has worked long days in a suit and tie, dutifully navigated every airport in the owner 48 states as the company required. Crossing the finish line into the quiet freedom of a well-earned retirement is no small task.

Quiet is good. Just not too quiet. His golf game will keep him out of the house. And there are still lots of fun places to visit at a more leisurely pace with his wife Daska  - relaxing trips that aren’t simply the company’s latest marching orders.

  

And then there’s gardening. Randy has been an enthusiastic gardener for a long time. But recently, the idea of growing plants all year long got a foothold and soon grew into a tangible plan to supplement all that time on the lkinks and sightseeing abroad with a large greenhouse in his South Charlotte backyard.

Now, the Campbells already had an organic garden in one corner of the backyard. Three 5’x10’ raised beds built with 6”x6” cedar timbers were neatly leveled into a sloping area, and tucked within a 4’ tall split rail fence. Pea stone pathways added charm to the garden, and an irrigation system with a dedicated zone had already been installed.

 What Randy envisioned was a large gable greenhouse to complement this existing organic garden ; a place where he could grow plants year round, in a climate-controlled environment that included supplemental lighting, a powerful ventilation system, and cedar raised beds with drip irrigation. 

And it was with much delight and enthusiasm that received our own marching orders to bring this wonderful idea into existence.

Now, the first step in any greenhouse project - before the first cedar board is ever cut - is to select the best site for the structure. Randy and his wife Daska had identified an area in another corner of their backyard that received plenty of direct sunlight, and also some shade from the hottest parts of the afternoon during summer. 

We find that full sun from Fall through Spring, with at least some, if not total shade during the summer moths are ideal conditions for a hobby greenhouse site here in Charlotte.

Randy had robust aspirations for his new greenhouse. Together we decided that a gable style structure that measured 16’ wide , 24’ long , and about 14’ tall at the ridge would deliver the needed space...room for all of the seed starting, edible plant growing, garden experimenting, large potted citrus trees, and even a small sitting area with comfy chairs and a table that Randy envisioned inside the greenhouse.

With the greenhouse site and dimensions selected, our next stop was the local sawmill - where we source rough sawn Eastern Red Cedar for our greenhouse frames.

 

Often, we’re asked if one of our cedar greenhouses, cedar chicken coops, cedar outdoor furniture, or other projects was purchased as a kit. Now, we take no insult from this question - in fact it’s even flattering ; the structure must be so straight, so plumb, so uniform, so visually appealing that it seems that only a series of computer-guided machines could possibly have cut, planed, crated, sanded, packed,  and shipped every part of that lovely structure.

But this greenhouse is no kit. And neither are our cedar-framed chicken coops, cedar compost bins, cedar outdoor furniture, and other handmade red cedar Microfarm products. 

Stout framing was mission-critical for for a greenhouse this size. Even with the 45-degree gable roof pitch, there’s still a lot of surface area on this structure that had to tame the heavy wind loads that tropical storms routinely bring through our area from late summer into fall, along with the occasional - but by no means rare - ice storms that snap power lines and send some of Charlotte’s most iconic and seemingly invincible ancient oak trees down to their doom.

To ensure a long and productive life for Randy’s greenhouse, we built a base of two courses of 4”x 4” red cedar timbers, joined together with 6” structural steel screws. To keep termites and any other hungry insects away from the wood base, we first applied several coats of Woodlife CreoCoat Black to the bottom of the cedar base, then placed the base on several inches of drainage stone, which helps keep the wood base drier and last longer.

With the cedar base perfectly squared up and leveled, it was time to build the two 24’ long sidewalls. These walls were made with a combination of red cedar 2”x4” sole and cap plates, 4”x4” studs, and red cedar tongue and groove boards, to create an attractive, 30” tall knee wall. Once anchored to the greenhouse base with 8” structural steel screws, plumbed and braced, the next step in the build was the 16’ gable walls, rafters, and ridge beam.

We found that 4”x4” studs on the two 16’-wide gable walls gave this greenhouse both the needed structural integrity visual appeal.

We extended the cedar tongue and groove knee wall around onto the gable walls, leaving a rather large a 42”-wide and 102”-tall opening for a single, hinged door, installed to open invitingly towards the home’s back porch. 

The goal with greenhouse frames is to strike the perfect balance between strength and light transmission. 

If the frame is flimsy, sooner or later it’ll have answer to Mother Nature. And when it does it’s not pretty. In sever weather, weak greenhouses are likely to buckle, warp, rack, collapse...or, perhaps all of these - plus tumble over into a neighbor’s yard, adding quite a bit to an already  embarrassing loss. 

 If the greenhouse frame is too heavy, or ‘overbuilt' it blocks too much sunlight from reaching the plants inside, somewhat defeating the whole purpose of the greenhouse.

