My poor greenhouse has taken a bit of a battering over the winter months. My grounds maintenance company uses a large 15 foot long beavertail plant trailer that we tow behind a transit tipper. Turning this around is quite a skill at the best of times. Reversing it in the dark on our small holding, away from the streetlights is a nightmare. Unfortunately during the winter months it is dark when we go out in the mornings and again when we return in the evening leaving me no choice but to manoeuvre in the dark. The greenhouse took a hit on more than one occasion last winter.
Part of our plans for a new layout for Smithy Brook include moving the greenhouse. It’s obviously in the wrong place for a number of reasons including the fact that I keep hitting it. I was going to move it to it’s new location this spring but soon realised that it was in worse shape than I first thought. A decision was taken that I will have a replacement greenhouse for the new location and as I’m going to struggle to get what I want during lockdown I’ll repair this one as best I can for this summer season and then buy a new one in autumn. New will actually be second hand off eBay. Looking around on there you can get an awful lot for your money if you’re prepared to dismantle and collect which I certainly am.
After spending an hour or so straightening out the metal work as best I could it was obvious it wasn’t going to be straight enough for glass to fit correctly. A quick eBay search and I opted for poly carbonate sheets instead. Besides being much cheaper than glass they would be much more forgiving of the bent rails. Surprisingly it took them nearly a month to arrive due to Covid demand and suppliers being furloughed. I was starting to worry as I needed to get my seedlings moved on from their current pots as soon as possible. My great granddad Gillian always liked to plant his tomatoes out into his greenhouse on his birthday, the 12th May so this has always been my deadline too. I do think with the warmer climate we can get them out sooner than that nowadays and most years I will have them out by the beginning of May if possible.
The sheets took about an hour to fit. They were easily cut with a sharp knife to fit my kinks and fixed in place by reusing the existing glass fixing clips. I doubt they would stand up very well to strong winds but hopefully they will see me through this summer.
Following a good clean I could then get some plants in. I’ve planted tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines and chillies today. All grown from seed over the last few weeks. Potted on a couple of weeks ago they were ready for the greenhouse today. That has created a bit of space on my patio and kitchen windowsill and saves me the job of moving them in and out of the house according to the weather forecast. Hopefully they will all settle in and grow away nicely now they’re in their final home.
