Penn and Cord's Garden
  • Home
  • Penn's Blog
  • Classes/Consultations
  • Greenhouses
    • Order Greenhouse Plans!
    • Latest Greenhouses
    • Student Greenhouse Projects
    • Colorado College Greenhouse
  • Miss Penn's Mountain Seeds
    • More Wild Mountain Seed
    • Seed Saving
  • Contact Us
    • Newsletter
    • The Cool List >
      • The Book List
      • Penn's Tomato Critique
    • About Us
  • Store
  • Letter of Agreement

Meet The Greenhouses - The Stars of the Show!

Our passive solar greenhouses are 100% sustainable. They perform on their own year round with absolutely no fossil fuel, we don't even have to plug in a fan.  Stored water, balanced design, double glazing and natural convection are just some of the ways to greenhouse freedom.  Once you've built one of our greenhouses, you will see that it begins to work for you -  not the other way around.  NO FUEL BILL.   Our greenhouses have brought tomatoes through 31 below zero - the greatest test we could make.  If your plans need the greenhouse to do more than that - you can add active solar or other ways to tap into nature's way of heating and cooling the earth. 

Check out Smart Greenhouses
on Social Media! 

Picture
HILLSIDE GREENHOUSE 
Check out what Cord did!  This is the greenhouse at night - in Hillside.  Beautiful!
Picture
Completed August 19th, 2011 Designed and built by Cord Parmenter and Team. 18.5 X 44' ROCK ON!!!!! Totally sustainable - state of the art - full-tilt boogy!

Hillside, Colorado Greenhouse

Picture
In the daylight - the last day. Max, Cord, Beau.
Picture
Our good friend and partner Pat - nice office huh?
Picture
Closed shed off the back.
Picture
Open shed off the back.
Picture
Barrels waiting to go in.
Picture
The view from within.
Picture
The indoor/outdoor shed.
Picture
Vents with automatic openers.
Picture
The same tomatoes from the night-time pic - in January!
Picture
Colorado snowstorm. Vent cover to keep snow load off one winter vent.
Picture
The most current inside shots - they continue to dig beds!
Picture
Nasturtiums going crazy with snow all around.
Picture
Groovy vent cover.
Picture
Leaning into the wind. Plenty of room for the vent to open.


The Little Greenhouse That Could

Westcliffe, Colorado  8,120 ft.

Picture
10' X13' Sustainable Greenhouse
This is Penn's Greenhouse and the first one we built.  We built this simple greenhouse for about $150!  We salvaged almost all of the materials and this little 10'X13' greenhouse has rocked out the food for the last 14 years - 365 days a year!  
Our sustainable greenhouses run themselves year round with the use of stored water as thermal mass.  The water both heats and cools the greenhouse - regulating it in spite of Colorado's wild fluctuating temperatures. Cord 'approximated' this greenhouse then improved upon the design creating his 13'X16' totally optimized greenhouse, below.  Cord's greenhouse can grow tomatoes year round with no supplemental heating - it brought the plants through temperatures as low as 31 below zero!  Enjoy the pictures.

Picture
Here's a little more snow...
Picture
Sunset time in early summer - corn, squash and beans coming.

Optimized Design:

Picture
Cord's second greenhouse.
Cord's 13' X 16' greenhouse is an excellent example of a very efficient design in Passive Solar building.  It is compact and it can produce an amazing amount of food; it has withstood incredibly low temperatures and has performed far better than the science it comes from says it can.  Part of it is so many days of intense sun in the mountains and the west, the other is improvement on the design and using the optimum amount of water.  The concrete slab at the back is to stabilize the barrels.  They stack up the back walls - 3 high.  Native soil is double dug for beds with compost added.  Worms help to keep the soil healthy.  Plants always know the difference when they are planted in the earth - instead of pots or containers - and they will perform much better in the ground. This is the greenhouse design taught in our class: Sustainable Greenhouse Design.


