greenhouse advice
Hello all,
After a very successful summer in the garden last year, I am looking to get a greenhouse but can't afford a brand new glass one.
I currently have two of those mini greenhouses with the zip up covers, they served me really well last year and are wearing quite well. I mainly like them because they are movable. Has anyone got one of the larger walk-in versions of these? Are they any good? I only rent where I am at the moment and it seems a more plausible approach to get one of these than a second hand full scale glass greenhouse.. I can't see us living here longer than 2 or 3 years.
However, I have two worries with the walk-in version... one, that the whole thing will just blow away! and two, that next doors cat will jump on it, fall through and end up tearing the thing to pieces!
So I guess what I'm asking is: Does anyone have the walk-in plastic zip-up greenhouses? How good are they? How much should I be expecting to pay? Can anyone recommend one? They have one in Lidl at the moment, does anyone have any thoughts on that one?
Sorry this was a long one! Hopefully someone out there will tell me whats what! xx
Posts
Hi, last year I got a zip up greenhouse and was really impressed with it until we got some wind, but I do live in a really windy street - I ended up losing most of my seedlings and was completely gutted especially as this is a new hobby to me. I ended up getting a polycarbonate and at the end of last year, and touch wood, im loving it!!!Sorry if this isn't what you want to read
I had one last year spent a full day planting all my seeds into trays marked it all up a job well done until I came home from work the following day and it was all over the floor. I was gutted, I had weighted it but the wind just caught it and away it went. Mine was a 4 tier not the walk in. I couldn't weight it any more without damaging the frame. IT went over twice before I gave up and got a proper one. You may be lucky of you have it somewhere sheltered.
I had the 6 x 4 size, hammered 5ft fence posts in the ground on all 4 corners, secured ropes like a tent put concrete blocks right round the edge of the plastic cover, the wind just took the lot, i was out picking up little plants and ruined seedlings,
I
think the small 4 tier ones are best if you can rope them to a wall.
I have a walk in that I bought from Wilkinsons last year. I had no problems with it last year, no issues with the wind. I have it on my patio, hard up against a 6 foot fence and weighed down the bottom with paving slabs. It has never blown over and I didn't lose any seeds, unlike others it would seem. It isn't in a wind tunnel, but does get buffeted. When it got stormy in Oct I propped my wheelie bin in front of it but gave it no protection during the storms at Christmas (forgot!). It made it through unscathed but developed a small tear in the plastic. Before I had a chance to fix the wind got a hold and ripped it till it was unreparable. A small cost later and I have a new cover Am looking forward to growing new seeds etc this year
Like 4th Panda ive got 1 of the plastic ones & mine is situated next to a shed & a 6ft fence the other side mine has been up all time since I brought at beginning of last year & is fine.. have you looked at the walk in wonder walls? I'm thinking of getting one for my allotment only thing is im not sure what size
hope this might help you.
http://www.walk-inwonderwall.co.uk/
Thanks for all your feedback! It seems that it may be a lot of hassle as our garden gets a fair bit of wind and all the locations I can put it aren't entirely sheltered.
so after reading all your replies I have seen a secondhand 6x4 polycarb steel frame greenhouse for sale and going to pick it up Saturday. The zip ups ones seemed to all be around £30-£40 and this secondhand polycarb I'm picking up is costing me £40... It seemed a reasonable enough gamble, plus it's a lot heavier. The place where I'm planning to put it is to slot over a raised bed, do you think this will work? Sorry for changing the subject!
Here's a picture of my proposed sight:
Placing it over here will mean the raised bed frame is on the inside so the soil won't touch the greenhouse. I will put a slab down in the middle where I've trodden it down. Also, the front two length of wood will come off so I'm not stepping over them to get in!
I'd just like to add: I'm 27 and me and my partner moved into our first house a year and a half ago. He isn't much of a gardener, he only really gets involved if its a big job I can't do on my own. My parents are avid gardeners but they live on the south coast and we now live in the midlands. My point in saying all of this is that I was NEVER into gardening before we moved, as my parents keep reminding me. But since moving to a house with a fairly big garden, with two apple trees, a damson and not to mention two raised beds which I can only presume the previous owners used to compost soil for, because anything we have grown in them have done amazingly well... I have really come to rely on this website. It's actually amazingly good. And the forums have been a great source of bedtime reading so I just wanted to say thanks, to anyone and everyone on this site. It really has been amazing for me, a newbie! I never thought I would be into gardening but I have come to realise its somewhat therapeutic and definitely rewarding! So yeah... Thank you oh great forum of gardening and all its brilliant participants
We're all 27 on here, except for Dove and she's 28 now.(but she says she's 26 and going backwards. Don't tell the bus pass people)