First winter using a Greenhouse.

[Chopper]

I am new to gardening and this is my first winter trying to do things properly.

I have a small lean to greenhouse at the side of the house. I have removed the bike engines (They didn't grow!) and cleaned up the whole G/H. I have bought one of those Parasene cold frame heaters, single flue. The makers claim it will burn for about 10 days on one filling. Sounds optimistic to me, but we will have to see how that goes.

The other thing I have done is make use of what was a snake vivarium. (My Boa died, poor fella). About 4 feet long, 15 inches deep and 4 feet high. The top is very fine mesh. I have cleared space on the staging and made a wooden support for the front of the tank as it overhangs the staging. I am using some wooden baton to make a rack inside the tank which should allow space for about 12 seed trays.

I ordered a small hanging coldframe heater which I am going to place in the bottom of the tank. My theory is that any heat that escapes through the mesh top of the tank will help keep the greenhouse warm.

I have yet to see how all this will work and how much it will cost to run the heaters. If anyone is interested I will post some pictures once it is all set up.

Chopper.

[Kristen]

I use our (unheated) conservatory in the early part of the growing season. Being attached to the house it is less-cold than the greenhouse.

Also, being part of the house it is easy to bring things into the house for the night if a really cold night is forecast.

I have a couple of those flimsy plastic covered "grow houses" which I put in the conservatory, and then I put a light bulb in there to add some warmth (although running out of incandescent bulbs!).

I have a Max/Min thermometer in the grow-house, and aim to make sure that never falls below 10C (which is the temperature at which things like Tomatoes "stall" - and they take a significant amount of time to get going again once they have stalled)

I have a small gas greenhouse heater - generates less condensation than paraffin, easier control (paraffin tends to be on or off!), and a big tank of Calor gas needs replenishing less often. But that's just me. Mine came cheap off eBay and when I picked it up the bloke gave me a couple of bottles of gas with it - so bargains to be had.

Only other thought is whether you want to put a Grow Lamp above your vivarium? A Metal Halide lamp would give you plenty of heat (run it at night, rather than during the day), and will make sure the plants down't get leggy. About £100 outlay though, and presupposes that you have / can easily get Electricity into the lean to. Plenty of info on the Cannabis forums

[chris]

Plenty of info on the Cannabis forums

lol, at least the local copper won't be an issue :P

Aye, i'd be interested in seeing some photos, Chopper.. </nosey>

Sounds good, I'm part way through making some cold frames currently - love to see a gardening project.

[Kristen]

"at least the local copper won't be an issue "

I'll be right back, as soon as I've answered the knock at the door

[salilah]

My first winter also with the greenhouse - but I've decided to run it "cold" i.e. no heating. Morrisons buckets of kale, spinach and a couple of parsley are still surviving, and I've put mixed salad / asian veg in the raised bed, under a layer of fleece to help a bit. It went down to -6 in there in the cold snap before Christmas - but everything except the chilli pepper has survived!
S

[Two_Sheds]

My first winter also with the greenhouse - but I've decided to run it "cold" i.e. no heating.

Same here, same here. If I'm paying for heating I might as well be paying for supermarket veg.

My gh is full! Trays of onions & garlic (and leeks soon), autumn-sown spring bedding, plus overwintering pelargoniums, fuchsias etc

[Snadger]

..................... If anyone is interested I will post some pictures once it is all set up.

Chopper.

I wouldn't mind a look at your setup. I too have a vivarium I was thinking of utilising (possibly even for a chook broody area) and I also have one of those small paraffin heaters you are on about.
Mine burns for about 7 days on a filling (probably about 2 or 3 litres?)

I get my paraffin from the local allotment association which is far cheaper than buying it in Homebase,B&Q etc.

I used my heater in one of those small plastic grenhouses within my glass greenhouse last year to good effect!

[salilah]

There's a short video on First Tunnels website showing them using a mini-polytunnel inside a polytunnel - and warming that (or at least avoiding frost) with just two nightlights!
Mini Polytunnels
(half way down page)

cheers
S

[Kristen]

Sorry ... but ... the presenter (talking about Xmas spuds) says "You take a first early variety ... like Pink Fir Apple ... which will take only 14 weeks"

Pink Fir Apple isn't First Early.

First Early takes 10 weeks
Pink Fir Apple takes longer than 14 weeks (I started harvested mine at 17 weeks, probably nearer to 20 weeks for a full crop like Main Crop varieties)

So I'm a bit sceptical about the rest of the information!

[salilah]

Kristen - good point! I've not personally tried - I've used fleece rather than plastic in the greenhouse, which is also much lower (12") so I've not tried the tealight idea (and I'm not always there to light it anyway!). Just thought it might be an alternative - IF you've got an enclosed area - to the use of paraffin. I'm pretty sure I've heard of others using tealights?
cheers
S

[Kristen]

Yes, sorry, didn't mean to imply that Tealights won't work. I am sceptical that just two in the big mini-tunnel in the movie would be enough, and I thought it was a bit shoddy in a promotional video ...

As mentioned earlier I have a couple of flimsy plastic 4-tier grow-houses in my unheated conservatory that I put a light bulb in to keep them a bit warmer, so I reckon a tea light or two in them would be similar.

Something else to add to my list of "comparative experiments to make" !!

[salilah]

OT - but I have a "warming box" for starting off sourdough which is polystyrene walls and roof, with a small lightbulb dimmed down ever so low - to keep the starter at around 20-25 I think! Not used for a while - need to dig it out again and start off another load maybe - it is nearly Spring after all!

[Suky]

Night lights are better as they last up to 8 hours and tea lights burn out much sooner. The other thing is to upend a clay pot over the night light, raise it slightly off the ground to allow a flow of air. The pot warms up and radiates more warmth per candle.
I'm sure this was raised last winter and I used it to keep my early tomatoes frost free.

[solway cropper]

I've got one of those three-tier plastic things inside the main greenhouse which I use for seedlings. For heat I use a nightlight inside a large family-size soup tin with holes drilled around it about half inch above the base. This allows the air to be drawn in which then rises to heat the whole structure. The actual tin gets quite warm as well and radiates quite a bit of heat.