Upcycling success

Two years ago, we purchased a mini greenhouse.  It was a great buy.  Without it, the cucumbers last year wouldn't have happened and all the seeds wouldn't have gotten the good start that they get every year.  The only problem with this little greenhouse is that the cover was made out of plastic.  And what happens to plastic after it sits in the elements 24/7 for over two years?

It breaks down.  Falls apart.  Goes to shit.  Plastic is really dumb that way.

Sad holey plastic.  Not to be confused with holy blessed plastic, which doesn't exist.

Which is really annoying.  The front panel and the top part had fallen apart so badly that it was like nothing was there.

This left us with three options - 1. Buy a new cover.  2. Buy a whole new greenhouse. Or 3. Somehow make a new cover.

#3 was, in my opinion, the only reasonable and sustainable option that I would even consider.  Duh, I'm the queen of reusing and I hate plastic with a burning passion.  Besides, a new cover would just fall apart in a couple years and buying new stuff is just not in my nature when another option is even remotely possible.  Any reason not to buy plastic is a good one in my book.

So the first thing that needed to be done was to salvage as much of the old cover as possible.  I removed the front and top by cutting out the panels and leaving the reinforcement ribbon and figured the rest was in good enough shape to last another year.  This kept the shape of the cover while leaving an edge for me to sew the new panels onto.  I also took out the zippers from the front panel to use again.  Next, I dug up an old shower curtain from the old place and cut out two pieces to fit the two panels I had removed.  Then my sewing machine and I had a little weekend afternoon date.

Presto, new greenhouse cover.

It probably doesn't let in as much light as the last one did, but it lets in enough, and the heat is really what is nice about a greenhouse.  My seeds that I started last month are resting comfortably in there and probably really enjoyed the crazy summer weekend that we had.




Hooray for upcycling!

Down with plastic!

High-five!