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Lewes resident Nick Pinyoun has always enjoyed gardening and in an effort to keep his plants healthy year round, he has created a mini-greenhouse, complete with sprinkler system.
“My mom is an avid gardener,” said Pinyoun. “I guess I got the bug from her.”
Pinyoun, a cook at Lewes Yacht Club with a background in engineering, started toying with the idea of mini-greenhouses after he finished enclosing the back porch at his house.
He used heavy-duty plastic and decided the material could be used for other projects as well. He took PVC pipe and formed a frame, then covered it with the thick plastic, securing it in place with snaps. He also installed an overhead sprinkler system and found that the setup worked well to protect plants against harsh winter weather.
“The pipe is good to 20 below,” said Pinyoun. “I built this one two months ago and winterized it to find any fault in it. It took me two days to make one … all handmade.”
The overhead sprinkler pipe can be hooked up to an outdoor hose and set on a timer to water the plants even while the owners are away on vacation.
“The overhead sprinkler works real well because it’s low pressure,” said Pinyoun.
Pinyoun has researched the materials and purchased them through internet sites, and so far he is very pleased with the results and is ready to sell them to other gardeners. He said he can make mini-greenhouses any size and to customer specifications. The first one he built was about 3 feet long and 2 feet high. After he found success with that one, he decided to build one with a shelf and found material that would work at a local home improvement store. The taller one would be great for keeping herbs year round, said Pinyoun. The structures also work well to protect young plants and seedlings and encourage them to grow faster.
“It started out as trial and error pretty much,” he said. “I left it out in the snow to see if it would break or leak … I thought people would really like to have something like this.”
For more information about the mini-greenhouses, contact Pinyoun at panman007@comcast.net.
Contact Rachel Swick at: rswick@capegazette.com
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