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I probably won't use it at all over winter, two_sheds. Has put it up so I don't have to run around like a headless chook come spring. Of course, I have to cross my fingers that it will make it through the winter.
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Oh young Shireling, you tempt the Dark Riders of winter's blasts by standing it so exposed !
The plastic joints on these things are not tremendously strong. Too much flexing, (particularly when they are a bit older and have aged a bit, which leaches out plasticiser) and the cuffs into which the poles insert will split, which then destroys the structural integrity and normally causes tears to the canopy. (I'm an expert at these failures, as the landfill site I work at gets a lot of them thrown out, and the pattern of damage is easily apparent.)
Simple words: if the winds pushes more on one corner or side than another too much, it may fall apart irreparably. The first rule of greenhouse building: have a strong heavy base upon which it can be securely anchored. Gales are the nemesis of all greenhouses, from the best in the land to the cheapest; Mary Poppins has nothing on an insecure greenhouse !
Suggestion: Run strong cord (the green nylon sort you can buy in Poundland or a camping store) through the shelving from top to bottom, tension it up so that there is no sway at all to the framework - it must be totally rigid - and then tie down the cord to BIG heavy weights at the bottom of the wendy house. Something like old fashioned breezeblocks or kerbstones, will do fine. Alternatively, fill a couple of rubble sacks with sand and tie the cord ends round them.
Sorry if this is raining on your parade, but the usual newbie mistake is to devote more time and attention to building than to anchoring !
On the plus side, if all that ground is your plot, it really is coming along nicely, isn't it...good spade, bad back, eh !
There's no point reading history if you don't use the lessons it teaches.
Head-hunted member of the Nutter's Club - can I get my cranium back please ?Comment
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It's not too clear on the pic. But every joint is duct taped for some reinforcement. There are also broom handles sunk into hard clay deep enough, to which the frame is tired with that blue nylon Wilkos rope. This rope is also fastened to tent pegs to sort off guy rope the thing. And the trays are also tied down with this stuff. If I could I fastened everything down. I need to get some broom handles to
Further reinforce it. So I did have a half baked idea, and I'm still working on it!Comment
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Finally got the cordon trees today, and put them in pots on the 'lotment. Have put them in JI no3 with which I got caked, and made sure that they were staked. It remains to be seen now as to whether they take off. The wendy house is for the moment, still there! There was some concern today, as the wind was was blowing a hanging gale. I should take solace, that I am not in Scotland!
I did take a pic, but it is too dark. The sun had well and truly retired for the night when I was done. Will try and get an updated image soon ^_^Comment
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I should take solace, that I am not in Scotland!
True, very true. I discovered a new definition of optimism today - I put out some washing on the whirly to dry. Several increasingly wet and stormy hours later, I could have sworn I saw a navy blue boilersuit doing a Mary Poppins into the twilight, waving a forlorn sleeve at me as it went...!
I know they talk about "There is no bad weather, only bad clothing", and that's how I operate - but when there are gusts of 165mph (thirty miles from here), there is no jacket good enough for that !
I'm panicking about the state my root bed netting is going to be in. It really needs a lot more weighing down for a gale like this.There's no point reading history if you don't use the lessons it teaches.
Head-hunted member of the Nutter's Club - can I get my cranium back please ?Comment
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Well I live in "sunny Essex" and on Wednesday, having retrieved the OH's good winter jacket from storage in the loft, and having washed it immediately instead of doing it overnight on cheap rate, OH hung it on the line. It disappeared in no time!!!! So somewhere, down this road, a household has a tree adorned with a nice thick blue and black coat. I am so pleased that I wasn't the one to hang it out!!!
I have put a notice on the front fence and flyers through about 10 of the nearest houses but tis gone for good I fear.Comment
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flyers through about 10 of the nearest houses Wot, more flyers !
Seriously though, you should get onto the local paper and suggest a "Who lost what in the gale/spot the flyaway..." article. It's a good local interest thing which will have loads of people able to spot it on your behalf.There's no point reading history if you don't use the lessons it teaches.
