Assembling A Portable Greenhouse In Your Backyard

After being so upset by how the squirrels, birds, and lizards destroyed my spring garden last year, this year, I invested in a not super-fancy portable backyard greenhouse. It’s called portable because I suppose you could disassemble it at some point and relocate it to another area but I don’t know how well that would work in reality. After doing some research online, I decided to order a Quictent 20x10x6.6’ Greenhouse. You can check it out from the link at the end of this post. In white, not green. For some reason, the idea of being inside a greenhouse that is green with the sun coming in a casting a green glow on everything kind of freaked me out.

Unboxing

For its large, fully assembled size, it arrived in a very, very small box. This told me there would be lots and lots of pieces to put together. I’ve noticed that the less expensive something is, the more pieces there are to put together.

After opening the box, sorting all of the pieces and reading the instructions, I decided it would be a wise idea to consult the School of YouTube to see if anyone had posted videos about their experience assembling one of these backyard greenhouses. Of course, I found many videos and watched a few which was a very good idea as the instructions are not completely straightforward. There were few things I learned that certainly saved me some time. For example, the cross-bar supports are supposed to be sandwiched between the main supports on the ground and sides. 

Assembling the Frame and Securing to the Ground

The videos I watched said it would take 2 people about 3 hours to assemble the whole thing. Well, I was by myself and it took me about 3 hours to fully assemble the base, sides, and hoops alone. I enlisted Dennis to help with the supports along the top and sides of the hoops because there were ladders and drills involved. It probably would have been unsafe and unnecessarily time-consuming to attempt to do it alone. 

Once that was complete, we both worked to slide the cover over the frame. The kit came with some thin cord and landscape pins to “anchor” it down. After reading reviews online, and video feedback, common sense told me that putting some additional reinforcement in place would be necessary. 

Dennis started by securing the frame with some rebar hooks. He then used ratchet tie-down straps to secure the structure to the hooks. Finally, I placed bricks all around the perimeter to add some additional support as well as attempt to prevent critters from crawling under and getting inside.

Here’s how the portable greenhouse looks fully assembled and tricked out with our additions.

Key Features and Customizing

Some of the features I love about this backyard greenhouse are the windows and doors. Four windows on either side have screens. They stay down with velcro and can be held open by green ties. There are also doors on each end with screens. I’ve been keeping the windows open at all times to improve the ventilation. 

I decided to cover the ground inside with landscaping fabric. Mainly for aesthetic purposes but also because I want to prevent weeds from growing into my shallow raised beds that will be on the ground.

Once this was complete, I figured out the layout for all of my planters. I have three tall, 4×2” planters, two 4×4” beds that will be on the ground, and a couple of tiered planters. There was plenty of room for everything along with some space for individual pots and pathways to move around everything for easy watering and garden maintenance. 

Planting Plans

I started by planting herbs in some of my tiered planters and now I’m waiting for the temperatures to warm up before I sow most of my seeds. 

I am going to plant all of my lettuces soon though as they are more tolerant to cold temperatures. 

You can see my entire plan for my spring garden in this post. 

All in all, I am pretty excited about this portable greenhouse. It wasn’t a huge investment and if it does its job and I do mine, I’m optimistic I’ll have a much more bountiful garden this spring.

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Quictent Upgraded 20x10x6.6 FT Large Walk-in Greenhouse for Outdoors: https://amzn.to/3JRbiDe