Seed planting in new house/setup/city

[buzzingtalk]

I've seen loads of greenhouses built out of old windows. I would be tempted to go round a few double glazing companies & see what they are skipping. You say you have a van so that's a big bonus. Good Luck.

Here's some ideas:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=di...w=1280&bih=702

Oh wow, i wish I was that good at building stuff! I'm a bit loathe to build a greenhouse myself as someone attempted to do it on my old site and it went horrifically wrong in the wind, resulting in glass all over the plots. plus it will cost some money, which i just don't have.

[sparrow100]

I can do that, but I cant afford to get a base built. Would love a greenhouse!!

Check your tenancy first though - we're not allowed any concrete or permanent change to the land so all our greenhouses are on earth and anchored to posts at the corners. None have fallen down...

[Kristen]

Anyone ever built a greenhouse base? I've heard horror stories or when it goes wrong

Critical is to make sure that BOTH diagonal measurements are identical. If they are then the corners will be exactly right-angles.

Can't help you with the concrete, I dug a trench around for mine and then got a handy bloke in to lay the concrete, and a couple of courses of bricks, for mine.

[Bohobumble]

My greenhouse was from freecycle - had to buy 2/3 panes, and some more after OH broke one and didn't replace it before some wind popped 7 more panes. Make sure all your panes are intact!

I am also on clay, walk over and over the bit of soil that the frame will touch so you have a solid base - mine ended up as a wide edged rectangle. I didn't bother with the middle, clay does it's thing anyways.

I had some old 2x2 and scrap decking boards left on the plot by the previous owner, greenhouse frame got screwed to this, and they to each other. Then got some other scrap wood and made stakes for corners and securely attached to wood base. It won't last years, but its done the job for now and cost nothing but time. It's been through the last few months of really strong gusty wind with no movement.

The slabs are there for stability during construction and were not left in situ.

The one thing I would say is make sure that you're not warping the frame as this will stress the glass and in the wind it may pop. I was super careful about this using a spirit level/tape measure etc.

The only thing I forgot to consider in my zealousness was that the water from the roof needs to channel, my greenhouse is absolutely level, I should have raised the door end a little to drain the water in the gutter to the back where I shall rig up a water butt. The positioning here is intended to block minimal light. I need to channel the water away otherwise it will drip onto the compacted clay earth and undermine the foundation.

After all that, those folks that can afford to splash out on new greenhouses quite often buy those metal bases to go with them, you might be lucky and get one with a base? For your needs you might also get away with a cold frame from freecycle, or has been said already, check with a window firm, they replace perfectly serviceable windows and dispose.

Good luck, I hope you find something

[Kristen]

The only thing I forgot to consider in my zealousness was that the water from the roof needs to channel, my greenhouse is absolutely level, I should have raised the door end a little to drain the water in the gutter to the back where I shall rig up a water butt.

I agree that would be more ideal, but I reckon you will be able to achieve that by bunging-up the gutters at the door end - a small fistfull of clay may be enough, or some Silicon or similar. I find that the gutters on greenhouses are way too small for a decent downpour and tend to overflow ... but in a drizzle the water in a level gutter should form a gradient towards the exit end