Horticulture II. Cheap greenhouses.

[Chris Hobson]

We already had our glass greenhouse and realised that it wasn't really big enough. At this point we weren't feeling quite as flush as we were when we bought the first one so we went for a budget model with plastic panels. We have had it for a very long time so it has served us pretty well. One problem is that the panels do gradually become opaque and have to be replaced from time to time. Another problem is that, if it gets a bit windy, the panels blow out. They tend to flex and then escape the little W shaped spring clips that hold them in. I've tried making holes in them and fixing them in with cable ties but this is rather untidy and not always successful. I recently bought a pack of ten new panels which I fitted. I took the best of the remaining panels, gave them a wash and re-fitted them. I then set about applying a more elegant and hopefully permanent solution to the problem of the panels popping out. So here it is with new panels and additional wooden framing to hold them in.

 

[silver minion]

We already had our glass greenhouse and realised that it wasn't really big enough. At this point we weren't feeling quite as flush as we were when we bought the first one so we went for a budget model with plastic panels. We have had it for a very long time so it has served us pretty well. One problem is that the panels do gradually become opaque and have to be replaced from time to time. Another problem is that, if it gets a bit windy, the panels blow out. They tend to flex and then escape the little W shaped spring clips that hold them in. I've tried making holes in them and fixing them in with cable ties but this is rather untidy and not always successful. I recently bought a pack of ten new panels which I fitted. I took the best of the remaining panels, gave them a wash and re-fitted them. I then set about applying a more elegant and hopefully permanent solution to the panels popping out. So here it is with new panels and additional wooden framing to hold them in.
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Very nice solution. We had a polycarbonate greenhouse at our last property. Luckily it was in a fairly sheltered spot so the only damage we had was the door fixings which got brittle with age.
We now have a small 6ft x 6ft glass greenhouse which was left by the previous owners. We bought a 3m x 8m polytunnel last year. Still managed to run out of space !

 

[Chris Hobson]

I had to fix the door on the glass greenhouse. It had tiny little nylon wheels that ran inside the channel at the top. We couldn't find replacements so I engineered my own solution. I took the wheels out of some old castors, the box section runner is part of a clothes prop. I had to make it adjustable because the door has to be at just the right height in order to move freely in the channels top and bottom.

 

[Drummer]

We live at the top of a ridge. In the 'Michael Fish' storm one of the bungalows had the roof lifted off and flipped over into the road - the whole roof. Greenhouses do not live here, they up sticks and move three houses along the road.
I did used to do more gardening - (now I just grow rhubarb and apples) and used to look out for windows being replaced to obtain sheets of glass to make cold frames. With a few power tools they were not hard to construct, and being able to move them made them more useful - though it was advisable to put handles on them for safer lifting.