Working glass heroes

Come rain or shine, a greenhouse can provide you with a glorious garden escape where you can enjoy growing your own plants

Agreenhouse can be a real asset in the garden. Personally, I enjoy mine the most on rainy days – pottering around in the warmth, nurturing my seeds as the rain plinks and plonks on the glass above my head.

Greenhouses are available in all shapes and sizes and are a sure-fire way for you to elevate your gardening to the next level.

Green on greenhouses

If you’re new to the greenhouse game, they can be an escape into a world of growing wonder.

It’s not just about using it as a tool, but as a place to escape as well.

Your greenhouse becomes a room in which you can produce new growth, like an artist’s studio. It can be set up for quiet reflection or provide the perfect space for production.

And as a protected growing site, it also enables you to extend the growing season, giving you access to the joys of gardening for more months out of the year.

As your greenhouse is somewhat shielded from the seasons, you have the opportunity to grow seedlings, tender plants and vegetables, or even exotics, where you may not have before. So get excited about out-ofthe-box gardening and get planning what to plant.

Lost in location

Where you build your greenhouse is so important, but deciding where to site it will be determined by what you want to grow.

Every garden is different – only you will know which parts of your plot receive full, morning or evening sun, and which are lacking them.

Don’t forget that the sun’s position will change throughout the year too.

My biggest tip is to avoid placing it under trees – not only is there shade, but also the risk of falling branches and bird waste.

Ideally you will have the greenhouse’s longest side facing south for optimal sun over winter. This will maximise access to sunlight when plants need it most.

But, if you’re installing a greenhouse, it’s important to make sure it’s accessible from the house too. After all, what good is a perfectly-sited greenhouse you never visit because it’s too far down the garden path.

Sound structure

It’s best if your greenhouse sits upon a solid foundation. Not only will it give a stable footing all year round, but it’s also easier to keep clean.

If you want the entire floor paved, remember to build your base larger

Be clever with the internal fit to get an organised set-up

than the greenhouse itself to allow room for the framework and for steady footing around the exterior.

This is not only helpful when cleaning, but enables you to grow around the perimeter of your greenhouse in grow bags and pots too.

For tiny gardens, mini-greenhouses or lean-tos (where a wall becomes one side of it) are ideal, and you don’t have to lose on functionality either.

Glassy ’n’ classy

The glass panes in your greenhouse help with growing through the diffusion of light and trapping the warmth of the sun, so keep them clean.

You can buy specialist cleaners from the garden centre. Clean off any green algae and moss and disinfect the glass as you go.

This is best done in winter before the growing season starts up and it’s chock-full of plants.

Double-glazing will give you about three times the protection from heat loss as single panes, but you can also do this yourself in the winter – simply use some rolls of plastic bubble wrap as insulation.

Accessories to please

With any outdoor structure, you need to consider varying temperature and ventilation needs throughout the year.

For this, larger hard-standing greenhouses are easier to control with openings for ventilation and heating. You can buy automatic window openers to vent your greenhouse on hot days.

You can also set up partitions for sectioning off growing needs, and you can be quite clever with the internal fit to get an organised set-up.

Greenhouse staging – the workbench positioned at waist height – and shelving will maximise the space for your specific needs.

I’d recommend placing trays with capillary matting on your benches to aid watering and humidity. I’ve also got a potting station with sides fitted specially to hold the compost in, ready to plant up. This makes potting so much more easy and enjoyable.

Whichever route you take, greenhouses can give you an opportunity for growing more plants – and, in my book, that’s never a bad thing.

So set up a glorious greenhouse to garden yourself gleeful.