Help me choose a greenhouse

[silversixpence]

I am planning to get a greenhouse soon and need to choose between this Simplicity one and this Rhino one. The Rhino one is about £1500 which is probably a hell of a lot bit more than we should spend now but whichever one we get it will need to last.

Which one and why?

Depends where you live I think. If in a really sheltered from the wind spot in a bit of the garden you don't directly look at the cheaper one will probably last years - and you can get replacement panes easily if they break.

If in a windy spot I'd go for the stronger one. If on show I'd go for the Rhino too - as a bit less utilitarian looking.

I just got a lean to greenhouse built and with the gale force winds we've been having, I'm really glad I went for a really strong one with heavy duty glazing bars.

fundamentally they both do the same job though!

I have a Rhino one, and I WUVS IT.

It is seriously, seriously sturdy. The glass is so thick (worth getting the stronger stuff), I struggled to carry it into place. There is no way a small child, a football, or anything else is getting through that stuff. It's held in not by the usual clips but by a really clever strip system that absolutely wedges it in place. Once you get it build, it ain't going nowhere.

They come with really, really good instructions - but it still took 2 days to put up.

You need to factor in a base: it needs to be SUPER level.

This is my one - it's a bit cheaper
www.greenhousesdirect.co.uk/Greenhouses/Rhino/Harvest%206ft/6x8/

Also, buying staging from the manufacturer is really expensive. You can get cheap staging in the discounters for a fraction of the price, and it's more versatile (you can pack it away when you need to and get it out again).

Shovetheholly did you put it up yourself? I haven't tried anything like that and DH is quite busy, but if we can do it ourselves it would save a bit.

The greenhouse is going in the back corner of the garden so is sheltered on two sides by fences.

I really want the Bluegrass colour, so looked at the premium range, but maybe I should be more sensible!

Yep, we did it ourselves over a lovely sunny weekend. The instructions make it a good deal easier than other greenhouses - every stage is really clearly laid out in a really long brochure with loads of diagrams, plus there is a DVD to go with it. Mine came with absolutely everything clearly labelled, but my friend had a piece missing and they couriered it to her post haste so it arrived the next day.

Mine is at the bottom of my garden, in a dip and sheltered by a fence and a hedge. I was still bloody glad I bought a tough one in last October's gales - we had gusts of 80-90mph and it was solid as a rock, whereas others were just shattered (the moment a greenhouse rocks is lethal, because the frame bends out of shape and all of a sudden every pane is loose....)

I can totally see why you love the bluegrass, btw. I went through the same agony! The only thing I would say is that it is actually quite close to the silver. While it will make a difference, I decided it might not be that huge a one. For my purposes, though, it's quite a functional thing... other people use them more decoratively.