Cleaning a greenhouse

[Olivetreekeeper]

Hello,

We've just moved into our new house, which comes with a lovely sized greenhouse. I'm very happy as our previous garden was too small so I worked from little pop up covered shelves for my veggies. However, it's in a right state - the windows are green, cobwebs everywhere (I hate spiders!) And generally a bit mossy in the frame. But it looks solid, no cracked panes etc.

What's the best way of cleaning a greenhouse, any particular products to get rid of the green on the windows, or is it just soapy water and elbow grease? Techniques for cleaning the ceiling panels? Or to people normally get a company in? I'm a total novice so any hacks and how tos would be gratefully received!
Also, any must haves for your greenhouse that make life easier?

Thank you!

This might help, but a soft broom to clear spider webs, and rubbish, a pressurised spray bottle, ( you can use washing up liquid, or glasshouse cleaner in your local garden centre) Jeyes fluid is a good disinfectant, but is poisonous to cats, so take care if you use it. And plenty of elbow grease!

The green is algae, it's not particularly firmly attached to the glass. And remove the moss - it usually comes out easily. It might be Leptobryum pyriforme - a pretty thing fine green leaves and pear-shaped capsules - it does occur in natural habitats but is most easily found as a weed in greenhouses.

Also, any must haves for your greenhouse that make life easier?

A stool. You can sit on when potting up, listening to the radio, drinking wine etc.

@Ifailed

Also, any must haves for your greenhouse that make life easier?

A stool. You can sit on when potting up, listening to the radio, drinking wine etc.

Sounds perfect Thank you! I'll send DH in with a broom for the worst of the cobwebs and then get to some scrubbing.

@NanTheWiser thank you, that link looks really useful!

@MereDintofPandiculation yes I think I've seen some of that around. Good to know the algae shouldn't be too hard to remove.

Can you get a hose to it? I hose mine down, inside ans out, it gets rid of the worst, then just get a cloth and some multi surface cleaner and clean off what you can reach, when it’s dry.

@Ifailed

Also, any must haves for your greenhouse that make life easier?

A stool. You can sit on when potting up, listening to the radio, drinking wine etc.

I was going to say - a comfy chair. I spend a lot of time sitting in my greenhouse. With spring bulbs, it's a lovely refuge on sunny days in January and February.

Don't splash out on staging until you know how you're going to use it. I've now settled on waist height staging, using the space underneath for storage, except for one area where I have a big tub on the ground where I grow my cucumbers which climb to the ceiling. In some areas I have a second narrow shelf at eye level, other areas are left clear for taller plants. It's useful to have slabs at least along the centre - easy to sweep clean. You may want to leave soil at the edges for planting.

I've got a series of canes running the length of the greenhouse, suspended a few inches below roof level - in the winter I drape bubble wrap over for insulation, in the summer they come in handy for climbing plants.

I have electricity, which means I have can have a heater if I wish. You'd need a qualified electrician to install this.

Also a spare umbrella so I won't get stranded by a sudden storm.

Think about your water supply. I have water butts collecting water from the garage roof, and I find when watering in summer it makes the job tolerable to be able to dip the watering can in the top of the butt rather than wait while it fills slowly via a tap. I also have a tap outside for periods of drought. You may want to look into capillary matting and automatic watering systems. Personally, I find manual watering is a good time to look at plants and spot diseases early.

Just be careful removing the moss as it might be holding the panes in place. Make sure the clips are secure first, and ideally have some spare clips to hand. Speaking from recent experience!

An automatic vent is a massive help. As is a capillary watering system. We have one attached to the water butt outside so if we go away we only have to get someone to refill it if it hasn’t rained for a week which is never in summer in Scotland

@peapotter thanks for the warning! I'll go carefully, I really don't want broken panes if I can help it.

@MereDintofPandiculation thankfully my DH is qualified and we are hoping to put a home office in the garden next year so I might see if I can get power put in at the same time. I can imagine it would be useful. We can get a hose there no problem at all. There are some tables etc left in there from the previous owner so I'm going to stick with that for now and see how I get on as the year progresses. I'm still pretty new to the veg growing (and gardening in general). There is already a waterbutt with both top and top opening so that makes life easier. The green house is on hardstanding and slabs so very useable!

I used to use Jeyes fluid as it kills any lingering fungal nonsense as well as cleaning. But scrubbing greenhouse glass is a pig of a job to be honest, so now I just pay my window cleaner to do it twice a year. Worth every penny!

I second the suggestion to hold fire on staging. I have too much, but it was expensive so I can’t justify removing any of it now. It’s also glass, which seemed like a good idea at the time as it doesn’t block any light to plants below, but actually it’s just massively impractical and I wish I’d just gone for bog standard stuff.

We've just inherited an aging polytunnel on our allotment and I have been recommended Citrox to clean it. Its organic and a mild disinfectant. Gentle cleaning should be enough to wash off most of the algae I think.We used to have a greenhouse and you do have to be careful with moss between the panes although it is somehow very satisfying to peel long strips out!
We have a water butt inside the polytunnel which apparently keeps it warmer at night as the water heats up during the day which might be useful.