Paul Simon: Hi! I am Paul Simon, Landscape Horticulturist with the National Gardening Association and today we are talking about how to build a small greenhouse. And now, we'll discuss building our end walls and door frame for our greenhouse.

In this segment, we are using plywood sheeting at one end to construct our end wall for our greenhouse.

In lieu of plywood sheeting, you could use polycarbonate panels. Polycarbonate panels are lightweight, they are easy to cut, and it will also allow sunlight to pass through into your greenhouse. So it's a good alternative as well. But we are using plywood sheeting at one end today, and it's on a shady side of our greenhouse, so we still get sunlight into our greenhouse as well.

The first step to construct your end walls is to design and match the plywood sheeting to the curve at the end of your greenhouse. To do this, we will hold out the plywood sheeting in two sections at one end of our greenhouse and with a sharpie marker, draw the outline of the curve along the pipe formed arc on to the plywood sheets.

Once you have marked the outline of the greenhouse on to your plywood panels, you will need to mark the location for your door opening onto the centered sheets.

Using a new or used wood screen doors as a template, place the door alongside; the edge of your plywood panels, and trace out the door opening. Remove the template; the door in this case and draw an additional line about 3/8th of an inch outside your marks template line. You are now ready to cut the plywood sheeting along the outer line of your door.

Pre-drill the corners of the door with a one-quarter inch wood drill bit first before cutting out the door opening. Be sure to wear safety goggles when handling a jigsaw. After cutting the door opening, we will then cut the plywood curve, that we mark using a hand-held jigsaw.

Next, we will draw one-quarter inch holes along the top of each curve panel. Using a quarter inch drill bit, drill one hole at each corner and one in the middle along the top of each panel. Also drill the holes at least one-inch from the edge of your panels.

For your door opening, construct a wood frame using 1/4 or 1/3 material just around either side of the opening you cut for the door. Secure the frame using one-and-a-quarter inch galvanized screws. You can now secure the door to the frame using at least 2 screen door hinges.

Keep in mind, depending on size and type of door or if you are recycling a larger heavier door, it may be best to use 2/4 lumber on one side of your door frame instead of the 1/4 or 1/3 lumber. You can now secure the plywood panels to the end of your greenhouse. Hold each panel in place, and zip tight the panels to two to three quarter inch PVC frame. When securing your end panels together, use 1/3 or 1/4 framing material and one-and-a-quarter inch galvanized deck screws.

Place the screws in a zigzag pattern about 12 inches apart down the end of the seam.

Okay, so that's it on constructing the end-walls and door frame. Up next, I will show you how to construct the base frame.