First timer - greenhouse/potting shed advice?

Hannah2

Hi

We have just moved to a new house (new build) and have a blank canvas for a garden that we are now planning to do in stages due to cost. However, I have set my heart on having a small (7x5) wooden greenhouse as I want to grow my own plants/veg and have somewhere to "potter" even when the weather is bad.

I have been tooing and froing between a greenhouse and a potting shed but think a small wooden greenhouse would be best. It has to be a wooden one as it has to be on the patio near the house so has to be reasonably nice to look at.

I am thinking of one of these greenhouse as I will be able to store things out of the way under the staging - I know it will get hot! but it seems a good compromise.

As I havent had one before I wondered if there was anything I should be aware of as a first time greenhouse user? I have read up on shading and I am looking at the watering situation but any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

H2

dustyroad_2

Hi
I dont know much about anything as quite a newbie. Ive just bought a normal 8x5 greenhouse, but the one you show in your post is gorgeous...best of both worlds there. Half potting shed half greenhouse is a great idea

wallbash

As you are still in the planing stage , may I suggest thinking electric / water . Much easier to drop a cable in now .

Hannah2

Hi Guys

Yes, we still at planning stage - meeting with some landscapers this week and next. We have an outdoor tap, unfortunately at the opposite side of the patio but that is the only place it could go.

We are wanting electricity in the greenhouse and also down to the bottom of the garden (only 11m long!) but it depends on cost. At a minimum we will be asking them to put cabling or hollow piping etc down so that cabling can be pulled through at a later date if we want.

One of the differences with the greenhouse in the link is that it has a wooden floor but if I had a potting shed that would too so I will just have to have things on plastic trays rather than just having a paving slab floor.

hollydays

I have acquired a grrenhouse and a potting shed,and have had to read up on them.I have been told hygeine is important in a green house,I wonder how you would sterilize the wooden size of the greenhouse.

Farway

hollydays wrote: »

I have acquired a grrenhouse and a potting shed,and have had to read up on them.I have been told hygeine is important in a green house,I wonder how you would sterilize the wooden size of the greenhouse.

In the old days a good scrub down with Jeyes Fluid, but no idea if this is "approved" now by the chemical gestapo

Lotus-eater

What are you planning to grow in the greenhouse? Because you aren't going to grow tomatoes/cucumbers/melons very well with only a half height greenhouse.
You could, but not well and not productively. Or you could grow all tiny bush tomatoes, kinda mucks up the idea of having a greenhouse though, doesn't it?

Lotus-eater

Farway wrote: »

In the old days a good scrub down with Jeyes Fluid, but no idea if this is "approved" now by the chemical gestapo

You can still buy Jeyes Fluid can't you? And you can do what you want with it? So what are you moaning about?

Hannah2

Hi

In a perfect world I would have space and money for a greenhouse and a shed. I would also have an allotment and enough time in the week to devote full time to pottering around in all 3 :rotfl:

Unfortunately, my little garden will only accommodate one or the other and although I am aware that there are limitations to the shed/greenhouse in the link above, this is the best compromise I think I can find. I did look at potting sheds but they look ugly (to me) and only have light coming from one side.

I am going to try raising tomatoes in the greenhouse and then putting outside in one of the plastic growhouses, I have used one before and managed to get plenty of lovely tomatoes. I was also going to grow tumbling ones in the greenhouse and possibly in some hanging baskets in there as well.

This set up will also provide more staging than a potting shed so I can have lots of room for seeds and plug plants - filling an empty new build garden is going to be expensive! I hope to get something in the next 4 weeks so hopefully that will give me some time to catch up with germinating/planting etc.

Will bear in mind Jeyes fluid and do my best to scrub clean as and when I should be doing.

Thanks for the advice so far.

H2

psso

The only suggestion I would make is buy as big a green house as you can afford, as once the `pottering` bug bites, you`ll want to try growing everything.

We started with an 8x6 and within a year my DH wanted another, bigger one so we bought an 8x12 to stand behind it. 3 years later we sold it and put up an 18`x24` one, and we still have the original 8x6 as well.