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Limited Space But Keen Add Wall Mounted Greenhouse to my Vertical Garden - Ideas?

AtacamaAtacama Posts: 87
edited April 2021 in Fruit & veg
Evening all. Thanks to GW advice, we have a great (but small) garden of soft fruits the last few years and have just installed a green wall based on the MiniGarden system. It's roughly 1.8 meters square on a fence panel with automatic irrigation. So far it's working a treat with 60 mixed strawberry plants from Ken Muir planted.

But I'm keen to add a wall mounted greenhouse to the system. Ideally to build my own if that's possible/feasible.

Below is a video showing the Minigarden system being installed to get a feel for things. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDlRFd_f1zo

https://uk.minigarden.net/minigarden-vertical/

Added a clearer picture of the minigarden vertical wall system ....



And I found this product which is a small (a little too small) mounted greenhouse which if I could source or build one half the size again, would be perfect....

https://www.twowests.co.uk/collections/small-greenhouses/products/elite-window-garden?variant=32277243494451



However this product whilst nicely designed, is too small and on a crazy long lead time. I'm wandering if it's possible to build my own? 

Can you source the metal sections? Is there a supplier who does greenhouse components rather than the entire build? I can fabricate and build most things. Glass is easy to source cut to size but the metalwork and sealants I guess you need know a little bit about.

Anyone built their own aluminium frame greenhouse? Any suppliers, tips? Or better to avoid?

Or do you own or know of a similar design unit but a bit bigger .... approx 1.8 meters square?

Appreciate any advice
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Posts

  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    Can't advise on metal greenhouses but if you want to construct your own a wooden one might look nicer. Or look for a wood one that could be adapted
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    :) elieve Two Wests & Eliott will sell the components or make to measure, so it might be worth contacting them. If it's on your fence, you'd have to make sure it could bear the weight. 
    What are you going to do with all those strawberries. :)
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    I didnt know there were such things, we have a lean to (plus 2 other greenhouses)on the side of our bunglow, 2ft deep 6 feet long, keeps warm from the building, yes, I agree, the fence would not stand the weight of a structure like this.  Yes, the lead times are barmy at the moment, 6 months, plus, what ever you get trust me it wont be big enough
  • AtacamaAtacama Posts: 87
    K67 said:
    Can't advise on metal greenhouses but if you want to construct your own a wooden one might look nicer. Or look for a wood one that could be adapted
    Have to confess (for reasons unknown) I'd limited my thinking to aluminium frame.

    But having read your advice, I did search on wooden options and there are indeed a number of wall mounted small format options. They look modest or middling quality but can be refinished and upgraded to suit.

    Size wise they seem limited but could still work with the vertical garden modules split and two of the green houses used.

    This is one that seems very commonly available. Not sure if any GW members have experience with this unit below.

    Reading in a little more detail, the greenhouse is 69cm wide (which I imagine to be outer edge to outer edge) and the vertical garden units are 64cm ..... really close. Could be a winner or massive loser that one.

    But thanks for the steer, it's given some new thinking for sure


  • AtacamaAtacama Posts: 87
    Lizzie27 said:
    :) elieve Two Wests & Eliott will sell the components or make to measure, so it might be worth contacting them. If it's on your fence, you'd have to make sure it could bear the weight. 
    What are you going to do with all those strawberries. :)
    Many thanks for the direction Lizzie. Will be checking that out shortly.

    Yes the fence is fairly robust but the addition of some legs to the greenhouse and cross bracing would definitely be in order.

    Strawberry wise, this is entirely new for us. We've had huge success with other soft fruits but always considered strawberries a bit of a dead loss .... for entirely irrational reasons. 

    Yes there are 60 irrigated planter slots with a water retaining base and good quality growing media. And I'm led to believe the plants are from a well regarded supplier. Certainly they have took the environment very well to my eyes. But we have zero experience with strawberries and do not know what to expect at all. Hopefully we are inundated. Have to the raspberries we get tons off in the same growing area.

