“The Complete Guide to Building Your Own Greenhouse” is a comprehensive look at the myriad of considerations that must be addressed in order to build and maintain a successful greenhouse. Items such as location, typical climate, surrounding structures, amount of time and money to be allocated, building materials, types of plants to be raised, and much more are only some of the items author Craig Baird says need to be decided on before a single tool is picked up. He provides an enormous wealth of information as well as lessons learned and advice from the experts so that even the simplest and least expensive greenhouses can be efficient and flourish. Once he details some greenhouse history and the various pre-construction considerations, he walks the reader step-by-step through plans that range from easy to expert.

One of the drawbacks of the book is that the author does not include pictures with each of his plans; many of the plans note only descriptions of the required steps which make it difficult to imagine what exactly the author’s intended end result is suppose to look like. Further, there are some minor ‘holes’ in his step descriptions – minor in that it may not make a difference in the overall construction but still mildly irritating. For example, page 263 discusses replacing a hinge and calls for ‘golf tees (optional)’ in his supply list. However, as he goes through the steps of taking off an old hinge and putting on a new one, he never once mentions why or how the golf tees are used.

“The Complete Guide to Building Your Own Greenhouse” is a fantastic read for both beginning and expert gardeners looking to extend their plants’ growing season. The book gives plenty for the would-be greenhouse gardener to think about so that they can go into a construction project or kit purchase and hopefully avoid any negative or progress-halting surprises. Written with a clear, simplistic, and enthusiastic style, even a novice can quickly learn the basic concepts and start planning a project immediately. “The Complete Guide to Building Your Own Greenhouse” is a quick and easy read and leaves you with the motivation and inspiration to get started right away!

Reviewed by Vicki Landes, author of “Europe for the Senses – A Photographic Journal” ( )