Alternative to greenhouses?

[lynseyt]

hello there, I am a newbie here and would like some advice on greenhouse or not. My sad long story is that we have lots of space and have built lots of raised beds in our garden, planted fruit trees etc etc and the crowning glory was to be a greenhouse which darling hubby bought for me as a christmas pressie. Spent a whole weekend putting it up and it was promptly ripped to shreds in those Feb (?) gales. The mistake I now realise we made was that hubby not being the gardening type thought that the polycarbonate one would be just the ticket as we have children and numerous animals so glass wasnt really an option and despite having a nice big garden there was only really one place to put up a greenhouse. Looking to replace the original greenhouse i have found this forum invaluable for advice but have come to the conclusion that unless I pay in excess of c£400 (which simply cannot afford) I wont be able to have a greenhouse as 1) needs to be very safe and 2) needs to be very strong as very exposed site. ANy ideas as to what I can do?? Do I need a greenhouse? I currently have half a dozen trays scattered on window sills - will this work just as well? What about mini greenhouses? ANy good? What about just using cloches?? Help.........

[sewer rat]

Hi Lynseyt
First off welcome to the Vine.
Re your greenhouse problem. It all really depends on what you wanna use it for - if it is just raising seeds then a small multi tiered plastic one would be fine - you can even put a small fan heater in the bottom of them should you so wish -but don't turn it up high !
If you wanna grow crops in it, you could look at getting a small domestic polytunnel - much cheaper than a greenhouse of equivalent size. Have a look at First Tunnels or Northern Polytunnels for an idea on prices and sizes available. These companies quite often have special offers on garden size tunnels.
Hope this is of some use,

[Alice]

Hello Lynseyt and welcome to the vine. Look forward to hearing what you are growing in your raised beds.
Shame about your greenhouse. I think cold frames could work just as well for you and you can go for home made jobs. The prices in garden centres are ridiculous for not very good frames.
Or you could go for dual purpose home made jobs - cloches for the raised beds which will act as cold frames for trays etc when nothing is planted there. Good luck with the project.

[Snadger]

I too garden on an exposed windy site and had toyed with making a sunken greenhouse I saw once in a garden.
Basically the bottom half say, three or four foot is below ground and you enter green house down steps and through door. Your growing beds are at waist height and you grow the likes of tomayoes etc up the short sides and over the ridge! From ground level there are no large flat areas for the wind to grab at, and I imagine they would be warmer than a tradirional greenhouse.

Aint got a photograph to show you, but they do look impressive!

[Geordie]

I would try asking for one on your local 'freecycle' site, even if you get one that has glass in you can replace this with polycarb.

Eg 2'x2' polycarb sheet is about £4 each, sell the 2'x2' glass for £1 each so helps to lower cost of polycarb.

[nick the grief]

I too garden on an exposed windy site and had toyed with making a sunken greenhouse I saw once in a garden.
Basically the bottom half say, three or four foot is below ground and you enter green house down steps and through door. Your growing beds are at waist height and you grow the likes of tomayoes etc up the short sides and over the ridge! From ground level there are no large flat areas for the wind to grab at, and I imagine they would be warmer than a tradirional greenhouse.

Aint got a photograph to show you, but they do look impressive!

I know exactly what you mean Snadger and the only problem is water. You have to have a good drainage system around them otherwise it becomes a pond

This might help

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/088266211...ZRPQT194Y14FX&

I've got a picture of one in a book somewhere

[rustylady]

You say it was polycarb, Lynsey, but from the damage you describe it sounds more like plastic sheeting. Polycarb is usually fairly rigid glass substitute. Would it be an option to re-cover the greenhouse?

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi Lynseyt, and a warm welcome to the madhouse!

We got our 10' by 8' aluminium greenhouse for free from fridayadz, a site a bit like freecycle, for nowt, so I'd have a scout around and see if you could also get one for free first!

If not, then I'd be inclined to take a look at a polytunnel, one of the other grapes, Pigletwillie, has an absolutely fabulous polytunnel that he made for about £120, he's going to be featuring it in one of the gardening mags soon, so there may well be some info around in the very near future! I know Mr D and I were so taken with his pt that we both decided that it may well be something we decide to invest in at some time in the future!

[Hans Mum]

i got a poly tunnel (3mtr x 2mtr) on offer for £165 delivered, (a combined birthday & christmas pressie) i know its a lot of money but figured it was worth the investment as i didnt want glass and the polycarb ones always seem to get a bad review, anyway i love it & cant wait to harvest from it

[dexterdoglancashire]

Hi lyndseyt and welcome to the vine! Im so sorry to hear about your greenhouse. Other grapes have given the advice I would give you earlier on. Good luck and let us know how you get on. Best wishes Bernie aka Dexterdog