This doesn't really cost much and it does allow me to grow quite a bit of fruit that doesn't do well with 300 hrs chilling. Sure there is a lot of stone fruit that can be grown with very little chilling but there is a lot that doesn't do well. In my greenhouse I don't have much choice. Unless I follow a specific program it's going to be 80+ most days all winter. How much chilling would you get with 80 by day and 30 by night? I don't know and don't want to waste a year finding out. And while Applenut can grow lots of apples with very little chilling many of them aren't really happy. I don't like my apples blooming in June, foliating poorly, and then not maturing before frost. He hardly gets frost all winter. My apples can't hang on the tree reliably after mid Nov. I've grown apples both high chilling and low. High chilling is better. But that's just me. Your mileage may vary.

Comments from Lowe's website: "Not as described. This pump would only work under siphon conditions i.e. if the water source was far higher than the drainage location. I returned it and purchased a higher quality pump that would pump up a few feet." and... "Piece of junk! Operates erratically. I've tried to contact the maker twice but they've never responded. The hose that comes with it collapses from the suction. You have to put vegetable oil (or mineral oil) in the thing everytime you use it. This thing is definitely going back!" Your problem with such an arrangement as you describe is loss of head pressure/flow trying to get water to your misters. In order to maintain the pressure you need to operate the misters so they perform up-to-spec, you'd need a much larger, heavier-duty pump...that'd cost hundreds. Most misting heads need 30-50psi to operate properly...the more, the better. The best you'd get with that pump from Lowe's is maybe a bit of dribbling. I wouldn't know how to do it, but it may be possible to run a water line from your house to a pressure tank, and have the pressure tank move the water from your barrel. But this is additional expense, and I'm not sure it's worth it. -Bruce

One idea would be to just put a layer of polyethylene sheet down in the greenhouse floor, with a drain hole between two slats in your deck. That would keep the wind from blowing up, send the drainage water where you want it to go, and prevent any damage to the deck. You may want to add another layer of some non-slippery fabric, such as "remay" or "weed barrier", to make it easier to walk on and still let the water out. Since the amount of heat lost through a greenhouse floor in the winter is almost insignificant, there is no need for any other insulation.

gibbsgirl, You definitely need to look into "Four Season Harvest" by Eliot Coleman. Also, you can look at "Winter Harvest Handbook" by Eliot Coleman. Basically, he says this: #1 - the goal is economically and biologically feasible, if you try to extend the harvest, rather than extend the growing. #2 - the goal also can be accomplished simply if you are choosing the right plants. You need cold hardy veggies. In general, these are the plants that do not FRUIT! Anything that you eat the leaves or root of are much better options than fruiting plants. Next, certain types of plants are far more cold-tolerant than others. If you time it correctly, and grow these types in late summer - mid-fall, they can get sufficient growth before the sunlight drops off drastically. From that point on, the plants will go semi-dormant (hibernate, as he calls it). The plants can handle freezing temps, but don't harvest, unless the temp is above freezing. A few of the veggies he mentions: Carrots, spinach, arugula, endive/escarole, beets, turnip greens, raddichio, kale and mache. Mache is the hardiest plant he says, and can form a nice base for a winter salad. As you may have noticed most of these are leafy greens. I guess mostly what you will get is salad fixings, with a few others. I wish I could speak from experience with these, but I am in the very infancy of this myself. I have just learned about these books, and wasn't able to plant early enough to have the plants for this year. The key is to HARVEST throughout the calendar, not to GROW throughout the calendar. Choosing correctly, as you seem to understand by your opening question, is the key.