This weekend John built a Juliana lean-to mini greenhouse. I really love it, but he cursed mightily while putting it together and this comes from a man who built models all throughout childhood. He’s not exactly lacking in the skills needed to build something in 3-D from flat components and a couple hundred parts. This greenhouse has a very simple profile, but the construction is actually rather complex. There are no written instructions, just pictographs, and the order of construction is not clear at all. Below you can see us having a deep discussion how to attach the post for the vent after we discovered it should have been attached about three steps ago.
But eventually it was finished. My job was to install some shelving; these are those basic white closet shelves from Home Depot. There are 2 rows of three cut to the size of a seedling tray; I could put a larger shelf across the entire greenhouse but I wanted to be able to stand inside. The shelves are just screwed into the side of our garage. My only mishap was catching the flesh of my ring finger underneath one of the vertical supports while the screw was going in at full speed. Sort of the equivalent of the x-ray plate coming down during a mammogram except much faster. It hurt like you would not believe. 
I think I’ll leave my bloody fingerprint on the garage wall to remind me to be more careful. The final touch is a digital thermometer. The transmitter is attached to the back wall and the receiving unit sits in my sewing room. The top number is the greenhouse temp with the relative humidity below. There is also “today’s high” (80° F in the greenhouse) and “today’s low (66° F in the greenhouse) and then the indoor temps and humidity.
This time of year we’ll use the greenhouse to sprout seeds and harden off seedlings. In the fall I’ll experiment to see how long I can get tomatoes to grow until winter.
Now all John has to do is build the 2nd one!
An excruciatingly frustrating construction project to be sure. How hard can it be to assemble something with only four sides? Well, it took me about an hour just to fully interpret the iconic language of the assembly instructions. Screw holes, what screw holes? Instead, the bolts slide into channels in the aluminum supports. But do they ever show you this in the instructions? Ikea this is not! This single design element continually rears it's ugly during the assembly process. Insert bolts, move piece, watch bolts go flying out other end. And gods forbid you discover a forgotten bolt after you've assembled the thing. Start pulling things apart and the whole project just kind of unravels. Tip: insert all the bolts into all the structural pieces first and tighten them down before assembling anything.
Many of the parts are labeled but not all of them, and the ones that are labeled are not labeled consistently. Some labels are printed on, some stamped and in some cases there are sticky labels (that probably have fallen off and stuck to something else). The pictographic instructions don't indicate whether the view is from the outside or the inside. This is important because the plastic panels apparently have a one-way UV coating that must facing out. I noted that some diagrams are shown from the inside view and some from the outside view.
Finally, let's discuss the base. Assembly of the base is a no-brainer, just three pieces of steel, two brackets and some bolts. Attaching the greenhouse to the base is another matter entirely. The brackets for holding the greenhouse to the base should be long enough so that they can be attached to bolts located along the lower edge of the greenhouse structure. Naturally they are about 1/4" too short so I had drill separate holes and use 1/2" sheet metal screws to hold them in place.
The finished product is nice and seems pretty solid once attached to a permanent structure. But buyer beware, this is not an assembly for amateurs.
OK… ignore my previous question about did you build it yourselves. This looks like a bit of a challenge to say the least! I've been collecting old sliding glass doors and have a crazy idea about cobbling them together in a greenhouse, but it does seem awfully ambitious. Thanks for the head's up on the kit!
Congrats on your greenhouse! I am about 90% done assembling the same model. What a challenge! (I'm being diplomatic. LOL.) I think I've spent more time just sitting and staring at the instructions to get them clear in my head than actually doing the construction. And ouch! Someone above said something about UV coating that has to face out? I didn't do that or notice it, and those multilingual instructions didn't say anything about that – guess I'm out of luck because I'm not starting over! I will be amazingly proud of it once it's all done though. Definitely a job for someone patient and very detail oriented.
Beverly in Montara, CA
Bev, I actually purchased two of these last year. After the pain of assembling the first one I never quite got around to doing the second. So I get to experience the pain all over again this spring. Fun.
I have to believe (or at least hope
) the second time would be easier because you'd understand the overall approach behind the instructions. Good luck! 
Hi there! I just found two of theese Juliana Mini greenhouses in boxen (unmounted) and would love to get hold of whatever instructions there are, as both packagaes was missing assembly instructions. I would be super-happy if you could mail me some photocopies if you still have them.
Emil – I tried searching online to find the assembly instructions but found nothing. Your next step should be to contact the manufacturer or one of their larger distributors.
[...] buckets of seed starting mix yesterday. The seed starting rack in the garage is full and the tiny greenhouse is near bursting. I may be forced to build that second greenhouse that’s been sitting in the [...]