Greenhouse

[Black Pearl]

It's a been a while coming, took eight hours to build and I may have swore at it more than a few times but finally we have a greenhouse up on our allotment.

Proper shelving is a tad too expensive at the moment and I don't have any wood lying about so a quick trip to B&Q got us two pasting tables and a tin of varnish - less than £30 - and they seem to do the trick. Drilled a few holes in the tops and with two coats of the yacht varnish they should last a while until I can source something more permanent. Still need to get some gravel down for a floor, should let it drain well and won't get slimy in the wet and I need some strings laced up for the tomatoes to grow up then we should be sorted.

My spuds are coming on a treat, peas a growing well and with luck there'll be some beans up soon. We've had loads of winder onions which are fantastic in salads and stir-fry's, the carrots are in as are the cabbages, beetroot, purple sprouting broccoli and colli's. Hoping to fill the greenhouse with tomato and pepper plants throughout the summer then get everything ready for an earlier start next year.

Shot with the iPhone over the last few days then edited on the iPad tonight.

[bugmeister]

The table might be a bit saggy in the middle (I know the feeling) but that looks like a nice size to manage.

 

Just thinking of the fresh food you can get started early

[NannyFerret]

You've made  brilliant job of it too.

The yacht varnish is very good. I did the inside of my ferret night hutches with it.

Looking forward to seeing it full of flourishing plants.

[Black Pearl]

The "sag" is just the panoramic distortion from the iPhone and they seem pretty stable through I might prop the middles just to be safe.

It's 8'x6' which seems a nice size to work in without getting too expensive and to big for our plot.

 

Glad to know the yacht varnish was a good choice, hoping to be able to water the plants and not worry about the wood.

[Leon]

cant believe your discussing your "saggy" bits  on a public forum!!        I'd love a greenhouse sadly I dont have room

[Black Pearl]

I've talked about worse.

[Kobione]

Looks a great set up BP, we only have winter veggies on the go just now, and several herbs, but our area is not as tidy as yours!!

 

Should have added we don't go for greenhouses over here, it's shade houses!

[annie]

looking good bp...

 

I filled my green house with old metal shelving that the company I worked for was throwing out.

[Guest DaveW]

You may find stuff on EBAY for future staging's BP. I always find that commercial staging's are too narrow and leave too wide a path, which to me is wasted space.  My paths between staging's are only 18" wide and the staging's themselves 3ft wide, but I made them myself. Of course it depends whether you want to grow in the ground.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=Greenhouse+strings&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR9.TRC0.XGreenhouse+stagings.TRS0&_nkw=Greenhouse+stagings&_sacat=0

 

Personally I gave up growing food stuff under glass many years ago since I found I could buy it cheaper in the shops, therefore used the more expensive greenhouse space to grow exotics. If your hobby is gardening however you don't bother about cost of production to that extent.

[FUJI]

Hi, BP,

I regularly used paste tables like that for years during my Craft Fair selling days, I always carried a air of wooden braces clipped with market stall spring clips diagonally from the centre to the bottom of the legs, they make the tables perfectly stable and strong enough to take quite heavy loads.....in your case, you could screw four diagonal braces......just turn each table upside down to enable easy working.

FUJI

[Black Pearl]

Dave - I know what you mean about the greenhouse stages, many are only 12-18" which seems daft. As to growing things it's a mixture of reasons really. Partially just the fact we will have our own fresh grub, partially because the missus is a keen gardener but we don't have space at home to have a veg patch and partially because I think it will be good for the boys to understand where their food comes from, how it grows and be able to pick their own produce. They both have a bed each to grow their own things in and are looking forward to eating things they have grown from scratch as it were.

Fuji - darn good idea, I'll get on it at the weekend.