[HLS]

I've noticed a few threads recently about plastic mini-greenhouses/growhouses.  As it happens, I've just been given one for my birthday, and it's now sitting against the wall of the garage with some compost and pot feet (for stability) on the bottom shelf and a few seedlings further up.  More trays of seedlings will go in once the seeds have germinated inside, and I'm planning to use some of the space for chilli plants later in the season, as well.

I'm curious about how everyone else uses theirs, though - that's partly nosiness, but also someone's bound to have come up with a way of using it or securing it that I'd never have thought of.  So, if you've got one of these plastic things, what do you put in it?  How do you change how you use it through the year?  Where is it in your garden/plot?  How have you fixed it down?  Feel free to answer any questions I've forgotten to ask, as well...

[Sideways]

This is my first year using one, I have a 4 tier unit and it is currently full to the brim!

I have had very good results so far, lots of stuff coming through in pots.

BTW- for those who are thinking of getting one, I noticed Wilco seliing them for £10 at the weekend.

[paintedlady]

One downside of mini greenhouses is the cover ... after one blustery night, I discovered mine was missing and it had been carried 2 doors away    Other than that, I was impressed with the 4 tier, but not the 2 tier (too small, too much faffing about to do opening & closing the zippered door for ventilation etc)

[hubballi]

I got mine from B and M for £20 which is a walk in half greenhouse. It's simply excellent as I have been able to grow so much early on. Mine came with a guy rope and pegs but I don't use it as it's against the wall on stone paving. The weight of the pots etc holds it down. Be careful not to let the condensation build as there is no ventilation so open the door on hot days in the morning. I put fire ash on the floor to keep the slugs and snails out but the the odd one still gets in now and again. It baffles me how.

[HLS]

Are you all leaving seedlings in overnight at the moment?  I wasn't sure whether to or not, with the hot days and cold nights this week.

[courgette]

I have 2, used for the first time last year and overall were great. They do need weighting down (i must do that myself as yet this year! ) I used concrete ornamental cats I had in the garden & a crate of wood for one!...the other had a grow bag in the bottom with tomato plants in it, so that held it in place....but be warned....they also need tying to a fence or something too as the wind really got up last summer for a short while & the weight on the bottom shelf worked a treat, but the plastic frame connections gave way in the wind & snapped!

I am now using one with a fleece for seedlings & the other is just as shelfing really minus the plastic & has my strawberry plants & herbs on it.  

[sazzy123]

I have one and the shelf pole thingies keep comming out of sides, does anyone elses do this?  Its maybe i have just put it together wrong.... though not sure how seemed simple enough 

[HLS]

I found I had to lean on mine quite hard in all directions (i.e. push down on all sets of vertical poles, turn the frame over sideways, push down on all sets of poles that are now vertical, etc.) to get the poles to sit properly in the plastic struts, but after that it's been quite stable.  It may not be the same construction, though, as my shelves just hook over the top of the widthways poles.

[Greengirl]

I have a 4 tier with a fleece cover & a bigger greenhousey one. I weightthem down with sand bags & tie a strong cord around them which is also attached to the hedge they are up against. I use them much as you would a cold frame to grow things on & harden them off (plastic to fleece to outdoors usually) & find them very useful apart from the covers only lasting one season if you're lucky.

[Parsnip]

I'm on the second season using mine, I took it down over winter and I have also bought one of the bigger walk in ones from Argos.

At the moment they are both full to the brim with seedlings as well as bedding plants. When eveything is planted out...I will use them solely for  growing  my Chillis, Tomatoes and Peppers.

They are only cheap so you can't expect them to last that long. They are ideal for us at the moment, whilst we to sort out the area at the top of the garden, before I get me a proper one!!

[Celery]

I  have put an old patio slab at the bottom of mine to stop it blowing over.
                                                                                                                    celery

[JulesJ]

Mine's a walk-in one, 6' X 4'. It wasn't warm enough to overwinter geraniums and fuschias, but everything else is thriving. It's had tomatoes in it since 4th April and they're doing really well. Other stuff has germinated happily in there. For the past week I've opened the door by 7am, put a wire thingy across to keep the cats out, and closed up again in the evening. I started my spuds early in it in bags on 14th March, and the plants are enormous; moved outside 29th March. We've used paving slabs on the bottom bars to give it stability; it's wedged in the right angle between two fences. It blows around a bit in the wind but so far no disasters from the greenhouse itself, just from additional unstable shelving and roving cats.

[Yorkie]

I have a 4-tier one in my back yard, surrounded by 3 walls.  It's tied to a drainpipe by string so isn't going anywhere in a hurry!

I tend to use it for hardening off stuff, nothing in it at present - could probably use it far more if I planned more carefully.

[sazzy123]

I have all my seedlings in mine except tomatos and leave them in all the time even the beans, all growing really well and survived the frost ages ago no prob (i forgot to bring them in )

[iwantanallotment]

Mine's a walk-in one too, also on its second season. It had a few small tears appear over winter, but these were quickly & easily fixed with the special tape for it.
Last year it grew all my tomatoes, and started off lots of seedlings.
This year it will house cucumbers, as I noticed how very humid it gets in there - all steamed up once it was, when I forgot to open the zipper window 
I have a glass greenhouse too, but the two are very different - different kind of warmth.
This year my seedlings have been started in the glass greenhouse, which suits them better with its lower humidity.
Recently the plastic greenhouse was part of a rat run, so I wouldn't use it anyway until that problem was fixed.
It's in a corner on the yard where the house joins a 7ft fence, so is very secure. It did float off like a hot air balloon when I first got it though, and had it unsecured up the garden