[nipper31]

My conservatory is attached to the back of the house and the garden is south-ish facing. It gets really, really hot in summer and very cold in the winter.

Would you advise that I use the conservatory to grow stuff instead of a greenhouse, my garden is too small to build one.

[Runwell-Steve]

A conservatory really is just a greenhouse attached to a house.  They are ideal for growing things in, and the big benefit is when its raining you don't have to go outside to get to the greenhouse to pick your tomatoes.

You can often temperature control a conservatory better than a greenhouse, all depends how posh it is.

[nipper31]

Oh it's not posh at all lol !! More like a lean-to really. The windows and doors are double glazed and the roof looks like corrugated clear plastic panels. I can open all the blinds to maximise the light or close them if the sun is too strong.

I can open one or both of the french doors for ventilation and there are several sockets if I need to plug in a propagator or whatever. I do start seeds off in there but was thinking about actually growing more, perhaps peppers,chillis, aubergine?

The floor space is about 10ft by 8ft approx, yes sounds just like a greenhouse on the back of the house  - probably too grand really to call it a conservatory but that's what the spec said when I bought the house 

[Kristen]

My unheated conservatory keeps a much warmer temperature in Winter than my free-standing greenhouse.  The conservatory is West facing, and in full shade until the sun can shine past the South-West corner of the building.  I think the thermal mass of the wall, plus reduced surface area to the 4-winds makes all the difference.

My propagator is in the house to maximise the heat it gets, when things have germinated they move out to the conservatory if the temperature is above 10C, otherwise they sit on the windowsill for the day.

[compostqueen]

Of course you can use it!  I filled my conservatory with seedlings last year much to my husband's annoyance. Well, he wouldn't put me electricity to the greenhouse so he now has to suffer the consequences     

[Poolcue]

I have commandered ours.It is currently full of cuttings and seedlings.When the weather improves the plastic greenhouse beckons since it gets far too hot in the summer

[compostqueen]

Might as well use them as they're just a plastic box filled with furniture. Pointless    My husband just wants to sit in it on sunday morning with the paper. The rest of the week it would just be somewhere to walk through to get to the garden. What a waste.  He did get a bit tetchy when I rigged up the pasting table and covered that with seed trays too    Also I did use the kitchen window ledges as well.  He eats the veg so ..........

[Growster...]

Defintely a good idea to use it for plants - if there's room of course!

One thing to remember is that the bees etc will want to get in and out, and at the end of the season, everything will look a bit ragged, but what the heck! (And you may get whitefly in as well).

I always put tender seedling trays out there to germinate, and the spuds are chitting there as well, though not in direct sunlight. Mrs Growster actually germinates all her pepper seedlings in a south facing window, then brings them down by the armful to grow on in the conserv!

We only fight occasionally when space becomes a premium...

[nipper31]

Might as well use them as they're just a plastic box filled with furniture. Pointless    My husband just wants to sit in it on sunday morning with the paper. The rest of the week it would just be somewhere to walk through to get to the garden. What a waste.  He did get a bit tetchy when I rigged up the pasting table and covered that with seed trays too    Also I did use the kitchen window ledges as well.  He eats the veg so ..........

Pasting table, now there's a good idea..........
It's ok coz i haven't got an OH so I can do whatever I like   

[compostqueen]

Ah, well that's a good thing seed tray wise    So, you could get one of those four tier growhouses and bung it in front of any of your patio doors as well    I also used to use a dinner trolley and cover that in seed trays and wheel it about to catch the best rays 

I use my shed windows too.  Any good light gets seed trays

[sarajane]

If its a warm place  -  just use it.  I,ve got broad beans, peas, cabbage caulis etc taking their chancesin the unheated greenhouse but the tenders, toms, chillis,aubergines plus my array of fuschias are all on the windowsills plus on a large trestle in the front room.  My so called friends think my house resembles a bargain basement area at the garden centre at this time of year.  Oh, I also have begonia seeds germinating on top of the sky box at the mo  -  On a tray and covered in cling film  - it really works.