Greenhouse questions
Lordspudz
Hi all
New here and new to 'growing my own' veggies.
Had some success with my first attempts at growing potatoes and peas and
have been severely bitten by the 'homegrown' bug.
I am now considering getting a greenhouse to expand my veg choices and
allow for a longer growing season. After trawling through the pages and
pages of info on the web about greenhouses, I am even more confused then
when I started!
Can someone please enlighten me on a few points?
1 Which is best - horticultural glass, toughened glass or polycarbonate
panels?
2 Is it necessary to have a base fitted to the bottom of the 'house'?
3 Can automatically opening vents be fitted to replace manual opening
ones without too much alteration?
4 Is it good practice to line the house with insulation such as bubble
wrap?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
--
Lordspudz
vi...@dinky.vm.bytemark.co.uk
> 3 Can automatically opening vents be fitted to replace manual opening
> ones without too much alteration?
We have automatic windows in one, and they are the bane of my life! They
don't close completely, so in the winter they cause a draft, and in the rain
they leak and we get puddles! And one time they got so upset they managed
to force the pane in one of the auto windows to break (presumably by
stressing the glass somehow - although I could be unfairly blaming it when
it was something dropped by a bird of something else causing it).
They annoy me!
> 4 Is it good practice to line the house with insulation such as bubble
> wrap?
My neighbour uses bubble wrap in the winter to keep the frost out. We've
never got round to trying it out so far. She also whitewashes the glass
during the summer to stop things getting scorched.
The other bit of advise that you will probably get is to get the biggest
greenhouse you can sensibly fit. Don't try and scrimp by getting a smaller,
cheaper one, as you will regret it later. We wish we'd got a bigger one!
(but we made up for that by taking over our behind-neighbour's unused one as
well :-)
soup
> Can someone please enlighten me on a few points?
>
> 1 Which is best - horticultural glass, toughened glass or polycarbonate
> panels?
Piece of string question.
Horticultural glass tends to break into jagged shards (VVVV dangerous
(IMHOYMMV)) bit like window panes in horror movies, NEVER have HG above
you. Polycarbanate tends to get blown about in a wind. Toughened glass
has a tendency to shatter rather than just crack so can not have the odd
crack taped over .
If the expense is no object I would go Polycarbonate (with good
glasing bars) Toughened glass then Horticultural glass
>
> 2 Is it necessary to have a base fitted to the bottom of the 'house'?
Not necessary depending on make/model of greenhouse.
> 3 Can automatically opening vents be fitted to replace manual opening
> ones without too much alteration?
We fitted an automatic vent opener in place of a manual in a couple of
minutes and have had no problems since.
>
> 4 Is it good practice to line the house with insulation such as bubble
> wrap?
In the winter, yes (along with screening for very sunny days)
Bob Hobden
"Lordspudz" wrote >
> New here and new to 'growing my own' veggies.
> Had some success with my first attempts at growing potatoes and peas and
> have been severely bitten by the 'homegrown' bug.
>
> I am now considering getting a greenhouse to expand my veg choices and
> allow for a longer growing season. After trawling through the pages and
> pages of info on the web about greenhouses, I am even more confused then
> when I started!
>
> Can someone please enlighten me on a few points?
>
> 1 Which is best - horticultural glass, toughened glass or polycarbonate
> panels?
Horticultural Glass has a green tint and is cheaper, Toughened Glass is
clearer and safer and dearer, Polycarbonate is clear, very safe but soft and
bendy so it scratches and gets pushed/sucked out in a gale. Your shout.
>
> 2 Is it necessary to have a base fitted to the bottom of the 'house'?
>
Always a good idea.
> 3 Can automatically opening vents be fitted to replace manual opening
> ones without too much alteration?
Yes, highly recommended but do buy the best, cheap ones don't last long. Can
even have automatic opening louvers.
>
> 4 Is it good practice to line the house with insulation such as bubble
> wrap?
>
Only if you want to keep stuff over winter, i.e. keep the frost out.
>
Another point is you need vents in the roof but also vent/s near the ground
so you get a throughput of fresh air, chimney effect. Normal to have a set
of louvers opposite the door at ground level but one either side works well
too.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK
harry
wrote:
Consider too a polytunnel. Much cheaper than a conventional green
house. The plastic lasts about ten years before it needs replacing.
They have disadvantages too, you can't easily collect water off the
roof and you can't have roof vents. You can have a door at each end.
Go for as big as possible whatever, And I would recommend ring
culture.
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/todo_now/faqs.php?id=107
Lordspudz
Many thanks for the replies.
Collectively, you've answered all the questions and a few more I'd
thought of since posting.
I can squeeze in a 8x6 which should be plenty big enough.
I'll definitely avoid horticultural glass and maybe go for polycarbonate
as I've read somewhere else you can seal the panels with silicon sealant
to stop them moving too much.
Yes to bubble wrap.
Yes to auto vent and louvre window.
Off to find one that fits the bill (at the right price too of course)
:-)
Thanks again
--
Lordspudz
kay
Lordspudz;894855 Wrote:
> Many thanks for the replies.
>
>
No it won't be ;-)
That's the first thing you learn as a greenhouse owner - whatever size
you thought of was not big enough ;-)
Mine is 16 x 10 and I'm struggling - especially in autumn when all the
tender things have come in for the winter but the tomatoes and peppers
are still fruiting, and in spring when the seed trays are multiplying
but all the tender things haven't yet gone outside.
--
kay
Kate Morgan
"kay" <kay.6...@gardenbanter.co.uk> wrote in message
news:kay.6...@gardenbanter.co.uk...
> kay
I agree with Kay, whatever size you think will do, double it :-)
kate
Mike Lyle
> Harryg;894756 Wrote:
>> Hello everybody can anybody suggest me some plants which I can grow
>> in UK as per the climatic condition.
>>
>> looking forward for your reply.
>
> Best plant for what???
That's the key question, of course. But, Harry, why not visit a few of
the many gardens open to the public and see what you like? The staff, if
you can find them, will usually be glad to answer any questions you
have. You'd do best to visit the same garden several times in a year,
because of course different plants do best at different times.
Next stop, the bookshop: browse and pick up a beginner's book whose
style and pictures you like. Avoid anything too complete to start with:
you can get an advanced book later, if you want to, once you've got
things going nicely.
Nosey at the neighbours' gardens, too, to get an idea of what does well
in your area. Don't base too many decisions on what you see in garden
centres: the plants may be unsuitable, and will usually have been
produced in controlled conditions. And don't worry when things go wrong:
that happens to all gardeners.
--
Mike.
soup
> I can squeeze in a 8x6 which should be plenty big enough.
No it won't. We have an 8 X 6 and if we had the room we would
definately have gone up one if not two sizes (say to a 12 X 8)
(this eventuality is not to far beyond the realm of possibility.
'All' I have to do is enlarge the 'pad'[1] and find the money for
another greenhouse).
This size was probably OK the first year but we wished we had gone
bigger the next year.
Craftsman and probably others do things called glazing bars as a
replacement for glazing clips they are a tad wider and support along the
entire length of a piece of glass/poly rather than the three or four
places supported by clips. Have no experience of Silicon sealer used
with poly sheeting so cannot comment .
[1] http://www.cheesesoup.myby.co.uk/gh1.html
This shows just how small an 8 X 6 really is, sounds big but... .
Lordspudz
Thanks Jake & Soup
Guess I'll have to get the tape measure out again and have a re-think.
Still leaning towards the poly type as opposed to glass (the glazing
bars and draughtproof stuff are both worth looking into)
--
Lordspudz