Picture
Wulfgar, Cord and Penn - In Process
Picture
Cord's 13'X16' Greenhouse - 8,000 ft elevation

Come Inside...

Picture
Penn's Greenhouse in Winter
Picture
Summer Greenhouse - Tomato Jungle
Picture
Winter Eats
Picture
Penn's Fully Loaded Greenhouse - removable shelves.
Picture
Penn and Bok Choy in her sanctuary.

In Cord's Greenhouse - Westcliffe, Colorado  

Picture
Ultimate greens with tomatoes coming under the jugs - in January!

Here's how... starting January 11th...

Picture
Planting his first bed.
Picture
Plastic cover - germination - 3 days later
Picture
Plastic off, tomatoes planted in wells.
Picture
Bottomless jugs go over tomatoes, filled jugs warm them on either side.
Picture
Jugs off, teenage tomatoes begin to take off.
Picture
Joi Choi, Red Choy & Toy Choy - tomatoes coming.
Picture
Turn your back and they've grown!
Picture
Tomato Heaven

Completed Projects!  
These are all from previous greenhouse class members. Congratulations!!!

Cotopaxi Greenhouse  

Picture
14' X 24' Greenhouse in Cotopaxi - Cord's Design
Picture
24'er in process...

Granby Greenhouse  

Picture
14' X 28' in Granby, Colorado
Picture
Let the fun begin.
Picture
Using block.
Picture
The front wall.
Picture
Up it goes.
Picture
Almost there.
Picture
What a Wall-o-Water! Big old water batteries.
Picture
Beautiful! 8,300 ft.

Granby Greenhouse - Inside

Picture


This is an outstanding example of a successful sustainable greenhouse.  It is exceedingly efficient and cranks out the produce.  Be warned, when you begin to build your greenhouse,  neighbors and folks from far and wide often shake their heads and declare, "It will never work!"  This one was no exception and the owner of this greenhouse said, and I quote,

 "A few of the neighbors who were doubting the greenhouse technology are now eating some of the tomatoes from the greenhouse; much tastier than eating crow."

I say,Wahoo!Thanks so much for the belly laugh and congratulations on your most excellent passive solar greenhouse!  

Take a look at this food...

Picture
Mountain-grown Galina's - yellow Siberian cherry - divine.
Picture
A wall of tomatoes!
Picture
Fragrant petunias.
Picture
Luscious chocolate peppers.
Picture
Gorgeous!
Picture
Basil, Sorrel, Thyme, Oregano
Picture
Kale and Swiss Chard.
Picture
Mesclun.



You can do this too - using salvaged materials or new - or a combination of both. A passive solar greenhouse is a wonderful ecosystem that you are an important part of - without you to plant and tend the seed, nothing grows, but with you as part of the environment, a beautiful, abundant place like you see in these pictures can be yours.. 
Picture
The Holy Grail of the mountains - lots of tomatoes!

Walsenburg Greenhouse

Picture
Happiness... is your own greenhouse.
Picture
16' X 16' Greenhouse near Walsenburg
Picture
Elevation - 8,600 ft!!! Sweet!
Picture
The view from within.
Picture
The view from without!
Picture
Warm weather veggies.

La Veta Greenhouse

Picture
7,000 ft in La Veta! 14' X 18'
In the owner's words:
"Most of the materials were repurposed from Craigslist, like all the sliding glass doors, and the trex shelving was actually free from a friends torn up deck.  The insulation was from a recycle shop and my planter boxes were made from a torn down cedar fence. The metal was also free and collected over the years. The door was $10 at Habitat for Humanity. The 350 gallon water tank was used and very reasonably priced on Craigslist too. The lumber and roof was bought new."
Picture
Inside.
Picture
Simple water and extra insulation.
Picture
Shading in high summer in La Veta.
Picture
Before
Picture
After
Picture
In Between
Picture
Healthy plants.
Picture
The setting - beautiful southern Colorado.
Picture
Notice the thermal mass - concrete wall + water.
Picture
Use what you already have to grow delicious, organic food...
Proudly powered by Weebly