Garden Centre

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Greenhouse update (not)

I wish I’d bought my greenhouse from somebody else- because then I might be able to show you a picture of the finished building, not a picture I've borrowed from somebody luckier than me – but I was seduced by the fact that I’d been given a nice big gift voucher and ended up buying from a major chain of DIY stores that shall be nameless. And what a mistake that was!

I have now had three different greenhouses delivered – and three different bases and three different sets of glazing. But never has this major chain managed to the right base and the right glazing to arrive with the right frame – and not until this week have they mastered the fairly basic skill of only collecting the wrong items and leaving the right items to be matched up to the next delivery. Oh no! Their idea of customer service is to take everything away each time so that it turned into a kind of lucky dip conducted by delivery van: take three random huge cardboard boxes from the back of the vehicle, unpack them, and call the store to complain that once again, the wrong things have turned up.

Sigh. So finally, this week, I have the right three elements to create a greenhouse. But now I don’t have the free time to put the dratted thing together.

Take my advice – buy your greenhouse from a company that has good customer service: it doesn’t matter if it costs a bit more, it will be worth it in the end!

Peaceful greenhouse courtesy of orin optiglot

Labels: greenhouse

The All Seasons Gardener at 7:37 AM 0 Comments

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Major works in the garden

Why is it that just when you get things to a perfect condition in the garden, you decide to go in for some major, disruptive project? I suppose it’s the constant striving after an even more perfect perfection than you already have …

So this weekend has been a busy one: we’ve dug up three currant bushes, a tayberry and some very prickly raspberry canes, a thornless blackberry (hurrah for thornless, so much easier to uproot without donating a fair amount of your life blood to the soil) and my prized and lovely Katsura tree. Now we have a patch of bare earth which looks miserable, and a whole collection of fruit bushes making a miniature pot-jungle on the path.

And next weekend … we shall begin the insanely complicated process of putting together the greenhouse! Yes, over 300 components of aluminium and polycarbonate glazing, bags of sand and bags of gravel, cement, steel posts and all the rest of the paraphernalia are waiting in the garage to become a small Eden (except it’s a standard greenhouse, not a biome) in which I shall grow tender crops and exotic plants.

There’s only one problem. Well, two, really. Problem number one is trying to guess how long it will take us to do the assembly – a weekend, a week, a month? It looks worryingly difficult.

Problem number two is that the list of things I want to grow is already too big for the greenhouse, and I’m adding to it at least three times a day ….

Labels: fruit bushes, greenhouse

The All Seasons Gardener at 4:18 AM 0 Comments

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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 0 Comments

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Another dangerous garden!

Well, the garden wasn’t dangerous in itself, no man-or-woman-eating plants or concealed pits, but dangerous for me, because it’s given me ‘ideas’ – himself has gone into hiding already, knowing that garden tours always result in my coming home with a madly grandiose plan.

This time it’s a greenhouse. Not any ordinary ‘just for growing things’ greenhouse, but a proper conservatory, with a space for me to do yoga, a desk for my laptop so I can write about gardening matters in an inspiring environment (your screen will fog up, says himself, in a doom-laden voice) and a wooden trellis up one wall so I can grow hibiscus.

I mean look at it! Who could resist a wall of hibiscus? (It will hide insects, the wood will rot, you’ll want something else within a year or two, says himself.) And our garden is not equipped to grow it, so we need to do something that allows us to grow it, right?

Himself points to the pot of hibiscus I have bought during my visit. How much did that cost, he asks. £2.99 I answer (it’s a bargain, you’ve got to admit.) And you want me to build a £3,000 conservatory for it, he says.

I couldn’t think of an answer for that one …

Labels: garden tours, garden visits, greenhouse, hibiscus, open gardens

The All Seasons Gardener at 9:35 AM 2 Comments

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