 

For Randy’s greenhouse, rough sawn red cedar 2”x6” rafters spaced 24” apart on center, anchored to a 2”x8” red cedar ridge beam, provided the right balance of strength and light transmission. This greenhouse features a high-volume airflow system combining two 

24” exhaust fans installed above the door that draw fresh air through the greenhouse via two 36” automated aluminum shutters installed in the opposite gable wall. 

This automated ventilation system delivers outstanding air exchange, making traditional roof vent windows unnecessary. In fact this set up was preferable as it allowed us to fully seal the roof seams with a combination of Tyvek tape, cedar trip and high-performance exterior grade silicone. With the addition of the Black-colored steel ridge cap and rake trim, this greenhouse’s roof falls somewhere way beyond waterproof. Maybe NASA has some scientific term for this extreme level of watertightness.

At Microfarm we work exclusively with polycarbonate glazing, and if you’ve stuck with us this far through the story you may as well stick around and read our short ‘elevator pitch’ on why we like polycarbonate greenhouse glazing so much.

Polycarbonate is virtually impossible to shatter - unlike glass. You or your loved ones won’t risk being cut with shards of broken shards glass if a branch falls on the greenhouse while you’re working inside.

You won’t have to clean up a million tiny shards of broken glass if you wake up to find a tree fell on your greenhouse during a storm overnight.

Polycarbonate can certainly be cracked or punctured by an object falling from high above the greenhouse. But if this does happen, it’s far easier and safer  to remove and replace the damaged polycarbonate sheet than a pane of shattered glass glazing.

Double and triple-wall polycarbonate glazing has jaw-droopingly good insulation value - and at a fraction of the cost of double and triple pane glass.

Polycarbonate greenhouse glazing has a special UV protectant and comes with a 10+ year guarantee against any discoloration. But, we’ve found that it typically takes much longer than ten years to see even the smallest change in appearance from UV exposure to multi wall polycarbonate glazing.

And so the decision to use polycarbonate glazing was an easy one for Randy. He prudently selected 16mm, triple wall, clear polycarbonate, which has epic wind, snow, and ice load ratings, outstanding insulation value, and 72% light transmission. 

And it isn’t just polycarbonate greenhouse glazing that we have such strong opinions about here here at Microfarm, either.

What makes the best greenhouse floor? Concrete slab? pea stone? landscape fabric?

 

We say decorative pea stone or river pebbles beats concrete, hands down.

Here’s why:

Excess water drains right through the pebbles into the ground - anywhere inside the greenhouse. There’s no central drain responsible for channeling away all of that water....a hard-working and important single outlet for alll that water runoff, that’ll hopefully never clog up.

Pea stone won’t accumulate algae growth or become slimy and slippery and over time the way perpetually-wet concrete often does.

One advantage of a concrete greenhouse slab is that it does keep rodents from digging inside your greenhouse. And of course if blocks weeds from growing.

To prevent these common annoyances, we carefully install layers of 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth steel mesh in the bottom of our greenhouse, then cover the steel mesh with several layers of commercial grade landscape fabric, followed by several inches of pea stone or river pebbles. Water run off easily drains through this greenhouse floor design - right into the ground or into a French drain that channels runoff water outside the structure, if needed.

With the base, floor, frame, glazing, and ventilation system fully dialed in, it was now time to shift gears for a little greenhouse interior design work. 

 

Randy requested that the rather spacious interior be fitted out with a combination of cedar garden beds, with drip irrigation, an 8’ wide cedar potting table, and a tiered cedar shelf that he could use for growing seedlings.

Randy also asked that we install two 700 watt LED grow lights in the ceiling of the greenhouse, along with a smaller, 400 watt grow light placed right above the tiered cedar shelf.

 

The supplemental lights placed near the ceiling can be times to complement natural daylight, induce plant growth during the winter months, while the smaller grow light will be used to germinate seeds and grow seedlings that will be later transplanted into the cedar garden beds.

Nearly complete both inside and out, just a few small -  but important - touches now remained.

We built and installed a large screen with cedar frame and aluminum mesh, and mounted it on the rear gable wall around the two 36” aluminum shutters. This will help keep swarms of insects from being sucked inside the greenhouse ( or just buzzing in on their own ) during the warmer months, when the ventilation system runs frequently.

 

And with every other small detail seemingly now addressed...every feature thoughtfully considered and carefully set into place, What could possibly remain?

Why not have a sink to wash up after each greenhouse gardening session. It’s no trifling greenhouse. It’s not some rickety, ramshackle, greenhouse kit.

 

Randy’s greenhouse definitely needs a sink. And it can’t be some generic, plastic laundry sink from the local big box store, either.

That’d be like finding a cigarette butt on your 5 layer custom wedding cake. 

Yikes! No way!!

This sink had to keep pace with all the other fine features of Randy’s greenhouse project and with a little red cedar, and plenty of patience, we made it happen.

 

if the greenhouse is the cake, then let our little custom cedar sink stand be the elegant icing on that cake.