It's the Greenhouse Thread 2024

[daisychain01]

I thought I'd start a new thread for those of us who enjoy pottering around in the greenhouse. I bought a new Rhino Greenhouse during the pandemic to stop me going crazy and it been the best investment ever. I've been out there today scrubbing the floor area (a mix of slabs and brindles) and sanitising the staging ready for the new season.

I was a little bit worried that I may run out of steam with it, because it can be hard work and labour intensive, but I've had to master the art of moderation because it's easy to fall into the trap of filling the greenhouse with too many plants and then finding it takes over your life due to being labour intensive.

if there's one bit of advice I'd give, it's Less is More.

this year I've resolved to grow fewer tomatoes, but try to look after the plants better. Last year I tried growing 4 different varieties and I was disappointed with the yield. I might as well have bought them in Tesco, the piddly amount I ended up with and the amount of effort it took. So I'm limiting myself to only 3 plants in 1 grobag (hozelock with the irrigation chamber underneath), and training them properly rather than letting them run riot, and use the other grobag for chilli.

Ive got a nice stretch of staging the length of the greenhouse so I'll try some herbs and get some plugs - apart from lettuce which are dead easy to grow from seed, I'm going to stick with plugs which give me a head start from April onwards. I'm hoping for a better Spring that the freezing wet one we had in 2023!

anyway enough of my grumbles. Here's to an exciting 2024 in the greenhouse. Join in for advice, shares, photos and tales of triumph and woe.

Today's picture. Looking a lot busier. I have a( or several) fieldmice visiting the greenhouse and stealing bird food. Todays visitor was very bold and i got great video of him. I have called him Philip.

Lots of activity going on chez @Hedjwitch - I like your potting table.

Mice can squeeze through the most unbelievably tiny gaps! It's still very cold outside so they'll be attracted to that bird feed. Mine just comes in doors and ends up in the recycling box 😃

I'll be able to take a photo of my latest activity later this week as I have Thur and Fri off work, and I'm hoping we might have just some dry weather grrrr, it's howling outside again!

So glad to have found this thread with some wise gardeners. I have just had my greenhouse delivered and it’s completely empty apart from a length of staging. Where do I start? What are the essentials I need? What would you buy if you were starting all over again? I want to grow veg (salads, tomatoes, cucumbers, chillis) and flowers for planting out.And instead of starting in my usual chaotic way, I’m trying to be organised and tidy. All thoughts welcome!

Some big containers, or you can use growbags, and some means of attaching support canes. And a watering can. Anything else is a luxury

Either a luxury or I’ve forgotten it

Some good sturdy reusable seed trays and some decent compost for sowing. And seeds. That's all you really need for now.

I’ve a tall bar stool in mine, saves long standing stints when potting on.

I’ve got a comfy chair and a low table for the same reason

Those are good ideas, thank you. Definitely need a place to sit and admire my plants. What would you recommend for watering if I’m away a few days - apart from neighbours?!

I'm trying to think of the word that describes the feeling when you finally locate the hidden slug that's been eating all your seedlings.

I had several words when I found the family of snails that had overwintered under a tray. They were evicted sharpish!

I usually water everything really well, then stand everything in an inch of water. Not good for it, but they’ll cope-a couple of days. Then another day or two before they need watering.

probably only half an inch for seedlings

Finally! A bit of decent sunshine and warmth yesterday in my greenhouse. 39.5C at its height, which was more than enough to make the heat-sensor windows open. I'll pull down the blinds today - unbelievable that I haven't needed to use them and we're nearly into June.

I had a productive day in there and came away feeling quite satisfied as I was getting increasingly worried about the days and weeks going by and losing time in the growing season,

Replanted all the various lettuce plugs stacked along the staging, which were ready to go into troughs. I reckon we can start eating them in the next 2 weeks. They were busting out of the cells!

Repotted lambs lettuce, parsley, basil, cos, French beans into larger pots.

Found the most minute snail I've ever seen, that had managed to find its way into one of my morning glory seedling pots .... which were on the top shelf 5 feet up! Sorry, matey, you're out (lobbed it into the field!)

The slugs and snails seem absolutely enormous this year. Fattened up by eating all my seedlings, no doubt. I'm starting to think I'll have very little to harvest this year.

@HazelTheGreenWitch

its maddening isn't it! I'm hoping my lettuce survives...

I found another snail climbing up the water feed pipe into the butt - it's like wacka- mole

Just read that chives deter slugs. Apparently after they’ve flowered give them a chop and spread them over the beds.

Will give that a try, @Beebumble2 thank you.

I've been genning up on all things tomato, to see if I can improve my growing and care technique. I tried to grow my first crop of toms during the first COViD lockdown on the patio, before we bought the greenhouse two years ago. Unfortunately I was a bit clueless about what to do, biggest mistake was not cutting off all the side shoots and overwatering them due to it being a very hot summer.

Last year I did a bit better but still didn't keep the foliage under control and the cold Spring and early summer got them off to a bad start. I did get a reasonable crop from the determinate (bush variety) but poor yield from the indeterminates (vine tomes that grow very tall).

this year I've got into YouTube and there are some incredibly knowledgeable people on there, so I've had a crash course in avoiding all the mistakes I've made so far. This year I've decided to train them up strong horticultural string, supported by bamboo canes held horizontally in the greenhouse roofing, which seems to work much better. I'll keep winding them around the string which is a lot easier to see what's going on, especially as the fruit trusses start to form.

Big revelation - water once a week from below (the yellow grow growbag trays have irrigation tray at the bottom. I was watering too often and the fruits were splitting.

I put some fresh grass cuttings on the top as mulch, for extra nitrogen release so the goodness goes into making better fruits.

I had my first crop of salad leaves from the greenhouse for dinner last night 🙂

Ooo exciting @Tontostitis i bet those leaves tasted delicious, they are so tender aren't they.

I've been growing lambs lettuce, cos, frisée, mixed red/green, rocket and chard. The past couple of days they have been really romping with all the sun and heat 👍

So happy to find this thread. I'm looking to buy my first greenhouse, currently have a plastic pop up one and a trug. Iv struggled to get things going this year (apart from strawberries) due to the weather so thought I would invest. Please could I have some recommendations, polycarbonate or glass, brands etc please???? It's so confusing. Thank you!!!!

It entirely depends on your budget @Mumto4andadog you can buy something cheap and cheerful from B&Q but it won't stay the course.

my maxim is to always buy the most expensive greenhouse your budget allows, because of the quality of the design, how it fits together and the extras you get.

Rhino, which is the greenhouse you see in the photos on this thread, is UK manufactured and I cannot fault it. The metalwork is a powder-coated finish which is robust and stay clean and bright, and doesn't discolour with UV exposure. You get heat sensors as standard I think.

I was given the money to buy it by my uncle and aunt so wanted to get something special (my uncle was the son of Granny who I've spoken about on other gardening threads, who gave me my love of gardening, so he knew how much I wanted a greenhouse).

I hope I get a commission from Rhino for giving their greenhouse a plug. If you live in Glos you're welcome to pop over and take a look 😊

Think of the largest size you could possibly need and go one size larger.

Plenty of opening windows. Louvres at the base in addition, or just open the door. At least one of your windows with an automatic vent - think you can buy these separately and retro-fit.

where will your water supply be? Do you want power? (An electric light is useful for late night checking).

Don’t be seduced by staging. Possibly best to postpone purchase till you’ve settled in and know what you’re growing where - see @daisychain01’s picture.

Mine is Robinsons, installed in 1990 and still perfect. But pricey.