Why, Where & How We Moved Our 2,000lbs Backyard Greenhouse

It’s safe to say, we didn’t build our backyard greenhouse with the intent of moving it only a few years later. But here we are…are we crazy? Yes. Always, yes. But we are also committed to having a greenhouse that helps us reach our gardening goals. And moving it was the only way to make that happen (more on that later in this blog). So while I hope you don’t find yourself in a similar situation, if you do you’ll have this blog post! I hope it sheds some light on how we safely moved our backyard greenhouse. And if you’re just here for the entertainment, then welcome! I get that too. And I’m glad I can be of service.

Don’t have a greenhouse yet but want to build one?

I’ve got a blog for that!

Be sure to give my post Best Tips For Building A DIY Backyard Greenhouse For Cold Weather Climates a read.

Want a backyard greenhouse but don’t want to build it yourself? I can help too!

If you’re looking for the best high quality greenhouse to buy here in Canada, let me suggest Planta Greenhouses Canada.

Planta Greenhouses offer a range of heavy-duty greenhouses that are weather resistant to harsh Canadian Winters and come with a 10+ year warranty!

I know many Canadian gardeners who own a Planta Greenhouse and are thrilled with the quality of the galvanized steel frame and 6 mm double-wall polycarbonate panels.

You can choose from one of many greenhouse sizes, including;

• The Sungrow 26ft
• The Sungrow Urban (smaller backyard model)
• The Alpine models (designed for commercial gardening)

Why & Where We Moved Our Backyard Greenhouse

Ok, let’s start with the why. Why did we come up with this crazy idea in the first place?

Well there’s three main reasons why moving our 2,000lbs backyard greenhouse seemed like was a good idea.

First let me say that we do have the space and equipment needed to move a 2,000lbs greenhouse. So that removed some initial barriers.

We have 4 acres of land and about half of that is undeveloped. So moving the greenhouse didn’t require us to completely re-landscape our backyard.

In fact, moving the greenhouse to its new (and hopefully now permanent home) will actually make landscaping our backyard easier. Whenever we decided to do that.

So it wasn’t as crazy of an endeavour as it might be for someone in a city-sized lot. Or with a fully landscape yard.

We also own a Kubota Compact Tractor with a loader bucket and forks. And we knew it would be a necessary tool in order to move the greenhouse successfully.

Now the reasons for our decision….

Reason 1: We wanted the greenhouse to be more of a focal point in our yard.

When we initially built the greenhouse, we thought it would make sense to have it in close proximity to our home.

We didn’t have water or power lines trenched in the yard yet. And so wanted to make it easy to get water, run extension cords, etc..

So we put the greenhouse beside our existing chicken coop at the end of our driveway. We also developed the garden to go directly behind the greenhouse.

This spot did work for the first few years. But it had a few flaws…

The first being that it was really cramped for space.

We couldn’t really landscape around the greenhouse and chicken coop with any shrubs or trees. Which I desperately wanted to do!

Second being that we couldn’t really see the greenhouse when we were inside our home. This was a huge miss. Of course I wanted to admire my green sanctuary when looking out my back window.

So we moved the greenhouse directly center of our backyard.

This new design allows us to utilize our backyard in a more meaningful way.

We’ll eventually move the chicken coop beside the greenhouse too, then build the new fenced in garden behind the both.

Plus, this design provides more than enough room for eventual landscaping around the fence with orchard trees, fruit bushes and native perennials.

Wow, I seriously can’t wait for the day when all that is done. For now just a dream.

Reason 2: We wanted to expand and redesign our garden

While I did love our garden space, it wasn’t serving us anymore. And what I thought I wanted in a garden in 2015 evolved over the last almost 10 years.

The biggest change I wanted for the new garden was more growing space.

More raised beds, more in-ground space for fruiting shrubs and orchard trees, more pathways, more space for rows of flowers…more everything!

So if I wanted a bigger garden, it only made sense to move it to an area of our yard that would allow for that.

And with a garden redesign on my radar, the greenhouse had to move too. Obviously. So that was that!

P.S. I plan to share all about our new backyard garden design on the blog throughout this Winter.

Be sure to check back for more content covering that. For now, just envision wooden raised beds, crushed granite pathways, a water feature…perfection.