    The thinking is to build a second wall for herbs and add the wall mount greenhouse to it. We already have a successful large Rosemary, Thyme, couple of different Mint plants ... all good size in pots but would like to add coriander, lemon grass and slightly more exotic herbs into the wall under glass. I don't really know much about that. Maybe worth another post in fact.

    Many thanks for the support. I will report back how we get on. 

     
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    I had the Rowlinson mini cold frame and it was good quality more expensive as it's made with a hardwood. They do a greenhouse version but double the price of the eBay one.
    They were very quick to replace a damaged piece of the frame and sent virtually a whole new one minus lid.
    Must admit they aren't difficult to build yourself if you are handy. Most timber merchants hold hardwood and will cut to your requirements.

  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    Watching with interest, we wanted to extend our last greenhouse, not big enough, Have bought from 2 Wets and Elliot, looked at their site, couldnt find what we needed,Hubby has been building a pergola, DIY stores and builders merchant/timber merchants have been out of stock, they told him the other day because of the massive forest fires in America there is a shortage of wood, so get in quick.  Assume you will use plastic instead of glass for the weight issue
  • Cottage CompostCottage Compost Posts: 496
    Outstanding idea... a wall mounted greenhouse, love it.

    With basic woodworking / metalworking skills any sensible construction is simple enough to design and build.   I'm working out where and how big mine will be right now.

    What an excellent idea.   Weight of construction shouldn't be a great issue, there are plenty of bay windows fitted into STD walls that are only supported by the wall they have been fitted into that'll never pull down the wall. There are plenty of unsupported carports to that'll weigh more than a wall mounted greenhouse and the greenhouse won't extend far out from the wall unlike the carport.  Unless you intend to cover the entire gable end wall of a house and build it several feet outwardly from the wall the weight is irrelevant really.

    Aluminium does however, obviously have the best possible weight strength ratio.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    @Atacama , I've got one of those small wooden/polycarbonate growhouses but mine was half the price. However I don't expect it to last long - maybe five years if I'm lucky.
    To be honest mine's now full of junk.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • AtacamaAtacama Posts: 87
    Cottage Compost said:
    Outstanding idea... a wall mounted greenhouse, love it.

    With basic woodworking / metalworking skills any sensible construction is simple enough to design and build.   I'm working out where and how big mine will be right now.

    What an excellent idea.   Weight of construction shouldn't be a great issue, there are plenty of bay windows fitted into STD walls that are only supported by the wall they have been fitted into that'll never pull down the wall. There are plenty of unsupported carports to that'll weigh more than a wall mounted greenhouse and the greenhouse won't extend far out from the wall unlike the carport.  Unless you intend to cover the entire gable end wall of a house and build it several feet outwardly from the wall the weight is irrelevant really.

    Aluminium does however, obviously have the best possible weight strength ratio.
    It does seem a good way to go for space limited doesn't it?

    We have a great sunny south wall and the 60 pot green wall is absolutely flying with the strawberries installed only a week back .... amazing results so far. 

    It just struck me that adding glass over it would allow herbs (not just the usual suspects but more exotic stuff with a longer window of growth) but I want to make it cosmetically acceptable as well.

    No I don't think weight should be a major issue if the design is well considered. Amazingly it transpires, the vertical wall pot system does 'just' fit into one of these off the shelf aluminium or wood systems. But 22 weeks to wait for an aluminium or 30 weeks for painted one seems bizarre. 

    I tried looking for some on-line plans to fabricate one but so far no joy.

    The construction seems very straightforward, if I could find a supplier for greenhouse aluminium extruded sections, runners, rails, nuts and bolts etc. As Lizzy mentioned, the one supplier does some basic greenhouse elements but not enough to make a 'kit list' and start work.

    As K67 mentioned earlier, to get an old defunct aluminium or wood greenhouse and use that as a material source could well be the way to go. If we look at how the basics of a greenhouse go together, it's far from high engineering. Is just to source the raw materials that seems be the stumbling point.
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