Clean your greenhouse!

[pigletwillie]

Wellie and Trousers have done theirs as have I done mine.

Before you start filling your greenhouse up with suculent ready meals for red spider mite and aphids to name a few pests, take an hour or two to give it a good clean.

Not wishing to teach you how to suck eggs, but here is how I do it.

1) Completely empy out the greenhouse of everything. Plants will need to be temporarilly moved outside or if too cold relocated for a short while.

2) Clear up all plant debris, inluding old leaves, stems, even mouldy bits of fallen tomato.

3) Clear out the moss from the rails if you have any growing.

4) Spray inside and out with Armillatox or simillar using a hand sprayer and then wash off after a few minutes either by hand or with a jet-washer. Ensure you get in all of the nooks and crannies.

5) Before bringing anything back into the greenhouse add any compost or manure to the beds if applicable as its easier to do when empty.

6) Bring staging etc back in after cleaning down with Armillatox and then washing clean.

7) Get ready to grow your own in a sparkly clean environment.

[shirlthegirl43]

Thanks for the advice PW - guess it will help if my greenhouse has been built before I try to clean it though

[Matt.]

If you haven't built your greenhouse yet then I'd definitely clean it as you go rather than cleaning it once built. This is what I did last year when I got a second hand greehouse.

[Mrs Dobby]

With only getting our greenhouse in October last year we cleaned it as soon as we'd put the framework together, and cleaned the glass before it was out in, seemed to be much easier that way round! When we went to collect and dismantle it it was thoroughly covered in moss and crawling with snails, but now its the cleanest and shiniest on the plot!

[JennieAtkinson]

Mine still looks brandspanking new! although I'm sure that's not a good reason for not cleaning it!

[shirlthegirl43]

Mine still looks brandspanking new! although I'm sure that's not a good reason for not cleaning it!

Mine is still in the bundles it came in - I did manage to get it out of the boxes on my own but can't manage to dig out and level a foundation and put it up alone! OH promised to do it while he was home for Christmas but the weather was against us. Will follow the suggestion of cleaning the glass as it goes up though.

[JennieAtkinson]

I'm afraid I cheated and had mine put up by the specialists. Cost me a bit, but at least I got the foundations in properly, the greenhouse up and the area landscaped. That was last August, so now I'm just raring to go!

[shirlthegirl43]

Hah, if I could get someone to actually arrive and do the garden clearing work they quoted for I would be laughing!!! I have had three quotes over the last five years and I am still waiting for just one company to actually turn up and do the darned work - I have a better chance of getting it done if I wait for OH to help!

[Sue]

Shirley
Won't the greenhouse company do it for you? I had to clear and level the ground but thought the errection of the greenhouse beyond me, the extra cost was around £200 but I thought worth it, he put the foundations in and constructed it all in a day. Very efficient and quick.
And pigletwillie thanks for the reminder, have made a half hearted start but there is so little room what with the worms overwintering and the water butt having overflowed so mud, great puddles and only inches of space. Still I have started on the boring job of cleaning the pots.
Sue

[Poledragon]

I'm now incredibly impatient to get out in the garden and start cleaning stuff! Everytime I look out of the window and see the dead stuff hanging around in the greenhouse it's almost painful.

Except I went investigating last week and found the path to be far too slippery for a nearly 9 month pregnant fat lady. So it'll have to wait another week or two. *sigh* I'm so desperate to be gardening, I'd even enjoy cleaning the greenhouse glass!

[Shortie]

Thanks PW.

Now all I need is a green house.

What's that noise? Oh... the world smallest violin

[shirlthegirl43]

Shirley
Won't the greenhouse company do it for you? I had to clear and level the ground but thought the errection of the greenhouse beyond me, the extra cost was around £200 but I thought worth it, he put the foundations in and constructed it all in a day. Very efficient and quick.
And pigletwillie thanks for the reminder, have made a half hearted start but there is so little room what with the worms overwintering and the water butt having overflowed so mud, great puddles and only inches of space. Still I have started on the boring job of cleaning the pots.
Sue

My greenhouse was a special offer from Focus and only cost 150 - OH grumbled enough about me spending that! Don't think he would agree to a further cost to put it up. I will just have to be patient. Greedy so and so's wanted 70 quid for a base which apparently consists of a large rectangle of 1 inch thick plywood - now why on earth would I want a wooden floor in my greenhouse (or am I missing something)? Will wait patiently for better weather and OH's help.

[madderbat]

I'm now incredibly impatient to get out in the garden and start cleaning stuff! Everytime I look out of the window and see the dead stuff hanging around in the greenhouse it's almost painful.

Except I went investigating last week and found the path to be far too slippery for a nearly 9 month pregnant fat lady. So it'll have to wait another week or two. *sigh* I'm so desperate to be gardening, I'd even enjoy cleaning the greenhouse glass!

Don't you dare go out on a slippery path! could you plant some seeds indoors instead? or sprout some peas? Keep breathing, it won't be long before you can get about again.
If all else fails, clean the ktichen floor!!!

[Alison]

Always give me a really good clean when I empty it out in the autumn and compost all the old tomatoes / peppers etc. At present it's wrapped up with polystyrene and bubble wrap all over for overwintering stuff so won't be cleaning it again until I set it up for summer. Do go and clear out any dead leaves etc and have got sticky traps up to catch the odd flying insect which is making the most of the slightly warmer environment.

[srodders]

Always give me a really good clean .....

Tell me where you live and I'll be round with a bar of soap