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12x16 greenhouse photos?

14 replies

FrogFrogFrogFrogFrog · 09/09/2024 15:16

I realise this is possibly a longshot, but does anyone have a greenhouse somewhere near this size who could show me what it looks like "in use"? There are a couple of photos on the Rhino site of their Premium greenhouse in that size but most are of the greenhouse empty and I'm awful at visualising.

Longer greenhouse pictures also welcome - I'm trying to work out if that size would suit us or if longer would be better. It's really not a case of "get as big as you can" because our garden is quite large and we won't be getting it for another 4/5 years so money is not likely to limit us much at that point! So I'm trying to get a sense of "how big is sufficient" without getting one so large it just creates more work.

Full context: hoping to have space for:

  • starting off annual flowers / cuttings
  • starting off vegetables to plant outside later (e.g. beans, peas, squashes, tomatoes)
  • growing some vegetables inside in beds (summer: cucumber, aubergine, chillies. Winter salads)
  • generally extending the season
  • overwintering a citrus tree (?!)
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FizzingAda · 09/09/2024 15:39

I have a 6x8 which was here when we moved in. Then we developed our veg plot and added a 12x6. I usually have them stuffed to the gunnels. If I had more space I'd have had a larger one. You will always find things to fill it!
If you imagine one tomato plant in each 'panel', that's six each side in the 12 feet. Think different varieties. Then courgettes, which take up loads of space, aubergines peppers, herbs, chillis. I did pumpkins one year in the small one.
it's better to go,large and have air space around the plants than try to cram in as much as possible.
I'm in NE Scotland, so climate limits what I can grow, but the two glasshouses are worth their weight in gold.
due to circumstances I haven’t used them this year, miss all the fresh produce.

FrogFrogFrogFrogFrog · 09/09/2024 21:48

Thanks @FizzingAda , the "one tomato plant per 2ft panel" is helpful.

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FrogFrogFrogFrogFrog · 09/09/2024 21:52

I think a 6x12 is the size we had in the house I grew up in and I'd definitely not want to go smaller than that 🤔 it was okay for starting things off but you had to be careful not to run out of space for seedlings and I remember it being quite stressful deciding what to prioritise. That had staging on one side and an open bed on the other.

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MereDintofPandiculation · 10/09/2024 09:31

I have, I think, 8 x 14, and it’s adequate but bigger would be nicer. At the moment it has 8 tomato plants, about 50 cacti, a tub of peas, three cucumbers, a lot of lettuce, about 8 purple sprouting, tree cabbage and kale seeking refuge from pigeons, snails and caterpillars, two large dahlias just coming into flower, two big tubs of Nicotiana sylvestris, some tree spinach Magentaspreen trying to get out of the roof, and various other plants waiting to be big enough to go out. Also two cane armchairs.

I’ve given up trying to grow below the staging, I use it for storage. I’ve canes longitudinally just below the roof which I drape bubble wrap over for the winter, and at this time of year they support tomatoes and cucumbers.

It gets very crowded at times.

MereDintofPandiculation · 10/09/2024 09:33

FrogFrogFrogFrogFrog · 09/09/2024 21:48

Thanks @FizzingAda , the "one tomato plant per 2ft panel" is helpful.

Mine are twice that. They start on the staging and go up into the roof. But a tomato grown more vigorously might need double that

FrogFrogFrogFrogFrog · 10/09/2024 16:29

MereDintofPandiculation · 10/09/2024 09:33

Mine are twice that. They start on the staging and go up into the roof. But a tomato grown more vigorously might need double that

Am I reading that right - each of your tomato plants is 4ft wide?!

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MereDintofPandiculation · 11/09/2024 09:05

FrogFrogFrogFrogFrog · 10/09/2024 16:29

Am I reading that right - each of your tomato plants is 4ft wide?!

No, I didn’t write it right Grin They’re twice the density, so two tomatoes per 2 foot panel.

