Grow Your Own Magazine

Hello everyone,

I posted a message on our local freecycle asking if anyone had a greenhouse they no longer need, the next day I got a reply from someone with a 6 x 5 greenhouse I can have if I'm prepared to dismantle it. What a result! I have donated stuff on freecycle before but never asked for anything, I'm really very chuffed and I hope the condition is OK. Does anyone have any tips on dismantling (tools etc) and has anyone else done well on freecycle? I'll post a pic when it's in my garden.

Rooster

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"My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe Seperates Me From You"

Well done Rooster!

I got lots of crab-apples from a lovely lady when I asked for fruit for jam making last year. I also got a load of orange netting stuff this year which I hope my peas and beans will be happy climbing up.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Take WD40, a full socket set. Take a marker pen to write numbers on corners, take a seal-able container to put all bolts and bits into safely.
Take packing to put around any glass.

Make sure you have plenty of daylight available to do it.

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Be very careful if the glass is secured with mastic - it has to be levered away from the sticky stuff very carefully or it will break. I had a greenhouse from Freecycle last year, and it's brilliant, but we did break quite a number of the glass panes because of the mastic.

Also, WEAR GLOVES when handling the glass!

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Bonnie Rait

I had thought of the socket set but the WD40 and marker pen are a great idea. I have borrowed some packing blankets from work to pack the glass in so that should be ok. The bloke says he has some spare glass too but hopefully I wont break too many. I forgot to mention it comes with shelving too. Oh and I've said I'll be there a 9:00am on Sunday so I should have enough sunlight.

Rooster

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"My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe Seperates Me From You"

I search freecycle in vain on a daily basis, I gave stuff away on it before I left England but still have someone in UK who will go and dismantle and collect if I find one.
Its a wonderful system and I am hugely jealous of you Rooster. One day I will get a freeby one.

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Bob Leponge
I dont live in a pineapple but I am trying to grow one

agree with all the previous tips, i have just put up a 10x12 greenhouse from freecycle and i only broke two panes. i would add that you might want a trip to wilco's for some spare nuts and bolts and glazing clips. there is never enough when you open the tub containing all the ones you have salvaged and if you are like me you will shear a few nuts off by overtightening. it also helps to slide a spare nut and bolt on each piece of the frame as you go just in case you need them later.

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Kernow rag nevra

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits
Albert Einstein

Would bubblewrap help with packing the panes? (the plastic stuff not the excellent Grape). I notice that the supermarkets chuck out loads of the stuff, after being wrapped round their fruit. I nick a bit every time I go in now.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

I have just taken down and rebuilt a greenhouse. I did break a few panes, but my tips.

i) Take a digital camera if you can - take pictures of the whole thing and close-ups of corner joints. I found these invaluable.

ii) Marker pen for each piece of the frame and glass - have a code that you understand.

iii) Have 2 people!

iv) When you are piling up the glass, be careful. I broke about 5 panes in one go when a pile I had leaned against a fence got too big and they just cracked. Grrrrrr....

v) We used a load of blankets and dustsheets and just laid them in between each sheet of glass.

vi) If it has been mastiked (is that a word?!?!?!), the panes broke very easily if you pulled away from the frame. Instead if needs be, take two bits of the frame off and lever the frame off the glass, rather than the glass off the frame. It was less destructive! Also, if you can lever up the glass rather than pulling it away or towards you, it is less likely to break. Hope that makes sense!

Have fun!!!!!!!


Oh.....tools. Socket set, spanners and possibly screwdrivers if needed.

James

I managed to get loads of plant pots off freecycle , the other week. Such a great site I'm always checking it out and cant believe it when I see people asking for a set of drums/plasma tv's/ Caravans.....madness

Put newspaper between the panes. Broadsheet if you can find them. Fold them over the edges, lay next sheets on top, next pane, repeat. You can then move about six panes at a time and they won't be stuck together when you want to reassemble.

This is also a good idea if you are washing them before the remantling as wet panes are a pain to seperate when wet.

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"I prefer rogues to imbeciles as they sometimes take a rest" (Alexander Dumas)

I have gotten pots & crocosmia bulbs off Freecycle. There are so many people asking for allotment goodies. I have given lots of really good stuff away rather than bother to ebay it or pay to have it removed. Great site. Lots of great ideas above about marking the greenhouse and safely moving glass and not losing the bolts!

I second that, had the same problems with the mastic. Didn't wear gloves and when I used the alcohol gel on my next day at work, it really stung!!

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I'd rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

http://hollandsroadparadise.blogspot.com
updated 14 May 2008

i too got a greenhouse on freecycle. my advice would be - get someone else to do it!!!! i sent my brothers as i had just given birth. i was lucky that my brother borrowed his works lorry to put it on the back without taking it to bits (apart from the glas obviously) remember how the window that you can open goes. it took us ages to find out that it slid down a groove.

but freecycle is great for this stuff, i was also gifted seed trays. i once saw a rotorvator but was sadly too late!

hi i am going to pick up a 6x8 g/h with staging and a heater and some pots and other bits it was in our local paper i got it for £20

this is my first ever g/h and am so happy the kids are really chuffed and have made plans for it all ready

would itbe best to put it on a base or just on the ground as i have some 4x4 lenghts some where in the jungle i call my plot

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PRESTON NORTH END
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Only extra I can add is to take a tin of Plusgas. The WD40 may help with some stuck bolts etc, but Plusgas is the business!

hi what is plusgas

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PRESTON NORTH END
xbox gamertag billybobs
add me to your friends list if you got what it takes

Special oil for loosening siezed nuts & bolts, it stinks.

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alas i went to pick up the green house on sunday and low and behold it had gone
the house owner had given to some guy who lived over the road to say i was mad was an understatement
not to wor