Head-hunted member of the Nutter's Club - can I get my cranium back please ?Comment
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Well, I shall check again tomorrow on the wendy house, having heard all these tales!Comment
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Current state of play
http://m.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?f...user=746500312
What the half plot looks like currently in the cold light of day. And it is very cold...Comment
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Our next door neighbours were curious about the bit of blue showing behind their patio heater and dragged out the other half's jacket. Needs another washOriginally posted by Sanjo View PostWell I live in "sunny Essex" and on Wednesday, having retrieved the OH's good winter jacket from storage in the loft, and having washed it immediately instead of doing it overnight on cheap rate, OH hung it on the line. It disappeared in no time!!!! So somewhere, down this road, a household has a tree adorned with a nice thick blue and black coat. I am so pleased that I wasn't the one to hang it out!!!
I have put a notice on the front fence and flyers through about 10 of the nearest houses but tis gone for good I fear. but at least it's home!!
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insulate or not to insulate?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater
Where's that Sno, he's probably knee deep in hogmany...
Just wondering it if is useful to insulate the wendy house, as the new starts.
And the other thing, that I wanted to consider, was...
See that bed where the builders bag is. That is my root bed. What I am hypothesising, is sowing carrots there, under fleece. I did something similar this year. Put some carrots and beetroot in pots, and covered with a warming jacket that that I pegged in place across the top. I did have to wait a while though, before anything germinate. The other idea, that I had, was starting off things in toilet roll inners and paper pots; particularly carrots as the soil is clay. That is just more speculation. All advice is welcome.
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Carrots like sandy soil. Sowing into pots is a guessing game, because you need to transplant them before the tap root hits the pot.Originally posted by horticultural_hobbit View Post
Much easier would be to do what Snadger does: make a carrot-sized hole in your clay soil, fill it with MPC, and sow your carrot seed into that.All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.Comment
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Ha ! I say again - HA !he's probably knee deep in hogmany
No, I had actually forgotten it was Hogmanay. Winter has left such marks in my mind in years gone by... well, I celebrate each night's survival by getting up each fresh new day. Nothing more is needed. Needless to say, I am considered a bit of a killjoy, locally.
But then my parents think a good Hogmanay is sitting watching Jimmy Shand and The White Heather Club on the telly... (Please God, let it not have been perpetuated on YouTube.)
Well, the question you must ask yourself is what does the insulation do ? Answer: it retains heat, in order that plants may avoid damage from cold or soil may stay warmer despite overnight radiant emittance. (Radiant emittance is where energy/heat is lost to space at night-time. It happens more if there is no barrier to Infra Red wavelengths, eg clouds, GHG's or glass.)Just wondering it if is useful to insulate the wendy house
If you have no plants in there to warm, and if there is no soil you need to raise the temperature of, then there is no point - unless perhaps you expect not to have the chance to do it later on in early springtime.
Up here I would not expect it to retain much extra heat anyway, but where you are I think you might perhaps find it gives enough extra oomph to speed up germinating winter lettuces, claytonia, and the like.
I would suggest - tentatively, don't take this as the voice of personal experience - that you might do better if you get a builder's bag full of sand, and dig that into the top few inches of your carrot bed. Failing that, at least a few bags of builder's sand from your local B&Q. Carrots really seem to love sandy soil.
At least, the damn things are growing away in my arid sand-filled root storage drawers, popping up greenery and putting out whiskery roots, whereas in my painstakingly destoned rich loam, they barely bothered to sprout a frond. Carrot fly is doubtless a part of that, but nonetheless...this next season I am going to have much better drained, very sandy soil for my carrots. Good drainage seems to be all important for carrots.
Not sure about the salsify or scorzonera.
There's no point reading history if you don't use the lessons it teaches.
Head-hunted member of the Nutter's Club - can I get my cranium back please ?Comment
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"Not sure about the salsify or scorzonera. "
You need deeper drawers - Long Johns perhaps?Comment
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That's a lot better than being deep in humanureOriginally posted by horticultural_hobbit View Posthttps://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater
Where's that Sno, he's probably knee deep in hogmany...Comment
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