Prickly Point

Build log

Greenhouse

Prickly Point is getting a greenhouse: a Vego 8.5′ × 12.5′ Victorian polycarbonate kit on a 6×6 timber frame, set on a bed of gravel and sand. This page follows the build from bare dirt to benches.

From the ground up

The foundation

Vego's kit needs no poured slab; its aluminum base bolts straight to a timber frame. That frame has two jobs: stay dead level so the panels seat without stress, and hold the greenhouse down against wind. Each layer handles part of that.

Cross-section

  1. Greenhouse baseVego's integrated aluminum base rail, bolted straight to the top of the timbers. No separate sill needed.
  2. 6×6 timber frameGround-contact pressure-treated landscape timber running the full 42 ft perimeter, plated and bolted at every joint and pinned down with rebar.
  3. SandA screeded leveling layer, so the whole frame sits dead flat end to end with no rocking.
  4. GravelSpread across the whole dug-out pad. It drains fast, so the wood never sits in water.
  5. Native soilSod and organics stripped, undisturbed soil left in place underneath.

Step by step

The build

7 of 10 steps done

  1. 01

    Pick the greenhouse

    Done

    Settled on Vego's 8.5′ × 12.5′ Victorian: an aluminum frame that won't rot, polycarbonate panels that soften the Los Angeles sun, roof vents, and double doors wide enough to carry benches through.

    • The Vego greenhouse kit delivered on a shrink-wrapped pallet beside the side gate
    • 101.6″ × 150.6″ outside, 98″ × 147.1″ clear inside
    • 6′2″ sidewalls, 8′10″ at the peak
    • 46″ double door
  2. 02

    Layout and site prep

    Done

    Called 811 before digging, set batter boards about 3 ft outside the footprint, and pulled string lines to the greenhouse's outer edge. Then stripped the sod, dug out the whole pad, and raked and tamped the soil flat. The dig turned up chunks of old, rotted tree root and a buried low-voltage lighting cable along one edge.

    • A tall columnar cactus dug out of the bed beside the footprint, roots exposed, lying on the lawn
    • Orange string lines staked out over the lawn, with the first strip of sod cut back
    • Close-up of a staked corner, with sod peeled back along the string line
    • Stripped sod stacked on a tarp next to a wheelbarrow of soil, the cleared pad behind
    • The pad cleared down to bare soil inside the string lines
    • The raked pad with a hand tamper, and a 6×6 timber and level along one edge
    • The excavated pad measured out with a tape, a timber laid along the edge
    • A wheelbarrow of old tree roots dug out of the pad, the excavated footprint behind it
    • A low-voltage lighting cable uncovered at the edge of the dig
    • Footprint squared until both diagonals read 181.7″, within ¼″
    • Cleared pad about 10′6″ × 14′7″, a foot of margin on every side
  3. 03

    Gravel base

    Done

    The gravel and sand came in 9 cu ft bulk bags. Gravel went down across the whole dug-out pad, so the foundation drains and the wood stays out of standing water.

    • Four bulk bags of gravel and sand dropped in the driveway
    • Gravel half spread across the excavated pad
    • Gravel covering the whole pad, with a timber laid alongside
  4. 04

    Sand leveling layer

    Done

    Spreading sand over the gravel around the perimeter, where the timbers will sit, then raking and screeding it to a dead-level bed. The frame gets leveled as one continuous run, so this layer is what makes all four walls agree.

    • A wheelbarrow of sand beside the pad, sand spread around the edge of the gravel and a tamper in the middle
    • Sand raked around the full perimeter of the gravel pad, a timber and level beside it
  5. 05

    6×6 timber frame

    Done

    Five 10′ timbers make the whole perimeter. The long walls run through corner to corner, the end walls fit between them, and each long wall picks up a short splice to reach 150.6″. Each one was cut, pre-drilled for rebar, and brushed with preservative on every cut end and hole, then set on the sand bed, leveled, and plated and bolted together into one frame.

