Making it warm

[shewhoguards]

It is February and thanks to overenthusiasm in seed sowing (IT SAID FEBRUARY, IT IS NOW 1ST FEB, I CAN SOW THEM) my windowsills are already looking a bit crowded. I need to move outside but thanks to winter gales which picked up and dropped my poor greenhouse a few times the frame is somewhat buckled and the result is gaps around the bottom.

1) I have a coldframe. Would this do to heat it? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parasene-499...=pd_cp_light_2 Am I risking melting it and also burning the house down?

2) Is it worth even trying to heat the greenhouse or should I just throw up my hands and buy a new greenhouse?

3) I keep looking at greenhouses on eBay but Husband is not convinced of our ability to put them back up without written instructions. Then I look at cheap greenhouses but then somehow along the way I slip and suddenly I'm looking at £500 greenhouses and dreaming of allllll the space. Any greenhouse advice?

[Alison]

What seeds have you sown? That will make a difference where you can put them now and could influence you purchases. With regards is it worth you repairing your greenhouse, depends on how bad it is, photos would help.

[shewhoguards]

Uhm, quite a lot (I had a lot of spare seeds to use up and can afford to replant disasters) There's tomatos, peppers, chillis, one very optimistic cuce, aubergines, some flowers, strawbs, I forget what else. Some of them can keep their windowsill positions but it is starting to look crowded already.

Will hunt out a camera for photos when it stops raining!

[Mark Lottie]

ive got one of those parasene number 4 burners for 6 foot x 4 foot greenhouse, bigger than the one in your post with a green tank at the bottom.

It's been on every night for a week, kept it warm and is easy to use; so I reckon their cold frame heater works just as good providing the cold frame is the right size

The one you've posted is one you hang up in a tiny greenhouse, i think maybe you want to look at this:

Parasene Large Cold-Frame Heater: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors

Also think about cost - I'm not sure exactly how much paraffin I've used so far but the manual says it goes through something like 1 litre in 7-9 days if left on constantly. a litre of paraffin costs about £11-13, so it might get pricey

[bussinspain]

Go on - do it! You know you want to really!

[bussinspain]

It is February and thanks to overenthusiasm in seed sowing (IT SAID FEBRUARY, IT IS NOW 1ST FEB, I CAN SOW THEM) my windowsills are already looking a bit crowded. I need to move outside but thanks to winter gales which picked up and dropped my poor greenhouse a few times the frame is somewhat buckled and the result is gaps around the bottom.

1) I have a coldframe. Would this do to heat it? Parasene Warm Lite: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors Am I risking melting it and also burning the house down?

2) Is it worth even trying to heat the greenhouse or should I just throw up my hands and buy a new greenhouse?

3) I keep looking at greenhouses on eBay but Husband is not convinced of our ability to put them back up without written instructions. Then I look at cheap greenhouses but then somehow along the way I slip and suddenly I'm looking at £500 greenhouses and dreaming of allllll the space. Any greenhouse advice?

I so love this post! (IT SAID FEBRUARY, IT IS NOW 1ST FEB, I CAN SOW THEM)
Do seeds know that it is the 1st of any particular month or not? LOL!

[shewhoguards]

Parasene Large Cold-Frame Heater: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors

Also think about cost - I'm not sure exactly how much paraffin I've used so far but the manual says it goes through something like 1 litre in 7-9 days if left on constantly. a litre of paraffin costs about £11-13, so it might get pricey

I looked at that one but the reviews seemed a bit mixed and I was worried about setting fire to things!

[shewhoguards]

I so love this post! (IT SAID FEBRUARY, IT IS NOW 1ST FEB, I CAN SOW THEM)
Do seeds know that it is the 1st of any particular month or not? LOL!

There are rules, and they must be followed!

(Some of them MAY have been planted 31st Jan but shh, don't tell)

[Mark Lottie]

I looked at that one but the reviews seemed a bit mixed and I was worried about setting fire to things!

fair enough but dont just look at the negative reviews, people are always quicker to moan than complement when it comes to product reviews.

The one you posted has to be hung up so most of the heat is high up, which wont be too useful in a cold frame. Also it only has one review.

[arpoet]

If you can get hold of some fresh hos muck you could make a hot frame. Hos muck in the bottom, a layer of soil, seedlings in trays and then the frame covered with plastic or glass.

[shewhoguards]

If you can get hold of some fresh hos muck you could make a hot frame. Hos muck in the bottom, a layer of soil, seedlings in trays and then the frame covered with plastic or glass.

...that really works? (I did read about it but it seemed too voodooy to actually create heat)

[WendyC]

When you say your greenhouse is broken, is it actually a greenhouse or one of the tiered shelving units with a plastic cover? I would be wary of heating a "blowaway" due to the possibility of melting the cover and I'm not sure how effective a heater would be in one of them.

[shewhoguards]

When you say your greenhouse is broken, is it actually a greenhouse or one of the tiered shelving units with a plastic cover? I would be wary of heating a "blowaway" due to the possibility of melting the cover and I'm not sure how effective a heater would be in one of them.

It's a real greenhouse! (inherited from the people whose house we bought) Plastic panels in an aluminium pane, but we're in the NE and it has no foundation and the winds were bad enough to actually lift it off the ground a foot or so, shake it around and slam it back down.

I keep looking at Garden Monkey 7 greenhouse - The Greenhouse People and drooling. Might have to go do some measuring.

[veggiechicken]

HiSWG and welcome to the Grapevine
Any GH, new or old, needs to be fastened down. What is it on, soil/paving?

[greenishfing]

If you are thinking of buying a proper secondhand greenhouse don't be put off by the thought of rebuilding. If you dismantle it yourself take pics while you are doing it and you probably, depending of mode of transport, won't have to undo every last bolt.

Being a quite old woman, who had never practised with meccano as a child, I was very apprehensive about the first one I did but it wasn't hard and I've done a few since including one for a friend that had been dismantled to the last bolt and had been sat in a shed for years.