Garden Centre

Friday, September 5, 2008

Favourite garden places

For the past few days there has been something missing from my pond – the dog! Until the rainy weather came, Falco spent nearly every hour of nearly every day sitting on the ‘bridge’ which is actually more of a platform that crosses the pond: it’s meant to provide shade for the fish, rather than a route from one side to the other, but Falco thinks it’s the nearest thing to heaven a dog can have.

The reason I’m so aware he’s missing from his favourite spot is that I’ve spent quite a lot of time under an umbrella, by the pond, looking at a patch of garden that currently is a bit of hard-standing for a barbecue, a home to two compost bins and the nesting place of our currant and blackcurrant bushes. And the reason I’m lurking in my own garden in the rain is that I’m going to be given a greenhouse for my birthday!

There are still some issues of course, like what kind of greenhouse, because they can be constructed from so many different materials. Polyethylene ones are just sheets of plastic over a frame – they are cheap to purchase, but need re-covering every two years and in winter are prone to wind or snow damage: wind damage rules these out for us. Corrugated acrylic sheets are said to be not much better because they crack and discolour - polycarbonate materials are more durable (and much more expensive) but I think that’s the route we’re going to take. Glass is the best option but costs a fortune – I’m sure we can’t afford it.

Then there is the frame: cedar and teak last forever, especially if you oil them, ideal, but are very expensive, while ordinary softwood looks just as good but has a very limited life. Aluminium does not rust, but isn’t exactly attractive and one issue with cheaper greenhouses is that the bolts and screws holding the structure together steel which does rust, so we need to pick carefully and if we can’t inspect the interior, ask questions of the retailer to be sure what we’re getting.

The only thing that has already been decided is the siting – a greenhouse needs an open area in full sun because while it’s easy to shade a small greenhouse if the sun is too strong, it’s almost impossible to improve the light entering a greenhouse in shade.

And of course, I have to decide what I’m going to grow in it! Heirloom tomatoes, aubergines and cucumbers for sure, but I also fancy some Hedychiums for their scent and a lime tree … and I’m sure that as the weeks pass I’ll think of more and more I can do ‘under glass’ and the greenhouse will become my favourite place just as the pond is for Falco.

Labels: all year gardening, garden fruit, garden ponds, greenhouse, hedychium, tomatoes

The All Seasons Gardener at 6:47 AM

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