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Hi

Its my first bash at growing my own this year so late last year we purchased a secondhand greenhouse.

I dont have a heater and my hubby is building me various shelves out of scrap bits of metal lying around the place so I can starting sowing.

Because its not heated I just wanted to know if I will be limited as to what I can sow in there and when I can sow it? I hear the airing cupboard is a good place to start germination followed by windowsills, but since I only have a few windowsills available didnt want to kill any new seedlings if transferring them from the airing cupboard to the greenhouse.

Can certains seeds be sown directly in the greenhouse (unheated) or are they all best started in the air-cupboard?

Any tips and hints would be very useful - any tips on heating the greenhouse without having to use a gas fire would also be useful.

Many thanks from a keen first timer.

MEW

First thing I'd recommend is check for draughts and plug them first! I did that recently and it dramatically cut down the amount of heating I needed to do on windy nights! Find lots of bubble wrap and line the inside of the greenhouse as well will help hugely in winter/spring keep the night-time temperature up. Even without any extra heating it should all help keep it a few degrees warmer than outside so give that extra push for the seedlings to be a little bit ahead.

As for heating I tend to use an electric fan heater, but will get around to tapping into my storage heater network sometime, but I have a lot there to keep warm! The other alternative is parafin heaters, not a great smell but they add carbon dioxide and water to the air which both should benifit the plants, and is fairly cheap to buy and run if all you want is to keep the frost off at night - you shouldn't need to run anything during the day

i never heat my greenhouse either.
What I do is think when the last frosts are - around here thats usually May - so you might get away with things in the gh about April. then look at what you are sowing.. if its things that can go outside in March (ie when there are still frosts) - then they should come to no harm in the gh if you see what I mean?
then i would advise buying a max min thermometer - the kind that shows what the highest lowest temp has been - check it daily, and reset it - and when you have a frost.. see if it went below 0 in your gh - thats a guide.
then lastly watch the weather forecasts.. if there is a cold snap coming and you have vulnerable plants out there.. you can bring them in the warm overnight.. and put them back when danger has past.
oh and some stuff you just take a chance with it - if you get away with it then you have early veg.. if you dont. well chalk it up to experience.. keep notes for next year and start over.