Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi all, Happy New Year

I have a 6' x4' plastic greenhouse on its way to me at last. I need advice on anchoring it to the ground. We only have a tiny back garden and the surface is flagged where the g/house will have to go. The only spot with earth is where my veg plot is. Please can anyone tell me the best way to secure, high winds etc. Any tried and tested (and/or failed) methods. It will be placed next to a wooden fence and although fairly sheltered from wind I dont want to take any chances.

Also is it possible to use any sort of heater in these type? I realise it cant be too powerful but what sort of output and what type can I use.

What should the average temperature be in there depending on the season?
You probably realise I have never had a g/house before lol.

Thanks in anticipation...........Sam

Hi Supersam

I had one of these last year and it was brilliant. However, I would seriously recommend leaving it in the box until the worst of the windy weather has passed. Mine gave up the ghost in November when we had bad gales and my garden is very sheltered. I had only left it up as tomatoes, chillis and cucumbers were still growing in it!

Someone suggested a heating method to me when I asked last year and they said that if you put down a paving slab in the middle of the floor (assuming your floor isn't paved anyway) then surround it with a row or two of bricks and put a slate on top (all loosely built I guess) then you can put a candle in it and that should keep the temperature above freezing. Not sure if it would work as by the time I would have worried about the temp in there, the house had gone.

Good luck and enjoy your growing!

__________________
Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Heard a similar one recently, one of the guys at the allotments puts two candles under a bucket on very frosty nights! Never tried it so don't know whether it will work or not, but he says it does!

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

You could put a heat sink in, this is an area under the floor warmed up in the daytime, you can fill the sink with ground glass e.g. broken bottles with a simple set of tubes running in, the sink must be lined with polystyrene to keep in the heat. The idea is that is releases the heat at night. As for anchoring, you can actually attach them to the wall of a house or some sunk posts by using a simple hook through the plastic on to the tubing.

__________________
Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales

Hi SSam
If you wanna know a bit more about what a fellow grape did, search for Eskymo's thread, entitled "Plastic walk-in greenhouse excitement"as she went through the same as you are doing last year. She had hers sitting on paving slabs and tethered with the guy rops supplied and didn't appear to have any probs - anyway, I'll stop rambling now - have a look at her thread and make of it what you will !

__________________
Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

Hi SSam,

My old greenhouse I anchored that by concreting eye bolts in the ground I think they were from B&Q or Wilkos & came in a packet of 4 ( no condom jokes please) They are used for tensioning wires and then fitted slabs around just to make sure.

As to heaters. you could probably get away with a couple of cold frame heater & they will run on 4 pints of parafin for about 2 weeks! Just remember to trim & clean the wicks every night.

__________________
ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Hi

Thanks for the suggestions. Its not arrived yet and I'm going to wait until the recent strong winds have gone anyway. Ive made note and I think I'll try as many of the ideas that I can at once........that greenhouse ain't going anywhere lol

Sam xx