I'm not sure this would work when it drops below -20 :SHow to Heat a Greenhouse / Canada
How to build My 50 Dollar Greenhouse http://doorgarden.co...use-green-house
Greenhouse (with HPS) vs Fluorescent Grow Room Experiment http://thehotpepper....oom-experiment/
I'm planning on growing 5 to 7 plants .... would you go with a big cold frame or build a greenhouse? oh and I have a budjet of around 150$ for this project hahaWell where I live the overnight temps can reach -29C (rare but can happen) and daytime high can be -10 during the winter. In the winter it rarely dipped below 0 in my old cold frame Tomatoes would likely survive but super hot peppers probably would not....Anyway I have a heat source and a storage area being built onto the greenhouse so I can enter without letting cold air in or warm air out. In Canada we have a shorter growing season so if we had to restart we would probably be growing indoors all year. Either way Sunshine will pay for some electricity for light and heat and either build or buy some things for his setup the difference is the greenhouse will get some light/heat from the sun so you would not need to heat or light your grow area for a few hours and when spring comes you can stop using the lights sooner. If Sunshine has a large yard or permission to use his parents yard he could more than double the number of plants he plans to grow and maybe sell some. Sunshine needs to decide how much time/money he can spend and is it worth it for just him (Electricity supplies watering bulbs) he could build a cold frame from old windows and add two or three CFL bulbs for under $75 can.
Even with a woodstove, I only use my greenhouse from April to May and then again in Oct. Even if you you could keep it heated , there is likely not enough sun in the winter to justify the fuel costs. Probably best to start plant indoors around January and move them into the greenhouse around April.
yeah ... I think I'll just keep on overwinter them inside and bring them back outside after the last frostYou still won't get much sun in the winter and you'll be using lots of energy. If you're just trying to keep plants alive without poding, it may work but it still seems to me like a waste of resources.
So you want to risk bringing bugs inside and use the same amount of electricity inside? or sit them in a sunny window and hope for the best...yeah ... I think I'll just keep on overwinter them inside and bring them back outside after the last frost