FrogFrogFrogFrogFrog · 11/09/2024 09:10

MereDintofPandiculation · 11/09/2024 09:05

No, I didn’t write it right Grin They’re twice the density, so two tomatoes per 2 foot panel.

Oh! Ok that makes more sense 🤣

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AlisonDonut · 11/09/2024 10:19

In my experience it depends on whether electricity is available or not for a heat mat as in my experience a smaller greenhouse WITH a heatmat is better than a huge greenhouse without for getting things started early.

I used pallet collars on the ground to grow in all year round, and put up shelf brackets on one side of the greenhouse so that I could use decking boards to make shelves in the spring and autumn and take them down to string tomatoes up in the summer. And to be honest, I've harvested tomatoes up til Christmas Eve in the UK midlands before so sometimes some can't go back up til all the tomatoes are gone.

As tomatoes and chilli peppers came out each autumn, I put in rows of overwintering onions, garlics round the edges, sowed carrots, spinach, winter lettuce, kohl rabi, spring onions, claytonia, celtuce, coriander, parsley and transplanted the odd cabbage and kale if I had any already growing. I've put one photo of one bed filled with a mix of these below.

The good thing with pallet collars is also that you can get good deep loose soil for carrots [esp if you put one on top of the other] and just put a pallet across the top to give you essentially a work surface which you can put seedling trays on for your early starts and a heat mat if you have power in there. You can also plant much closer together and concentrate on giving a boost to the nutrients over winter where you want the tomatoes and peppers next year. I used to empty the whole of my wormery contents onto the top of my tomato beds which gave them a huge boost for the coming season.

My greenhouse was 6ft x 8ft and I packed so much into it, it was in constant growth for about 10 years without fail. I moved it from my back courtyard to the allotment when the committee changed hands and allowed us to put up structures.

I've added a couple of photos of pallet collar beds of spinach in my old greenhouse, I used to leave enough space to sit and plant in the middle, with inbetween space to get to the back of each bed and every other square inch was filled with crops. I harvested or pulled something out and something else went straight in. I had two other of these beds on the other side and I would get a carrier bag of greens from this greenhouse every week all winter long, it was fantastic.

In the small 60x80cm bed with the onions and spinach, I'd get 6 tomatoes in as well as basil growing below. I'd grow indeterminates along the sides near the glass and determinates along the sides without windows. And a crop of carrots would have been sown in pinches in between the spinaches.

I'd also put potatoes into pots which would go in any gaps and get an early start before the potatoes outside.

After my greenhouse went to the allotment I bought a small side of the summer house greenhouse, which had my heat mat in and in there I started all the seedlings for my garden, my allotment and also the numerous schools and gardens I was working in. I have put a photo of it but it was tiny but mighty.

If you can afford a smaller one earlier to the larger one, I'd do that and just start using it and make it your own. Everyone uses them differently so what I would do is nothing like what anyone else would do.

12x16 greenhouse photos?
12x16 greenhouse photos?
12x16 greenhouse photos?
12x16 greenhouse photos?
DataPup · 11/09/2024 11:16

@AlisonDonut - where did your side of the summerhouse greenhouse come from. I don't have space for a full greenhouse but the back of our brick garage is south facing and something like that would be perfect.

AlisonDonut · 11/09/2024 12:52

DataPup · 11/09/2024 11:16

@AlisonDonut - where did your side of the summerhouse greenhouse come from. I don't have space for a full greenhouse but the back of our brick garage is south facing and something like that would be perfect.

I can't remember the name but they were Mansfield/Sheffield way. I'll have a think and see if I can remember them. It was a godsend for getting things started.

DataPup · 11/09/2024 12:55

That would be great, I'm in the East Midlands so Sheffield/Mansfield is convenient

AlisonDonut · 11/09/2024 13:00

I've just looked through my emails and cannot find the order for it. How annoying! It may have been someone like Sheds Direct or something.

FrogFrogFrogFrogFrog · 11/09/2024 14:27

Thanks for all the info @AlisonDonut ! I'm east mids too so that's extra relevant. I'll definitely consider getting a smaller one sooner.

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