Would this work?

[Bohobumble]

I'm thinking today of taking my cheap mini greenhouse out the garden (a palaver as it's full of all the herb terracotta pots to stop them cracking) and down to the allotment to put inside the regular 6'x6' aluminium greenhouse.

It looks a little like this:



My thinking being that it might give extra frost protection to seedlings before going into the greenhouse.

Has anyone tried this, does it give any benefit?

Thanks!

[Thelma Sanders]

Yes, I keep my blowaway inside my greenhouse to keep seedlings warmer

[skeggijon]

Absolutely. I use one in my polytunnel.

[Bohobumble]

Job for today then!

Would putting my large propagator inside that be worthwhile or diminishing returns in terms of the light penetration?

[Scarlet]

Yes, go for it! I use one in mine too

# I wouldn't bother with the prop in there too. Use the plastic thing for your hardier plants. Keep the prop at home

[Bohobumble]

Thanks folks!

[veggiechicken]

I do it too - and leave it without the cover on through the summer to use as shelving.

[Kristen]

Can't see its going to make any difference unless it has some heat - if it has some heat (even a Tea-light) the heat only has to heat the 4 shelf mini greenhouse, rather than the whole main structure. you could throw an old duvet, or blanket or somesuch, over the mini-greenhouse for extra insulation on cold nights - all your tender plants would be in one place, so easier to keep them warmer, but other than that a sheet of polythene isn't going to keep the cold out.

[Thelma Sanders]

Logically you wouldn't expect it to make much difference, but in practice it does.

I've had tender plants survive in the blowaway when identical plants, without the extra protection, have died.

[veggiechicken]

Same here, Thelma. Its a lot easier than lining the GH with bubblewrap as i used to do!

[Kristen]

The answer, for me, is to have growing lights in the house. No worry about temperature / frost etc., and no worry wither that the plants are not getting strong enough light. Haven't really looked at the sums, but I think it might work out cheaper than trying to heat the greenhouse (and even with the greenhouse heated the light strength/quality from January to, say, mid February is still rubbish. I don't have to worry about a power cut or anything like that either - in a greenhouse a power-cut / mishap would leave me with dead plants .... even if my plants get no supplemental light for a couple of days it doesn't make any difference to their development - the house is unlikely to fall below 18C, even with no heat for a couple of days it won't fall below 16C or so.

Perhaps all the more relevant for things like Toms and Peppers which want a minimum of 10C to keep growing.

[Bigmallly]

Go for it Bohowomble, I had one in the greenhouse when I had lottie & yes it does make a difference.

[Kristen]

I think it would be worth having a Min/Max thermometer wherever the (tender) plants are, to make sure that they are not being subjected to temperatures below whatever you deem to be critical

Tomatoes, Peppers, Melons, Cucumbers need a minimum of 10C, for example.

[Bohobumble]

I think tender stuff I will sow shortly, but keep in the house initially for reasons stated, and a little legginess in toms can be rectified when repotting.

I'm thinking more for my onions/sweet peas/peas/beans; the greenhouse on its own would just be a bit too much, even tho it does make a difference in temp than outside (have a thermometer) it's been perishing here in the last couple of weeks!

I'm on a very tight budget so can't afford grow lights right now; reduce, reuse, recycle is my mantra! Well, re-appropriate is in this instance!

[Jay-ell]

You can always wrap some fleece around it when a cold night is expected.

You could also have a propagator top on the seed tray, inside the big propagator, inside the mini greenhouse, wrapped in fleece, inside a blowaway, inside the greenhouse.

It would take three hours to get in to check them through and while each layer would trap in a bit more heat it would also stop a bit more light.