Build a $300 underground greenhouse for year-round gardening

[Flaxbee]

http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/build-underground-greenhouse-garden-year-round.html
(video at link)

Growers in colder climates often utilize various approaches to extend the growing season or to give their crops a boost, whether it's coldframes, hoop houses or greenhouses.

Greenhouses are usually glazed structures, but are typically expensive to construct and heat throughout the winter. A much more affordable and effective alternative to glass greenhouses is the walipini (an Aymara Indian word for a "place of warmth&quot , also known as an underground or pit greenhouse. First developed over 20 years ago for the cold mountainous regions of South America, this method allows growers to maintain a productive garden year-round, even in the coldest of climates.

[silverweb]

1. Brilliant.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Since below-ground temperatures are cooler in summer and more constant than surface temperatures (allowing for variances in location, of course), I wonder if a shaded walapini would be useful in places that are too hot for growing -- maybe even fully underground, with fiberoptically directed or otherwise limited sunlight to prevent heating the place up too much.

At the rate we're going climate-wise, I think we'll need to be as concerned about keeping crops from cooking as from freezing while growing.

[Demeter]

2. You are pretty brilliant, yourself, silverweb

that's an ingenious extension...and a pit is more likely to conserve limited rainfall.

Already in Michigan I've noticed heat stress in my garden these last few years. Even the sun-loving plants (except for the prickly pear) do better in the shaded sections.

[silverweb]

3. You give me too much credit.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]If a non-farmer like me thought of it, you know someone with experience also did. What we need right now is more and more innovation, trying out ideas that just might have a chance of working as we move towards a more unstable climate future.

I'm a city girl, and I do what I can with containers and the sun between buildings. Home gardeners and small farmers with room to innovate must be trying out ideas like this one. I hope we hear a lot more about it, and fast.

[TekGryphon]

13. I thought that in cold climates you had to go a good bit deeper to get constant temps?

I remember it from researching how deep you'd need to lay horizontal geothermal heating/cooling pipes.

[silverweb]

15. It's not an unreasonable depth.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I don't remember off hand, but it's only something like 8 or 10 feet, I think -- below the frost depth for the area -- and then the temperature remains fairly constant within certain parameters for that area. There's some variation depending on its moisture content and composition, but earth remains a pretty good insulator.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. I sounds great, but I don't believe it will work here in W PA.

My basement is at least that deep, and it is really cold down there in the winter, 50 degrees or lower. I don't know of many plants that will grow at those temps. Besides the cold, we don't have enough sun in the winter to help there.....I have seen gray skies for so long that if I see the sun, I might go blind.

But for places that are more moderate, I think this would be great. We all want fresh grown produce in the middle of the winter, but mostly we can only dream.

[NickB79]

11. Lots of veggies do fine in 50F weather

Peas, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, kale, beets, potatoes, Brussel sprouts, etc are all planted up here in MN as soon as the ground can be worked, usually in April. Soil temperatures at that time are usually in the 40-50F range, and nighttime lows can dip to the mid-30's, yet they still sprout and grow just fine.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. Well, if it would work in MN, I guess it would work here.

We are novices when it comes to dealing with cold and snow compared to you.

And you are right, the cool weather plants do well in early spring.

[TekGryphon]

14. I think my pepper plants would have a fit :(

[we can do it]

17. I think you are right.

[womanofthehills]

5. I love this idea and I have an eight foot deep pit

My boyfriend loves to dig holes and has made a sort of kiva in my yard and then seemed to lose interest in the project.
I live in NM and love to garden so all I would have to do is make a walk in entrance and cover the top of my monster pit.

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. This would work, even in Northern Ontario, Canada

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already have an image in my mind with thermal-pane windows on the surface

luv the idea

and I can dig

anyone remember this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x10250

lotta work,

but I loved doing it

yup

for an old mechanic,

my thumb is green,

not black!

[laundry_queen]

7. I'm likely too far north for this

to work year-round, but it's a very cool idea. I just recently was gifted a book that has numerous ways to extend the traditional growing season in cold climates and I think I'm going to give it a go. I only have enough room for a small, shallow (in ground) cold-frame or 2 so we'll see how it well it works next fall.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. Underground? - just one or two light bulbs would keep it from freezing.

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There is a reason we put our water-pipes 3-4 feet underground

They do not freeze at that depth.

And just hook up a few 60-100 watt light bulbs to a thermostat,

then ya wouldn't be using hydro when not needed.

And ur plants would get some extra light!

I done it in an above ground.

It works!

CC

[Kaleva]

9. Very interesting! Thank you for posting.

[im1013]

10. It's an Earthship.. for plants!!

I plan on building an Earthship very soon. Very awesome!

http://www.earthship.com

[intheflow]

16. It's a very cool idea but $300 is such a low-ball estimate.

Maybe if you dug it out by hand, which, here on the high plains of eastern Colorado would take forever - very difficult to make a dent in our hard, rocky clay soil without watering it down. For a project this size, that would take more than $300 in water alone. Or, you could rent some kind of digging equipment - again, more than $300. I'm thinking to make something like this in my area it's a grand at a minimum.

[ConcernedCanuk]

18. $1,000 for fresh food?

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a bargain!

I know how convenient and healthy it is to go pick fresh veggies for my meals - don't spend a dime to shop - they're right here!

So - figuring such a project would provide you with fresh produce for decades - -

save, borrow - get er done!

and me, even though I got running water now, I save as much rainwater just to save hydro $$ from running my well pump.

Think cistern - they've been around for millenniums. I already have plans to build 2 or 3 cisterns to store rainwater, and spring run-off.

One can even use a sump-pump to pump up to a water tank on a roof or stand to have gravity-fed water available for the gardens. One 12v car battery and a 400 watt inverter will do it - don't have to be near hydro. Or use hydro, pump it up in the non-peak hours (I got what they call a smart meter here - and off-peak hours are almost half the cost for hydro usage)

Old saying -

Where there's a will, there's a way . . .

CC

[intheflow]

19. It's a privileged project any way you look at it.

First you need the land to actually do this. Then, for many of us, $1000 is more than we make in a month. Impossible to save for, irresponsible to borrow for in terms of short term cost. I can stick with container gardening in my sunny window over the winter and still get food, just not the grand crops this will produce.

That's not to say I don't want it. I do!! I'm just saying it's beyond my means, and the means of most people on the planet.

[theHandpuppet]

20. That was totally cool.

I'm going to print this one out and put it to good use.

[TheKentuckian]

21. Neat idea, I've thought of something similar but never had the time and opportunity

match up.

Usually, it is one or the other for such things and too often neither, lol.