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Conservatory ideas

Dirty HarryDirty Harry Posts: 1,048
in Garden design
Not strictly 'garden design' then but related...

I've pretty much neglected the conservatory since I moved in, with its crap vinyl flooring and knackered windows etc. it's been a glorified dumping ground for most of the time I've been here. It's effectively a 'lean-to' and leads directly onto the kitchen.

To make it a usable, clean room would cost a fortune, the windows would really need replaced among other things. Now I would like to embrace the fact it has a lot of spiders and isn't air tight by trying to work with that and turn it into a glorified greenhouse. I already use it for a lot of my plants, starting seeds, tubers etc. Looking for some pointers/suggestions.

First obvious one is to get rid of the knackered vinyl flooring and put down proper terracotta tiles as well as removing or replacing the blinds. What about tables/staging set-up, any good sources for that sort of thing?





Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Nice having the radiator in there, effectively giving you a heated greenhouse/orangery, so you could grow tropical plants including fruit, if you went the whole hog.  If you are sorting the floor with tiles, it may be an idea to put in a drain leading outside, so that any spillage or condensation will naturally run away.  Automatic openers on any suitable windows would be good, as ventilation in sunny weather is crucial or things may get cooked before they are picked.
    There are so many types of greenhouse staging to choose from that I think you should be able to get something to your taste.  A couple of sites Mr google found:
    Sounds like a nice project.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • Dirty HarryDirty Harry Posts: 1,048
    edited April 2020
    Should be all right without a drain or anything as extreme as that. Can automatic window openers be fitted to existing, old windows with a bit of modifying?

    Excess heat would be a concern as if I leave the kitchen door and the back door shut in the middle of summer it gets utterly sweltering in full sun, unbearable. Typically I leave the kitchen door open and it spreads the heat through the house nicely.

    Wasn't planning to go fully tropical other than some cacti that can take the cold in winter but who knows! Haven't had that heater turned on in years so not sure how warm it can keep the place. Once the heating were to go off I think the conservatory would lose heat too quickly to be reliable.

    I will have a look at those websites, thanks.
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