For us it is not enough to renovate one house and to create a garden. No, we need to have a greenhouse too, as if everything else would not provide us with enough work. We wanted to taste all aspects of country life, instantly. The most important for us was to be able to harvest our own vegetables from our garden. We wish to grow tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and more of vegetables, which need the warmth and humidity of a greenhouse to fully flourish. The decision process regarding our greenhouse was long. The factors which were essential to us were not only that it would need to be practical and give enough room for all kind of varieties, which we would like to grow, but it needed as well to merge in an aesthetic way within the nature of our garden. Finally we found it, on the website of BAUHAUS*, while actually searching for something completely different. Our dream house out of glass should become the Juliana Gärtner, with a proud area of 18,8 square meter. As loyal customers we were extremely happy to be supported by BAUHAUS in the realization of this project. Especially now, during our renovation phase, you will find us often in one of their stores. Their selection is huge and what we love most is that the company has not only high quality but as well environmentally friendly products. You can recognize these products by the seal „Pro Planet“ for example.

Before we begin to rhapsodize about the greenhouse itself, we would like to tell you about the way we needed to go to get it. All began in February with putting the first seeds in the soil of tiny breeding pots. Week-long we nourished and cherished our babies. We worried that they would not be able to make it, being without us for three days. Clearly, as parents of young plants you have a lot on your mind. But to care for the tiny ones was still the easiest task. Our way to build a home for our young plants was long and stony.

We visualized it beautifully and chose the place for the greenhouse carefully. A flat area is not to find on our ground. We only noticed how steep the place for our greenhouse was while we were, in pure heat, taking off the grass sod. A house needs to be build on a solid foundation, of course this does not only count for houses of stone. So, hard working we took away soil, dumped soil and made the area flat. And this was only the beginning.

Without a notion of how to manage such a project, we were overwhelmed pretty quickly by the task to build the foundation. For this the area does not only need to be flat but the foundation needs to be embedded in the ground without any frost. This meant that we needed to dig 80 cm deep holes. Luckily, our hero Jörg was rescuing our buts another time and came with his earth auger. Never before were we celebrating to have 10 deep wholes in the ground!

Being filled with concrete, measured thousand of times with a spirit level and a yardstick, the foundation was finally let to the ground. But that was not the end of the game. Thousands of pieces waited for us to be screwed and connected. The blistering heat was continuing and during the evenings hours full perspiration, we were in company of many midges. Strut over strut our construction was growing, and finally it was recognizable to be a house. The system of the Juliana green house is really simple and incredibly thought-out. Due to this, the construction of the house was good to manage by us two. Until again there was a moment, in which we would have been lost without Jörg. We experienced huge respect to place the glass plates into the roof. Some of these plates are about 2 meters high and to control them while standing on the ladder, without bringing the glass to vibrate too much, was already nerve-racking while being the observer. In addition there was always the worry that we could have made a mistake. That it might be that one missing screw or an oblique angle could ruin everything in the end. Quite often during this whole process we asked ourselves why we were doing all of this. Why we were torturing us to that degree, in order to be able to harvest a few tomatoes in the end. But once you are in this moment, when the perfect result is in front of you, you will glow from being proud and happy, or not? At least this was what we felt like. And this was why we wanted to celebrate this moment. To experience a cosy evening between all these young plants, was indescribable beautiful. The rays of sunlight which were reflecting in the glass, the glittering water drops of the previous extensive rain, the sounds, which were coming muted through the windows but which were still creating a feeling of outside. In this moment we thought that it would be a pity to give the greenhouse completely to the plants. Our dearest Jörg Schlinke gave even more to us for this occasion. With his Glow-Writing he created a wonderful, temporary installation in our greenhouse. Holding a refreshing drink we were sitting together and we had waited for the right moment. The moment, in which the light was perfect. The first stars were already emerging, the sun was shining with its last power a whiff of red on the horizon…

After this amazing evening it is not easy to give the house to our plants. On the other hand, we are looking forward to bring them into the well deserved soil. Of course we will tell you about news and about how the tiny ones will grow. Latest, once we are harvesting we will write a detailed post on the blog.