For Mother's Day this year the kids and I picked up a kit set greenhouse from our local Costco. Teddy (I can't believe he closed his eyes!) helped me unpack the boxes today, and I started applying the stain. There are a lot of pieces of wood to work through.

While the stain was drying I started digging out the foundations. The land slopes in two directions in the chosen location, so I'm worried about how on earth I'm going to get it level. I put in the planter boxes you can see in the background, and getting them level was a right pain!

I took the sod off carefully to repair bald patches elsewhere in the lawn.

Underneath a thin layer of soil our land is almost pure clay. There is actually an old brickworks just down the road. It would be fun to try and make our own bricks one day. I've kept some of the cleaner clay from lower down aside for just that purpose...

It was a very messy solution, but I flooded the bottom of the hole to get my level base. I hopped in and scraped the clay level with my shovel. Thanks, gravity!

Here is my big gamble on this project. To be as green as possible I don't want to use concrete, or heavily treated timber (ie. containing arsenic) as my foundation. Instead, I'm using hardwood treated only with micronised copper, with a zinc wash on the cut ends. I have learnt (the hard way!) that I can expect a lifetime of only about 10 years in damp soil. What I'm trying here is to keep the wood dry on a bed of scoria (a volcanic rock with great drainage, common here in New Zealand) lying on geotextile to keep the clay at bay. Check back in 20 years to see how it worked out!

The foundation is now in place. Time to double-check its level and squareness, then start assembling the kit-set pieces on top, while my wife decides what she wants the floor to be made out of. Pavers, maybe? An interior planter box or two might be nice...

I assembled the four walls on the back deck, the only sort-of flat surface available. Luckily I just inherited a large builder's square which helped a lot. Hope I can convince one of the kids to help me carry these to the foundation.

The walls are in place! It was a huge pain getting them perfectly square while my patient helpers got less and less patient with their roles as human clamps, but we got there in the end. Roof next, and soon - rain is forecast soon!

Whew! Got the rafters and polycarbonate panels installed and silicone-ed in place after a long day in the sun. Rain tomorrow, and interior fit-out next time.