The Beauty's More Than Skin Deep

Double-Wall Polycarbonate Glazing -- The Best Greenhouse Glazing Material

• Virtually unbreakable polycarbonate is the same high-tech plastic used in aircraft windshields and helmets. Temperature extremes don't affect its impact resistance. Hail and baseballs bound off. Its impact strength is 30 times greater than acrylic and 200 times greater than glass. After glass, polycarbonate is the most flame resistant glazing

• Double-wall panels retain heat to help plants stay 10-20 deg. F warmer in winter. If you use a heater, you'll save 40% of the cost of heating a single-pane glass greenhouse.

• Design maximizes the quality of light for full, straight and even plant growth. Sunlight is scattered by the ribs between panel walls to surround plants without shadowing or burning them.

• UV-resistant additive in panels blocks 98% of the harmful UV rays while transmitting 83% of the visible rays that plants need for maximum growth. Plants are more productive. Glazing carries a 10 year limited warranty against hazing and discoloration.

• Panels won't crack or shatter. They may be cut with a fine toothed saw, allowing easy installation of plumbing or heating equipment.

Automatic Ventilation Simplifies Climate Control

Automatic vent operators on the roof and base vents require no electricity or batteries. The vent operator contains a paraffin (wax) that expands when the temperature reaches about 65 deg. F. As it cools and the paraffin contracts, the operator's springs draw each vent closed. It is adjustable within approximately 5 deg. F and easily detachable for manual operation.

More About Sunshine GardenHouses

Thorough Air Circulation

The roof vent allows air to escape at the hottest point, the roof ridge. Cooler air enters the base vent, creating a chimney effect and circulating cool fresh air throughout the Sunshine GardenHouse. The convenient Dutch door provides additional ventilation control and easy access.

Attractive and Durable Redwood Frame

The 2" x 2" clear grade, dried redwood framing is naturally resistant to insect and moisture damage. It resists warping in moist or dry environments. No protective treatment is necessary.

Only second growth redwood is used in the Sunshine GardenHouse, preserving old-growth redwood forests. The frame base is 2" x 4" plastic lumber made of 100% recycled plastic. It is impervious to rot, mildew and insects and matches the redwood frame's color.

No Foundation Required

Exceptionally rigid and lightweight, only the corners of a Sunshine GardenHouse need to be anchored to the ground.

Assembles Quickly and Easily

Major components are panelized for an easy, sure fit. Panelized sections are joined by screws. A power screwdriver, a 6' stepladder and a tape meaure are all that's needed for easy assembly. The 6' x 8' model takes about 3-4 hours to assemble. Even the 8' x 12' model takes less than a day for a "non-builder" to complete.

Efficient Roof System

The optimum 45 degree roof slope transmits low angle sun in the winter and reflects high angle sun in the summer. This increases heat in the winter and reduces it in the summer. It also leaves lots of headroom and plant hanging space. The steep roof slope sheds snow in the winter and can withstand a snow load of 18 lb. per square foot.

Optional Benches

Specially designed matching redwood benches are available that run the full length of the Sunshine GardenHouse. Benches are 21" deep for all models except the 8' x 12' model, which are 32" deep. They can be stacked to provide additional growing surface.

Convenient Packaging

The 6' x 8' kit is packed in four boxes; the 6' x 12' kit is in five boxes; the 8' x 12' kit is in seven boxes. Maximum weight of any box is 85 lb. and any one of the kits will fit into a standard size pickup truck.

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WHY Sunshine GardenHouse?

Greenhouses have come a long way since the wealthy in Europe and America used them to force oranges and pineapples in glass structures known as orangeries and pineries. During the mid-nineteenth century, the greenhouse developed into a status symbol as well as a practical way to produce almost any crop. Today's greenhouses enjoy a tradition dating back much earlier than even the last century. Its roots go back some two thousand years. And it was not until 1599 that the first practical greenhouse was built. Designed by a French botanist, Jules David, and constructed in Holland, it was intended as a place to grow tropical plants for medicinal purposes.

The greenhouse idea soon caught on and began spreading throughout Europe. And experiments to improve the greenhouse concept continued through the seventeenth century. New building technology led to larger and larger greenhouses that housed plants just to please the eyes and palates of European royalty. Despite the elaborateness of these structures, it was the Victorian age in England that ushered in the golden era of the greenhouse. The wealthy began competing with each other to build the most elaborate structures, primarily to house citrus fruits and rare flowers.

In America, the first greenhouse on record was built around 1737 by a wealthy Boston merchant, designed primarily to grow fruit. The concept spread slowly, since almost all greenhouses were built for the wealthy. By 1825, greenhouses were increasingly common. Many were warmed by furnace-warmed air; and some were pit greenhouses built into the earth and heated largely by sunlight flowing in south-facing windows.

Indeed, the modern concept of the greenhouse is now quite simple and practical. No longer is it the private domain of the monied classes, but something that anyone can have for relatively little cost. Today a greenhouse can go virtually anywhere there is space; it can be attached to a house, placed in the backyard, or perched on a roof or deck...Home production of all kinds of vegetables and flowers has never been quite as easy, or as pleasurable.

And Sunshine Sunshine GardenHouse Kits provide the hobby greenhouse
enthusiast with quality and durability, thereby enhancing the inherent
pleasures one experiences when participating in this popular
mode of gardening.

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Winter In The Sunshine GardenHouse

As we embark upon the winter season, we begin to notice that plant growth has slowed, and a lessening amount of daylight has altered conditions in the Sunshine GardenHouse. It is now very important to maintain a dry atmosphere inside to prevent the onset of disease. Pots should be watered sparingly. And plants in flower should be kept in a well-lit spot.

This quiet period in the Sunshine GardenHouse is perfect the time to draw up a plan for the coming season. It is a time to begin to select and order seeds in preparation for spring. During February, the temperature outside is at its lowest ebb. And yet it is time to start seed propagation in earnest. Bedding plants, which take a long time to establish, should also be sown in the Sunshine GardenHouse during this month. It is still too early to sow Tomato seeds, and it is not yet time for sowing cucumber.  But the season has started; yet, the busy months are still to come.

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It is during the winter season that many gardeners begin to investigate greenhouse gardening, as they seek to extend the delights of the growing season, and to continue the joyful pursuit of gardening year-round. And as the winter season wanes, and gardeners begin to anxiously anticipate the early signs of Spring, it is the greenhouse that is able to offer the perfect option for those eager to get an early start in the garden.

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Following hurricane Floyd in September, we received a report from Therapy In The Backyard concerning one of our customers. During this hurricane that ravaged the Carolinas, Our customer experienced 100 mph winds that tore off the roof of his shop, and blew down over 20 trees on his property. He had staked our greenhouse in preparation, and he is pleased to report that the Sunshine GardenHouse emerged completely unscathed! And he had only one customer who called to report a lost roof vent.