    • A strapped bundle of 6×6 timbers dropped by a forklift at the curb, next to a bulk bag of gravel
    • Five stained 6×6 timbers laid side by side on the decomposed granite beside the pad
    • A tape measure run down a 6×6 on sawhorses to about 105″, with a speed square and carpenter's pencil at the end
    • A length of rebar test-fit upright in a hole drilled through a 6×6, the cordless drill and auger bit beside it
    • Two drilled 6×6 timbers on sawhorses with fresh preservative brushed around the holes and cut ends
    • The finished 6×6 frame set on the sand bed, nail plates at the corners and gravel showing in the middle
    • End walls cut to 90.6″, splices to 30.6″
    • 6 butt joints (4 corners, 2 splices), each with a Simpson nail plate against racking
    • Every joint backed by a ½″ × 7″ through-bolt, counterbored so the head sits flush under the aluminum base
  6. 06

    Pin it down

    Done

    Drill straight through the timbers and drive ½″ × 2′ rebar into the ground below, roughly every 3 ft plus a pair at each joint. That's what holds the frame against wind and shifting instead of a concrete footing.

    • A length of rebar standing up out of a drilled hole in the frame, a flush counterbored bolt in the corner timber
    • About 26 rebar pins
  7. 07

    Floor

    Done

    With the frame pinned, the inside got its floor ahead of the greenhouse going up. Crushed gravel filled the frame nearly to the top of the timbers, steel edging was staked in to outline the center walkway, and pea gravel went down on both sides, under where the benches will stand, so the two don't mix.

    • The timber frame filled edge to edge with pale crushed gravel, bolt heads flush along the timbers
    • Black steel edging strips laid out on the gravel with a tape measure, rubber mallet, stakes, and a kneeling pad
    • The finished floor: a pale gravel walkway down the center, edged in black steel, with tan pea gravel on either side
    • Walkway 34″ × 115″ down the center
    • Pea gravel about 2″ deep under the benches
  8. 08

    Assemble the greenhouse

    Planned

    Bolt the aluminum base directly into the timber top, then build up the walls and gable ends, set the roof and its polycarbonate panels, and hang the doors, vents, and gutters.

  9. 09

    Benches

    In progress

    Three-tier benches wrap both side walls and the back wall in a U, leaving the door wall open. Each run is two modules short enough to carry through the door. A friend from the Los Angeles Cactus & Succulent Society built them: the parts were cut and framed up in their shop, stained after a test on scrap, and assembled into modules, each with a slatted worksurface, a wire-mesh lower shelf, and braced back posts carrying the top shelf. They’ve now been trucked over and are waiting for the greenhouse to go up around them.

    • Freshly cut 4×4 bench legs stacked on sawhorses in the shop
    • Unstained bench frames assembled on the shop floor
    • Two scrap boards showing the dark brown stain test
    • Stained bench legs leaning against a wall to dry
    • Stained bench frames and braces leaning against the shop wall
    • A finished bench module in the shop: stained wood, slatted top, wire-mesh lower shelf, and braced posts
    • Several finished bench modules lined up together on the shop floor, ready to move
    • Two people easing a bench module off a stake-bed truck's liftgate at the curb
    • 8″ storage shelf, 34″ worksurface, and a 12″-deep top shelf at 56″
    • 30″ deep at the base, with a 38″ aisle down the middle
    • Six modules: four at 58″ for the sides, two at 48″ for the back
  10. 10

    Finish and move in

    Planned

    Run the gutter downspout to the rain barrel, recheck the doors and vents once everything settles, then bring in the plants, heaviest specimens toward the back bench.

Kitting it out

Accessories

The extras picked up alongside the kit to make the space work for the collection.

Why bother in Zone 10b? Los Angeles rarely freezes, but winter rain rots dormant cacti, and seedlings want steadier warmth and humidity than an open shelf gives them. A greenhouse lets the collection stay dry through the wet months and gives seed-grown plants a protected place to size up.

  • The collection, waiting for its new home: rows of potted cacti and succulents covering a patio table