The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

mothernerd

Doveling said:

That's what I'd like to grow. Salad stuffs and bits to see us through the winter.
We would like a good sized, decent one. (Although the other half of "we" doesn't know it yet  .)
I might go and loiter around the allotments and see if I can pick someone's brains.
I'm just concerned that it would cost far more than we would get back.

You can get a 3m x 2m x 2m polytunnel for under a £100 - it might be an acceptable compromise (but the covers come off in high winds). If I get the money together I'll be getting a lean to greenhouse that goes across the back of my tiny terrace house. The greenhouse will get some heat from the house (and the brick wall will absorb sunlight magnified by the greenhouse). I'm also thinking it's an extra layer of protection/ insulation for the house so might reduce energy use for heating the house in winter and a handy space for drying clothes in winter when it's too wet to use the line. I find having damp washing everywhere is really depressing. Can also use up unsightly but too good to break up furniture as staging - the one I had at mum's bungalow utilised an old kitchen table, two old kitchen chairs and a stool, odd pieces of leftover bathroom cladding, some metal shelves (had them since before I moved into my house in 19810 - I even used a set of ladders opened into a V with shorter pieces of cladding/ odd planks balanced across to hold extra seed trays.

Forgot the two small filing cabinets. Obviously once I'd set up the framework I had extra shelves bridging any gaps.

ZsaZsa

Doveling said:

That's what I'd like to grow. Salad stuffs and bits to see us through the winter.
We would like a good sized, decent one. (Although the other half of "we" doesn't know it yet  .)
I might go and loiter around the allotments and see if I can pick someone's brains.
I'm just concerned that it would cost far more than we would get back.

I doubt I’ll ever recoup the cost of mine but I love it. Dead cosy starting seeds off in there in the depths of winter with the rain lashing down. I have salad leaves and pak choi in mine over the winter too

weenancyinAmerica

Doveling - you might be able to grow enough to help with food for the bantams at least. Sounds like they were happy with what you grew for "them".

-taff

You can normally get a secondhand 6x6 one for fifty to a hundred quid, which you would probably also have to dismantle yourself, but it's worth doing because then you know how to put it together.

thriftwizard

I wouldn't be without my 6' x 6' greenhouse. I doubt it's paid for itself yet, I've only had it for about 18 months, but I'm loving it! Last summer I grew tomatoes, tomatillos, chillis & cucumbers in there successfully, having used it to raise lots of seedlings for the allotment first - which has also happened this year, although some didn't survive the great rodent disaster & others have fallen to the dreaded molluscs at the 'lottie once planted out. This year's tomatoes are already clambering up the sides & the cucumber, sweet peppers & chillis are awaiting potting-up once the shelves are a bit clearer. In winter it's full of battered old pots full of pelargoniums, fuchsias, begonias & the like, as well as DD2's pomegranates & date palms, all grown from seed; her lemon tree's too big now & has to come into the conservatory, which does make it hard to get around, but it's her pride & joy! There are also a few potted strawberries in the greenhouse, which have had a head start & will be ready to eat inside the week; their outdoor siblings are just flowering & starting to form fruits now. Salad leaves didn't do too well out there last summer (which was somewhat cool & grey) but the first tray I've planted this year are coming along nicely, as have sprouting pea shoots, also for salad. I suspect last year's bought-in compost was pretty ropey; made too quickly, when everyone suddenly took up gardening!

So the greenhouse also gives us a head-start on the summer garden; all the pretty-but-tender plants that would otherwise keel over can shelter in there & just be hauled out once the danger of frost is past. I have to admit to wrapping the greenhouse in bubblewrap over winter; even then it got down to almost zero a couple of times (I didn't arrange any heating; we're pretty far south here) but because I kept the summer plants dry, they survived.

Floss

@Doveling if you can get a s/h frame, you can "glaze" with polycarbonate twin wall. It's not as pretty, but peppers will thrive along with tomatoes, and you can use it thru the winter as the twin wall will insulate it. It will also be virtually shatterproof 😉

Doveling

This is going to take some research! Disappeared into an internet blackhole last night   
Plinth/no plinth? Toughened glass/Horticultural glass/ Polycarbonate?
Start small in case I can't manage ( got to be able to get wheelchair in or at least a sturdy seat) or go bigger to grow into?
 ( Pun intended  )

I think if I get one it'll be for relaxation and pleasure as well as fresh food.
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. 

Si_Clist

Doveling said:

... Plinth/no plinth? Toughened glass/Horticultural glass/ Polycarbonate?

Over the years we've asked ourselves the same questions three times, starting after our first one (a third-hand cheapo alloy frame glazed with a unique mix of horticultural glass, window glass, Perspex, polycarbonate and plywood) got wrecked by a storm, and FWIW the answers have always been plinthless and toughened glass.  Plinthless because we can never see what the benefit might be, and toughened glass because why not when it's not that much dearer than horticultural.

The best thing we ever did where greenhouses are concerned was to buy a Rhino and get a bloke in to lay a proper level foundation of blockwork for it.  By our standards the bill was enormous (just over £3K) but it's as good as new five years on and definitely one of our better purchases.  It's currently full of broad beans and peas just about ready to eat, salad crops, carrots, radish and lots of trays of stuff that we really need to get hardened off ...

RAS

Doveling, definitely go on the hunt for a freebie. Check with the local allotment society and other community message boards. Quite likely you'll find one offered for little or nothing to anyone prepared to move it. In my case the glass travelled in a wheelbarrow and a friend helped detach the last of the frame and walk it over in 4 bits.

I have however seen an entire greenhouse, with glass, wobble gently down the track on a carefully driven flatbed truck, supported by "out-riders" who then carried into position. Do think about protection from the prevailing wind though, and make sure it is well nailed down, a couple on the plots walked during or before Eunice.

Ditto polytunnel frames needing a new skin.

Floss

Oh, and don't leave the door open if strong winds are forecast... this was two 8' x 6' greenhouses end to end, after 3 days of 60+mph winds on the Fylde coast in late December 2013. The two frames were so twisted they had to be scrapped and I was picking glass out of the nearby beds for months afterwards.