This topic contains 14 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by bluebell 10 years, 3 months ago.
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Hi Bluebell.
In January 2013 I was offered and gratefully accepted a second hand 6×8′ glass greenhouse, with a view to installing it on my recently acquired allotment. I dismantled it and erected in time to get tomatoes and aubergine in etc. Great.
From my experience, if you go to inspect a second hand glass house, check whether the panes have been afixed with mastik instead of the more modern ‘foam tape’ option. The glass on mine was the former and it turned a relatively straight forward job into a marathon during dismantling and then, even more so, the clean up – hours and hours of extra work!
Great now it’s up and in use, but if I ever opt to do it again, I’d avoid any that have mastiked panes!
I hope that helps you and good luck with your build.
No problem Bluebell. There’s little I can give advice on – I’m always tapping Charles deep mine of knowledge! – so it’s nice to give back a little when I can.
I screwed mine to a series of 2×2′ flag stones that I bought from B&Q, laid on a dry mix of 6 parts sand, one part cement. This allows some flexibility in the mortar mix which helps to prevent flags from ‘rocking’. These were laid on a hard core base that I compacted. Probably overkill, but that’s what I did. I have no experience of your possible method so wouldn’t like to pass judgement.
I also gave some thought to storm damage as our site is pretty open. I replaced some of the aluminium braces with steel – these are very strong and prevent the whole house flexing in high winds – this can apparently ‘pop’ panes out. Can’t hurt anyway. Mastiking the clips (using only a small amount on each clip I hasten to add!) can help prevent them popping out too.
Quite enough from me, I hope you have much success with your veg growing.
I was lucky to have been given 2 to me which I put on my plot. The biggest maintenance I found was the watering. Make use of all the gutters on your greenhouse.
The flags are laid to create a perimeter that the grennhouse base sits on. The flags under lap the edge of the house by about 5″, so roughly 95% of the floor space inside the house is soil. I then covered this with about 4-5″ of well rotted manure and green waste compost to create a no-dig undercover growing area.
I understand your dilemma re: lifting; I went for 2×2′ flags because 3×2′ are too heavy for me! Perhaps a willing friend could help? If you go with wood, I would treat it heavily with something like osmo oil as Charles recommends – otherwise it will rot within a few short years.
Also, the 6:1 mortar mix will not set like concrete – so if I leave the site and the next tennant wants to remove the house, the base will crumble away with a pick axe quite easily.
Hi,
Wooden frame not needed as I laid the slabs on the semi-dry mortar mix, using a spirit level etc.
I did woodwork at school and really wish I’d done food growing too!
Hi, I managed four aubergine and four tomato; one row each side of the house, under planted with basil and marigolds. All did well. The marigolds were a touch large for the aubergine but did look nice.
This year I shall do something similar re: veg but try a chilli plant at the end of the house aswell, between the two rows.
Good luck with yours.
They are a lot of work to put in but are used a lot in arid climates, in Australia they are called wicking beds. I use the principle in all my windowboxes as I keep forgetting to water them. Also used the double bucket with success for tomatoes on the patio.
Basically you create a water reservoir and fill that up directly instead of watering on top. Then you need a “wick” to help the water go into the soil above, I used earth-filled pots suspended into the reservoir. Lastly, some sort of overflow.
Because of my forgetfulness I made a wicking base for all my starts that I plant out later, using sand instead of soil, and nestling the pots into that.
I bought a set of ‘saucers’ for my 12 inch tomato pots and with the hot summer this was a great way to know when to water the plants. It ensured that the roots never dried out and I put the feed in at the top of the pot, feeding a small amount every day.
It worked an absolute treat and someone I knew also had excellent results with the ‘quad grow’ system which uses the same principle but has a cover over the reservoir.
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