Greenhouse!!!

[bonniethomas06]

Oh happy, happy day - my greenhouse was delivered at 8am this morning!

It is a beautiful 8x12ft palace of a greenhouse, and even came with some free staging.

After much consideration and the thread on here, I opted for the greenhouse over the tunnel (for now) on the basis that it is not as straightforward to raise seedlings in a tunnel. But the long term plan is to have both, of course! Also I am hoping that as it is on the large side, I will be able to grow some early veg in it as well as use it for propagation.

Eeek! Only problem is it is dark by the time we get home now, so I have to wait a whole week to be able to put it up. I think I might burst!

[Flo]

You'll survive a week. Best to do it right, get it up proper and not break anything. Good luck and have fun. At least you can spend the week reading the instructions on building it.

[diggernotdreamer]

congratulations on your greenhouse. All you have to do is make sure the base is both level and square and it should be fine. One day, when the Wizard has finished making the garden room, he may build me a greenhouse out of all the upvc windows we have stashed away, you can't beat glass.

[bonniethomas06]

Thanks Digger!
Yes, we will be careful with the base, we bought a special metal base which I am told you can put straight on to soil, though we will put some breezeblocks down and level them first - we can't cement them because technically we shouldn't be putting a greenhouse there at all (the land is technically 'agricultural') so just in case we are forced to take it down in the future, I don't want to lay anything permanent. It's a pain but we are hoping we will get away with it - next door have swings, decking and a pizza oven in their 'agricultural' land portion and have had for years!

UPVC greenhouse sounds amazing. I imagine if it is constructed from windows, you will never have a problem with ventilation! And completely frost free too.

[Green Aura]

We used railway sleepers. Easier than breeze blocks.

[bonniethomas06]

That's a good idea. Will see whatever is the most economical - railway sleepers seem to cost a fortune down here.

[Green Aura]

We bought brand new ones from a timber yard. For some reason they were much cheaper than ex-BR ones. Presumably less decorative and trendy - it was a long time ago. Are old sleepers still fashionable?

[Odsox]

All my sheds and (soon to be 3) greenhouses are all built on at least one course of 4" concrete blocks on concrete footings.
A couple of weeks after we moved here there was winds forecast. We had a caravan and a long wheelbase V8 Landrover, and I parked the Lannie across the caravan to protect it. Next morning there were grooves in the drive gravel where the Landrover had been blown sideways by a couple of feet. Now that takes some doing, so from then on I decided I would build everything like the proverbial brick sh**house.

I was gifted a 8' x 6' aluminium greenhouse and I built the base with blocks, so now you step down into it and the roof is 18" taller, which means I can grow my tomatoes 18" taller.

[KathyLauren]

Congratulations on the new greenhouse! I wanna see pics!

I can't imagine why a greenhouse wouldn't be considered agricultural. Growing veggies is kinda the definition of agricultural, isn't it?

[bonniethomas06]

Thanks Kathy, I will post some just as soon as we finish - it is currently in a perilous half-glazed state as we lost the light last night - it took longer than we thought! Despite hooking up three lamps from the living room, it was too dark to continue. Will try and finish it in the hour of daylight we have at the end of the working day - modern life is rubbish!

My hands are so sore! Those horrid W clips just mince your fingers. Strangely it has enormous rectangular panels instead of the more traditional 24" squares. Great now as makes glazing easier, but a real pain when next doors football comes crashing down and they need to be replaced.

[Weedo]

Re new sleepers and price etc. If it is anything like Australia, each timber sleeper (seems we are converting to concrete) is checked for integrity and if it does not meet specs then rejected (excess gum veins, checks, splits dimensions etc.). These are the new sleepers that turn up in garden retail, the original supplier does not get paid for rejects

[bonniethomas06]

Well, here it is, finally finished last night as the last of the daylight disappeared.

Not a pleasant weekend putting it up, but oh I LOVE it!!

Now just to put the benches together, dig over the beds and fathom out how to make a concrete path for it. Will also probably invest in some more windows, as I don't think two are anywhere near enough. I also have a low level louvre to fit but all can wait until my poor hands are functional again!

[KathyLauren]

Outstanding! That looks great, Bonnie!

[Flo]

Hurrah - it's up and ready for use. Come January or February you will be able to start out early onion seeds in there and then early flower seeds (you might need to use fleece to start the seedlings off). I had trays of stuff on the go from February last year as it was a mild winter.