[llinx]

This year has been a nightmare weather wise. A sudden exceptionaly cold snap has left many of us with lost plants... even in the greenhouse. Now, the problem...

Heating an 8x6 is costly. Parrafin for a super warm 5 (double burner) is expensive ( About £7 for a container of fuel). Electric heaters, again expensive to run even in a greenhouse with insulation (bubble wrap).

Having lost a few Begonias / Pelagoniums despite my best efforts at protecting them spurred me to find a solution. I have a seed bench along one side of the greenhouse and a small border along the other side ( tomatoes and cucumbers are grown here). The seed bench doesnt fit all the way along the greenhouse and there is a 25 inch gap where i had an old 4 tier greenhouse that was used to store my pots, labels, small nik-naks. The side of the greenhouse is about 4 foot high - the roof tip is about 6 foot, so I have built what can only be described as a long cold frame on its side ( back section is 52" high, front is 70"). It has 2 shelves in it (made up of decking slats), that can be made into 3 shelves if more spae is needed and is covered in plastic sheeting stapled to the wood frame, with a light door at the front for access. I still use a parrafin heater (it's actually called a cold frame heater) and it's ideal for the construction (important note - the underside of the lower shelf has a sheet of tin foil just as a health and safety point so the parrafin heater doesn't burn the wood).

The idea behind this construction is to not heat a 8 x 6 greenhouse when a smaller space will surfice! It works well.

ADDITIONAL - I have to point out that flame ,heat and wood is not a good mix. It is vital to ensure the materials used are either fire retardent or coated with a fire proof varnish.

Happy new year for 2011 and I hope all your gardening projects are successful. 

[savbo]

I'll be sectioning off the end of the 6x6 greenhouse with bubble wrap, capping the bench with polystyrene board and putting the electric heater in there in the second half of Feb, to take the toms etc when I sow them...

[stompy]

If your going to section off part of your greenhouse like you say in a 6x6 greenhouse, section off the middle 2 ft section and put a double layer of bubble wrap on the glass sides.
If you do this you have got a 2ft air gap to protect your plants either side.

I found in the past that even with bubble wrap covering the windows my grape vine used to come into leaf and be hit by the frost, so this is why i used to go with the middle 4ft sectioned off in my 6x8 greenhouse and keep all the tender seedlings in there until the threat of hard frosts had passed, then the single layer of bubblewrap on the glass would protect the newly planted toms (etc) from the lighter later frosts.

Andy