Greehouse on exposed allotment site

Hi

Inexperienced allotmenter with an allotment for a year now.  The local council set up this new allotment site about a year ago - and we got one of the most exposed plots.  Beautiful views of the hills and the sea, but it is really windy. Has anyone got any tips for putting up a greenhouse so that it won't sail off into the housing estate next door - already lost a shed that completely dissappeared after a gale...

Cheers

A few thoughts:

1) I realise your allotment is quite new but if any other plotholders have already successfully erected greenhouses that's a good place to learn some tips for what works where you are.

2) Don't buy the cheapest greenhouse you can find - structural rigidity will be just as important to avoid breakages (you will have to make up your own mind about the glazing material - some say plastic glazing is good because it won't break, others say it is too flexible in windy sites and pops out too easily - "gluing" in position is a possibility.)

3) Concrete building blocks make a good heavy base if part-buried in the ground, but make sure the greenhouse is well attached to them (long frame-fixing screws and plugs is one way but there are others.)

4) Don't have the door facing the prevailing winds - east-facing is probably about the safest direction but even then don't leave the door wide open (glazing is more vulnerable to being blown outwards than inwards.)

Good luck! 

Hiya

Thank you all!  That's given me a good idea of where to start.  Just to clarify - the shed that went was about 4th hand and a bit rubbish to start with.  My new shed is stronger and screwed into 4 heavy duty fence posts sunk into the ground.  So far so good....

our greenhouse at work (8 x 6) blew over every time we had strong winds, even tho it was well bolted down onto 2 x 4 concrete flags. In the end, we drove metal stakes deep into the ground on each corner and tied the greenhouse down with ropes thrown diagonally across the roof. Didn't look too pretty but no more problems. 

Aelf: is that a greenhouse or a polytunnel? (I would have thought that a greenhouse could only blow over once before making its final trip to the tip!) 

It's a greenhouse! We put a lot of reinforcing into the frame when it was built and it's glazed with polycarbon sheets. One gale bowled the whole thing over onto it's roof, that's when we bolted it down to the flagstones. the next gale twisted the frame so we twisted it back and guyed it down with ropes and spikes. The garden is a bit of a wind-tunnel but, so far, it has survived the last couple of gales, apart from the occasional polycarb sheet popping out (usually found in next door's garden under a bush  )

I poured a concrete base at about 4" deep and about 12" wide around where I was going to erect the greenhouse and then secured the metal base by driving hooked steel rods to pin the metal base into the wet concrete. I live in a very exposed part of Cumbria and the greenhouse is as good and stable now as when I erected it in 1983. (It was a cheap 6ft x 8ft aluminium framed job with glass rather than polycarbonate panes by the way)

Suggestions above for sleepers is similar to what I did.

Have you also thought about creating a willow fence from thin tree branches? It doesn't need to be very tall, about 3ft.

The fence should take the brunt of the wind.  As it is a porous fence, it has holes in it, it will slow down the wind as it goes through but it will also act to raise the wind up above the greenhouse.

I have also hidden my greenhouse behind my plot neighbours greenhouse, which also act as a wind break.