Reason 3: We wanted to pour a concrete base for the greenhouse to sit on

So once it was decided that this greenhouse move was in fact happening, we added on a few other greenhouse upgrades too.

• *Important Note: When I say “we,” I mean my husband, Justin. He was and is the brilliant mastermind behind all of our DIY projects.

Top of our list was pouring a concrete base for the greenhouse to sit on.

The biggest advantage to a having our greenhouse on a concrete is insulation.

A huge factor for us here in Zone 3 if we want to grow into the Fall/Winter.

Again, a dedicated blog post is in the works for this too, covering how we did the DIY for our greenhouse’s insulated concrete pad. More on that soon!

But you get the point. If we were wanting a new base for the greenhouse, then moving it was going to be necessary regardless.

So why not move it a mere 100ft, we thought…

How We Moved Our 2,000lbs Greenhouse To Our Backyard

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in October, neighbours watched on as a crazy couple lifted their 2,000lbs greenhouse from the ground and attempted to hoist it onto a trailer.

But no seriously, that was kinda how it went.

And thank goodness for amazing neighbours, because ours came to help when they saw what was going on.

So with the help of a friend, a neighbour and my trusty father-in-law, we started our move.

Our Step By Step Approach For Relocating A Large Greenhouse

Step 1: Unfasten greenhouse from gravel

We live in an extremely windy area and have always been worried about our greenhouse “taking off.” Wizard of Oz style.

So as soon as we built it, we fastened it to the gravel it was sitting on by using industrial-style rebar hairpins. We hammered these into the ground. And so removing them required a lot of man power (I think Justin might have used the tractor forks to get out a few of them).

Needless to say, they did their job very well! And kept our greenhouse secure through wild winds for 5+ years.

You can likely find rebar hairpins at your local hardware store if you’re wanting to do the same.

Step 2: Lift greenhouse with tractor forks

This step quite some time.

We very slowly shimmied the tractor forks under the greenhouse. Then carefully lifted it while putting supports under each corner.

Luckily, our greenhouse frame is made of aluminum. So it’s very durable!

I imagine this would be a little more sketchy with a wooden framed greenhouse.

Step 3: Shimmy, push, shove, thrust, jab greenhouse onto the trailer

Next came the very technical step of shimmying, pushing, shoving, thrusting, jabbing, etc..

This step took a lot of hands. We had 4 people working to get the entire greenhouse sitting on top of the flat deck trailer.

The guys used 2x4s here to help hoist it into the right place.

Step 4: Carefully drive trailer and greenhouse to new location

We had one person holding onto either end of the greenhouse for this step.

It was about 100ft of very slow driving to get to the new greenhouse location.

Again, having a heavy-duty aluminum framed greenhouse definitely made us feel safe about moving something so large.

Material is definitely something to consider when building a backyard greenhouse.

That’s another reason why I suggest the Planta Greenhouse Kits to gardeners. The frames are made of galvanized steel.

Step 5: Slowly lower greenhouse onto concrete base using the tractor forks

Once we were positioned in front of the new concrete pad, Justin went on the other side of the greenhouse and carefully placed the tractor forks under it.

He then gently pushed the greenhouse until the edge was sitting just off the trailer.

We again had an additional three bodies for this step. So the rest of us were holding onto the greenhouse during this to make sure it didn’t fall.

We then wedged 2x4s underneath the edge to help it come down. We also used the steel tracks we have for our snowmobile. This worked really well as a bit of a ladder for the greenhouse to be pushed down onto the pad.

From there, it was lots of slow wiggling.

Until finally, we could lower it down gently onto the pad.

Pure relief at this point. We did it!

And there you have it!

That’s how we moved our 2,000lbs backyard greenhouse.

If you are the technical type and have more questions, please leave a comment! I will get Justin to chime in with more details and specifics if needed.

To keep following us on our new greenhouse and garden redesign, join me over on Instagram & Pinterest.

Thank you for being here! All the best with your own backyard greenhouse plans.

More Organic Gardening Blogs:

• How I Plan Out My Zone 3 Veggie Garden
• How To Grow Sweet Peas
• 10 Flowers That Easily Self Seed In Zone 2-4