New Greenhouse Advice

[dbsevern]

Having moved house and got veg patch dug over and in cultivation in first year, I am now ready to start my growing in earnest. To that end I am about to purchase a greenhouse. I can fit a 6 x 8 in on the last part of the veg patch, and have pretty much settled on the Greenhouse People as the suppliers, but I now find myself in a quandary about which to buy. I have it down to three -
the Simplicity Stramshall Polycarbonate - which comes in at £437 with louvre and auto-openers for vent:
https://www.greenhousepeople.co.uk/g...rbonate-green/
The Simplicity Stramshall starter pack - this is the same greenhouse as above, but with toughened glass, and comes in at £494:
https://www.greenhousepeople.co.uk/g...special-offer/
Finally we have the Simplicity Shugborough starter pack - same as above, but taller and costing £549:
https://www.greenhousepeople.co.uk/g...arter-package/

I am 6'2" tall, so am concerned the Stramshall ones will be too small for me to work in comfortably. What are the enlightened opinions on the merits of polycarbonate over toughened glass and the merits of taller greenhouse for tall people - is it going to be worth the extra £100 or so to get a taller one with toughened glass if I can afford to?
Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[veggiechicken]

Hi and welcome to the Vine
A couple of things to think about - if you have children who play football then polycarb or toughened glass would be safer.
You can raise the height of a GH by sitting it on blocks or timber base but this may gie you a higher threshold to step over to get in to the GH.
Another way to gain extra headroom is by lowering the central path in the GH.
Your choice really!

[Scarlet]

Toughened glass all the way for me! It's brilliant, no worries about footballs, kids or serious weather.
As for the height, as VC said you can raise it up on blocks...thoigh if you save those pennies up you could do both - raise it up on blocks and have the tall one, extra height for tomatoes.

[WendyC]

Another vote for toughened glass. Can't comment on height.

[johnjohn]

We bought an extra tall 6x8 polycarbonate from Waltons, I'm 6'3" and found the height fine. I didn't raise it higher because I knew full well that the extra height step over would be an accident waiting to happen! Lowering the central path is a great idea but wasn't necessary for me.
We chose polycarbonate because at the time the kids were small so were taken in by the safety aspect but also funds were tight and it offered what we thought was the safer cheaper option.
I wouldn't buy polycarbonate again. Whilst others have been able to secure the panels successfully with mastic, silicone etc even using quality stuff we suffered damage in high winds and there are high winds every year. It became necessary to add structure in the form of battens to secure the panels which is something I would be happy to do at the plot but aesthetically at home it was poor - just looked shabby. I appreciate that some people wouldn't mind about this of course.
If I was to purchase again for home I would never buy polycarbonate but go for toughened glass. We saved up and bought a polytunnel for the plot and took down the greenhouse which is now a strawberry cage at the allotment.
Good luck with whatever you do, welcome to the Vine and don't hang around, those offers end today.

[fishpond]

Toughened glass for me everytime.
1) My safety if I should stumble/fall.
1a) Nowhere near as fragile as horticultural glass for initially fitting---so no breakage.
2) It is heavy so adds to the stability of the g/house---useful in high winds.
3) It keeps any heat in far better than horticultural glass.
4) Should last a lifetime.



Poly is prone to going brittle and needs replacing every few years, it is also quite fragile when it is brittle.

Just my experience.

[dbsevern]

Thanks for advise so far

Many thanks for the advice so far. My wife has thrown a spanner in the works by suggesting that £400-550 is a lot for growing some tomatoes - she has now put her support behind getting a polytunnel. We used to have an allotment and a lot of the site holders had the green grow tunnels and thoroughly recommended them as long as they were very well secured, so I need to look into them as well. Hopefully the discounts on the greenhouses won't disappear - they had an end date of 14th Feb on before, and then carried on the next day, so fingers crossed in case we revert back to them. Think I am going to struggle to convince her on spending £500 over £60 on the tunnel!

[veggiechicken]

Have a look on Freecycle or Gumtree. You may be able to pick up a free GH and keep your OH happy

I don't know where you live so here's Gumtree's offers at the moment

https://www.gumtree.com/search?featu...arch_location=

[fishpond]

Get a new wife that understands the need for buying a greenhouse.

[kazmum]

Toughened glass all the way, have tried polycarbonate, blew out as soon as the gales came, even though secured with mastic and greenhouse clips, and plastic covered greenhouse well secured, frame survived covering ripped, not saving any money in the long run going for cheaper options. Good luck.