Ooops!

[dexterdoglancashire]

This morning when I went into my greenhouse I discovered a completely new way to provide shading, albeit a little early in the growing calendar.......

I lit my greenhouse paraffin heater as normal last night, shut the door and forgot all about it......

Opened the door this morning, and thought wow! it's a bit foggy in here!

Guess who had the wick of the heater a little too high? my lovely greenhouse, plants, seedlings, potting table, leaves, seedlings, greenhouse glass etc etc etc all had a lovely coating of soot!

At least I know where the cobwebs are now - they look lovely in a very dark shade of grey!

Bernie aka Dexterdog

PS If you must laugh, please do it quietly, otherwise I may hear you! LOL!!!

[TPeers]

Oh well, it should deter the snails......

[Eternal Sunshine]

Oh no Bernie! Are your seedlings ok?

[Snadger]

Good job you didn't have a nap in the greenhouse! You would have finished up looking like a chimney sweep with two white areas around your eyes, I can picture it now!!

PS Happened to my neighbour a few weeks ago, had to laugh I'm afraid!

[rustylady]

OOPS!!! Hope the plants are OK

[dexterdoglancashire]

To be fair I had to laugh myself!!!!

Yes, everything OK - I sprayed the plants and seedlings down which got rid of the soot but Ive left the greenhouse till later!

Got a funny look from the girl on the checkout at the supermarket this morning (after the greenhouse check) and I realised I had soot down my arm, and was trying to rub it off with a wet finger, yet trying to be as normal as possible! LOL!!!

Bernie aka Dexterdog

Wots this strange sooty mark on my nose?

[Alice]

You're more well balanced than me DDL. I would have been greetin' .

[Norm]

Yo Bernie. Funnily enough, I did that 2 weeks ago. Same as you, I washed everything down and it's all doing fine. However, I did clean the glass.

[terrier]

I heard on Gardeners Q Time ( can't remember who said it) that paraffin heaters kill more plants than they save!

[dexterdoglancashire]

I'll clean the glass today, seeing as its raining and I dont fancy weeding!

Bernie aka Dexterdog

[Snadger]

I heard on Gardeners Q Time ( can't remember who said it) that paraffin heaters kill more plants than they save!

Got to disagree with that one terrier! I have an allotment greenhouse so I am limited to the heating methods I can use. Only a choice between bottled gas (expensive) and paraffin.
I also have a wood burning stove which is invaluable!

I have three parrafin heaters but the one I use mostly is a small one that just about keeps the frost off. 2 litres of paraffin burns for 14 days so it's very economical as well. It has a flat wick so the wick area is a lot less than the others and has never 'blackened' the greenhouse. I stick a glow tube off one of the other heaters on top and this helps to give conducted as well as convected heat. I haven't been bothered with the water vapour that plagues bigger heaters and the carbon dioxide given off is actually good for the plants.

By using the small paraffin heater backed up with the wood burning stove on cold nights and an electric windowsill propagator at home, I have managed to grow all my requirements for my two allotments very cheaply!

[nick the grief]

It happens to everyone at some stage DDL. I think they should be OK as it haappened to one of the lads in the Chrysanth club last year and he had some of the best blooms for a long time...... He hasn't done it again this year though