New greenhouse selection

[Davdandy]

Greenhouse now up and running,still missing the louvre window and an auto vent but other than that its all ready.
And still got the staging to setup,which i will be looking into tomorrow.A visit to B@Q might do the trick.

I will also get a couple of growbags as my toms are starting to outgrow the pots.

[seasprout]

You'll be harvesting next week at his rate.!

[Davdandy]

Done one side of staging,just needs a few touches to strengthen it up but its cheap and it works.

I`ll get around to doing a few snaps later in the week and you can tell me if its good or bad.

[chris]

Sorry to dig this up (ho ho ho !) again, but I'm in the same boat now. I've chosen the greenhouse (90% sure it's the poplar from the green house people), curious to know why polycarbonate is suggested over toughened glass when you have little ones? (we've a 6 month old) - will toughened glass break (daft question.. I know, but what sort of force will be needed to break it?)

Have looked at the polycarb ones, and they just seem a bit filmsy?

If I'm going to buy one, I want to get a decent one, as in the past I've bought cheap stuff, and it's always been a pain in some way or another so happy to stump up the cost for a decent one.

nomates - that staging looks great. I'll give it a go too.. Just curious as to what you'd grow beneath it though?

Initially I was planning on getting some eco base to put it on, but now I see more and more greenhouses that are straight on the ground (how do you fix them down?) it's appealing to me more so. I'm planning to site it on a grassed side lawn at the moment, once it's levelled out, what do you do about a pathway up the middle? Remove the grass and put down chippings, or slabs?

[seasprout]

Greenhouse.

- will toughened glass break (daft question.. I know, but what sort of force will be needed to break it?)

Yes it will break into thousands of crumbly bits, like popcorn. I got a GH from the Greenhouse people with toughened glass, they said football no, Cricket ball yes to the what will it take to break it question.

Initially I was planning on getting some eco base to put it on, but now I see more and more greenhouses that are straight on the ground (how do you fix them down?)

Drill it into slabs or other decent base, it will move although only a bit in high winds. My base is on thin concrete slabs not drilled down cos I was too impatient, it has moved several inches in the last 2 years.

What do you do about a pathway up the middle? Remove the grass and put down chippings, or slabs?

What ever you want, chippings will need raking back into position, and will stick to boots, but it is cheap.

I have some 2X2 slabs down for my path, just placed, so I can always move them if needed. Easy to sweep and water for damping down in hot weather.

My I suggest to try and get a side vent for your greenhouse as well, makes a big difference in hot weather and the fight against fungal problems. All the best.

[chris]

Thanks Eric,

I don't understand how the base should fix to the lawn though, if I still want to plant in the borders? Do you only fix to the edge of the slabs to allow maximum planting room?

Breaking into popcorn sounds much better than shards Thanks for that info.

[Westlakeit]

Hi my first post here and I thought i would just put my two pence in :-)

Just got an 8x6 Simplicity Shugborough from The Green House People (Online Greenhouses, same company) with toughened glass. only took 5 days to arrive, great company to buy from. Took a day to erect this weeknd. I decided to put a proper base down this time as our last greenhouse, a gardman with twin wall polycarbonate blew away in the wind last year!! I would really recommend toughened glass and a proper base.

Now for some staging and heating . . .

[Nes]

Sorry to dig this up (ho ho ho !) again, but I'm in the same boat now. I've chosen the greenhouse (90% sure it's the poplar from the green house people), curious to know why polycarbonate is suggested over toughened glass when you have little ones? (we've a 6 month old) - will toughened glass break (daft question.. I know, but what sort of force will be needed to break it?)

Have looked at the polycarb ones, and they just seem a bit filmsy?

If I'm going to buy one, I want to get a decent one, as in the past I've bought cheap stuff, and it's always been a pain in some way or another so happy to stump up the cost for a decent one.

I'm in the same boat. I've 3 children, 6, 4 years and 2 months, so obviously want them (and the greenhouse!) to be safe, but am concerned that the polycarbonate option will be flimsy and deteriorate more quickly than toughened glass. As our garden isn't really big enough for cricket games, I'm heavily leaning towards the toughened glass option. Glad to hear that a football wouldn't break it, so am now reasonably happy.

I'm thinking of going for an elite greenhouse, which has extra bracing and with bar capping, as although our garden isn't normally too windy, it can occasionally get some pretty strong gusts eddying around, and I don't want the thing falling over or being blown apart!

[jaykay]

My greenhouse faces south, but is boxed in on three sides. 2 sides are next to fence panels (with space to walk between fence and greenhouse) and the third side was made using a 2.4m long by 1.8m high trellis. The trellis stops the children running into the greenhouse, kicking balls into the sides etc, without blocking much light. The greenhouse has been there for three years now, and (fingers crossed) we've never had one broken glass pane. And that's with 4 kids, 2 of them boys!

[hmk]

Hi,

I haven't posted recently (dead computer etc) but we're also looking at our first greenhouse.
We have 3 children but they're getting old enough to go to a nearby park/field area to play cricket etc (not enough space for that in our garden either!) so we've decided on toughened glass rather than P/C. I've read P/C will cloud over time.

Has anyone found any advantages or disadvantages of cedar over aluminium other than the obvious price and maintenance?

It will be right in the line of vision from our kitchen/dining/family/everything but the TV room,and next to the patio, so I want something reasonably nice to look at (not paying for twiddly bits though!) and I have read of other benefits of cedar, like more stable temperature, but just wondered if anyone else has/used to have one?

I've drooled over the Alton catalogue, but The Greenhouse People have one for quite a lot less.

TIA
HMK

[chris]

I'm errecting a fence along the "back" of where the GH will be, and the left hand side when facing it is walled by a load of firs - I may keep these, or move them elsewhere (for the 2nd time!) and fence up that side too... so I'm not really that bothered about it blowing away - it's to the side of my house, with a detached garage also sheltering it from any heavy winds. If it did uproot and blow away it woldn't go far anyway

But still, are they just rested on the ground then if they're straight into the lawn? I want to get it sorted ASAP - I'm defo not laying slabs, I've done that in the past with my old man and vowed NEVER to do it again!

So it's either the eco base or direct into the lawn, incase I decide to plant in the borders.