First time Greenhouse

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OakR

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First time Greenhouse
« on: February 19, 2020, 13:52 »
Hello

I've just taken on a 2nd plot which has a greenhouse. Bar a couple of broken windows it seems structurally sound, and has one Window that can open. It's 8ft by 6ft and is completely empty inside.

It's on bare earth (it looks like the earth might have been covered before as their are what look like roots on the top of the soil).

My tomatoes were decimated by blight at the end of last year, so I'd like to grow some in there, some cucumbers, peppers and hopefully melons though I might not have room for all I guess.

I will dig out the weeds (looks like there might be some couch grass in the ground) but after that can I plant straight in the ground once plants are ready or should I have raised beds, use pots etc.

I also need some shelves for seeds etc - is it better to have loads of removable shelves at different heights, all on the same side etc.

I realise these are probably stupid questions, I just want to get it right from the start.

So I want to grow some produce in it latter part of the year and early part from March grow on seedlings etc in there.

Thanks

Al

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OakR

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Re: First time Greenhouse
« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2020, 13:56 »
Photo of greenhouse
20200219_135357.jpg

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TonyB.

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Re: First time Greenhouse
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2020, 15:25 »
I am no expert but what I have done is:

Made staging/shelves on one side out of 2 x 1 inch timber it is at a convenient height to use the top as a bench and another shelf half way between. The shelves are not fixed - they have struts going across which support removeable old 4 tier plastic greenhouse shelves and lengths of wood. this way at the beginning of the year I have shelves for hardening off seedlings and then by removeing the shelves grow peppers etc in containers.
The other side is bare. I grow early carrots and spring onions in contaainers, these come out in March when my Melons go in the ground having dug in compost/manure in the autumn.

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OakR

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Re: First time Greenhouse
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2020, 15:32 »
I am no expert but what I have done is:

Made staging/shelves on one side out of 2 x 1 inch timber it is at a convenient height to use the top as a bench and another shelf half way between. The shelves are not fixed - they have struts going across which support removeable old 4 tier plastic greenhouse shelves and lengths of wood. this way at the beginning of the year I have shelves for hardening off seedlings and then by removeing the shelves grow peppers etc in containers.
The other side is bare. I grow early carrots and spring onions in contaainers, these come out in March when my Melons go in the ground having dug in compost/manure in the autumn.

Thanks Tony, that's really helpful. Do you plant your melons in the ground in March \ is your Greenhouse heated? Does this mean you have sowed them already or do you direct plant them?

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TonyB.

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Re: First time Greenhouse
« Reply #4 on: February 19, 2020, 16:51 »
I have typed March but should have said end of March into April depending on the weather. My melons have germinated on the windowsill at home. They will be transferred to pots on the windowsill from the seed modules. Then will take them to the greenhouse and let they acclimatise before transplanting into the soil.

It is unheated greenhouse although when I am at the allotment at this time of year I put a small camping gas heater on so I have somewhere relatively warm to drink my coffee, it also drys my gloves :-)

Word of warning from my disaster last year. my one side faces more south than east. Melons were great had eaten a couple already. Then I left the plot for 3 days late August when it was hot with the door fully closed just the window open. When I came back it looked like the plants had cooked. Swapping sides this year so the melons will be shaded by the peppers and will not forget to leave the door open.

Last year was my first with a greenhouse and I was surprised that even in winter if there is sunshine the greenhouse warms up. The heater gets temp up to 15 deg C but the other day I went in for a coffee and because of the sun it was over 25 deg C.

 

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Yorkie

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Re: First time Greenhouse
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2020, 19:25 »
I inherited a greenhouse on a plot last year and it's been a steep learning curve!  I bought this pair of saw horses from B& Q, plus some 2 x 1 wood. 

I basically created a bench shelf along one long side of the greenhouse by resting two long pieces of the wood across the saw horses, and adding cross-pieces of wood so that they braced the sawhorses.  Let's see if I can do a little diagram:

The ------ is the long pieces of wood, which are parallel to the long side of the greenhouse
The ^ symbol indicates the top of the open sawhorse
The | symbol indicates the two pieces of wood which are either side of the open top of the sawhorse, stopping the top from sliding around


   |^|                                                                   |^|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
   |^|                                                                   |^|
   |^|                                                                   |^|
   |^|                                                                   |^|
   |^|                                                                   |^|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
   |^|                                                                   |^|

I then tied on some spare wire shelves on top of the two long pieces of wood (I'd deliberately checked the depth of those shelves and ensured the long pieces were that far apart, and Bob's your uncle  :D

If you felt like it, you could cut and screw pieces of wood as crossbraces instead, on which you put the plants etc.  But that's a lot more work and I had the wire shelves kicking around.  It means it's easy to disassemble if you want to put it away later in the season
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days all attack me at once...

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OakR

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Re: First time Greenhouse
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2020, 23:32 »
Thanks to much Tony and Yorkie - really helpful stuff. I think I will go with your saw horses idea Yorkie, but you've made me think I might have one of those plastic greenhouses in the shed and I might be able to use the frame for that also if required.

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Aidy

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Re: First time Greenhouse
« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2020, 17:40 »
As regards shelving I would suggest something similar to mine as it has one big advantage....

Here on the Fylde coast we have amazing tropical weather year round  :wacko: however we also have strong winds and greenhouses tend not to survive them too well!
Most people have copied my design and it works at not only giving you shelving which can be taken down once you transplant in the their beds but also gives the greenhouse a strong structual support!

So.. I planted two 3x2 treated timber planks at the two and six foot spacings inline with your upright piece of the greenhouse, these are then bolted to you greenhouse to add the support in strong winds.
I then put the clip in shelf brackets to the posts, I made the shelves from fence palins.
I will take some photos tomorrow and update the post so you can see how it works.
Punk isn't dead...it's underground where it belongs. If it comes to the surface it's no longer punk...it's Green Day!

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OakR

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Re: First time Greenhouse
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2020, 14:26 »
As regards shelving I would suggest something similar to mine as it has one big advantage....

Here on the Fylde coast we have amazing tropical weather year round  :wacko: however we also have strong winds and greenhouses tend not to survive them too well!
Most people have copied my design and it works at not only giving you shelving which can be taken down once you transplant in the their beds but also gives the greenhouse a strong structual support!

So.. I planted two 3x2 treated timber planks at the two and six foot spacings inline with your upright piece of the greenhouse, these are then bolted to you greenhouse to add the support in strong winds.
I then put the clip in shelf brackets to the posts, I made the shelves from fence palins.
I will take some photos tomorrow and update the post so you can see how it works.

Brilliant - thanks photos would be great!



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