Cleaning Greenhouse - how necessary?

[Penellype]

I'd get them fixed too, if it was mine, but it isn't. It belongs to my friend, who has kindly let me use it. I don't think its been cleaned for about 20 years and its had all sorts of plants growing in it. The frame is sound, many of the panes of glass are cracked because a tree fell on it a few years ago. It has its back to a fence on the north side, its under a tree, the east side has a jumble of dustbins, fence, rose arch and garden seat alongside it and the west side is half obscured by a large water tank and another rose arch. The door faces south. At least 50% of the glass including the roof is completely inaccessable from outside.

I've fixed what I can with the materials available, I've removed the old shelving which was rotting planks of wood balanced on uneven piles of bricks with large amounts of stuff shoved underneath, and I've replaced them with metal shelves of the blowaway greenhouse type, standing on a layer of tarmac chippings. However I'm not competent at DIY, I get vertigo so I can't climb a ladder, and the scale of the problem is simply beyond me. I intend to clean as much of the inside of the glass as I can, but it won't be anywhere near all of it.

I perhaps should add that its a 12ft by 8ft greenhouse so doing anything with it is a large job.

[TrysHard]

Pen

Just wash what you can outside a soft long handled broom from the pound shop and warm water with a bit of washup works magic.

[NatalieCooke]

Hmm. The greenhouse I am using is covered in green algae, dead leaves, bits of muck and moss which grows through from the outside, round the panes of glass and on the inside too. Several of the panes of glass are cracked and I'm scared that if I try to clean it too much the loose bits of glass will fall out. I keep pulling out chunks of moss from the inside, but I can't even reach most of the outside to attempt to clean it. So I guess I'm stuck with a dirty greenhouse, but at least its a greenhouse.

Sounds just like mine. Lucky we'll be taking out all the glass soon. Although I'll miss trying wiggles the moss out with a piece of bamboo cane.

[Gillykat]

The greenhouse on my new plot is a bit grubby so I'll be giving it a good clean this week. Will basic hot water and washing up liquid do or should I invest in some J***s Fluid to sterilise it completely? I think it was used last summer for tomatoes as there was a small piece of one stuck in the doorframe.

[Penellype]

Sounds just like mine. Lucky we'll be taking out all the glass soon. Although I'll miss trying wiggles the moss out with a piece of bamboo cane.

I've been using the blades of a pair of scissors, but I know exactly what you mean.

[Kristen]

I'll miss trying wiggles the moss out with a piece of bamboo cane.

A plastic plant label often fits between two overlapping sheets of glass, to help get the gunk out from between them