How to Winterize a Greenhouse (10 Steps) • Off-Grid Homestead • Academy of Self Reliance • 2026, by Academy of Self-Reliance on YouTube. 6 min 1 s.
- Video length
- 6 min 1 s
- Time to do it
- 4 hours
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Empty the greenhouse. Take down the shade cloth, pull spent plants and clear the beds so you have room to work and to stack bales.
Board up the evaporative cooler end with plywood and cover the intake vents. Seal the gaps with tape or foam so cold air cannot blow in.
Stack straw bales along the coldest side, usually the north wall. Butt them tight together and go two bales high for real insulation.
Add a second layer of plastic on the inside, leaving a small air gap between the two sheets. That trapped air is what insulates.
Lock the new plastic into the wiggle wire channel. Push the wire into the channel over the plastic and work along the whole length.
Seal the doors and end walls. Overlap the plastic, tape the seams and close every vent you are not using for airflow.
Fill water barrels and set them inside near your trees. They soak up daytime heat and give it back slowly overnight.
Build a frost cloth tunnel over the figs and olive. Bend hoops, drape the cloth over them and weight the edges down.
Hang a thermometer inside and check it morning and night. Open a vent on warm sunny days so the plants do not cook.
Tips and common mistakes
Never seal the greenhouse completely; crack a vent on bright days or you will trap damp air and rot.
Keep an air gap between the two plastic layers, because plastic touching plastic insulates poorly.
Water barrels work best when they sit in direct sun and are close to the plants you are protecting.
Take care at height; a greenhouse peak is no place for a loose ladder, so use a lift or ask for a spotter.
Questions
When should I winterize?
Do it before the first hard freeze, while days are still sunny enough to warm the barrels and the soil.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
