Those little plastic greenhouse are good as a halfway house between the window sill and the garden. They're not heatable for tender plants but offer shelter from the wind and a few degrees of warmth for plants.
No it won't be the same as a conventional greenhouse but they are so useful to those of us who are unable to have the 'real' thing for various reasons. I have three of them of various sizes so quite a little village. At the moment growing in them are broad beans. runner beans, sweet corn, mini sweet corn, cucumbers, sweet peas, cosmos,sun flowers, cornflower, honesty, lupins and tender fushia I use them to start off the aforesaid plants which will eventually go out into the garden and allotment. You have to be careful of temperature and not forget to open up the front before you go to work as they can get very hot inside and then close them at night before the temperature drops. As others have said make sure you secure it to something in case it blows away with all your precious seedlings.
I open them all the way up, same as Cairnsie as they are on a south facing wall. If the forecast is for lashing rain with total cloud cover I would perhaps open them part way but as a general rule it would be all the way.
I use a mini-greenhouse more in the way I would use a cold-frame - they don't function as a greenhouse because they are too small which allows much greater fluctuations of temperature - I have them open all the way during the day and just closed up on cold nights.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I have two which are full at the moment and as has been said they can get very hot in full sun so I have to open and close them to suit the conditions, at night if the temperature is set to drop below 5 or 6 degrees I either fleece them or put a plastic cover over them. I do have tomato plants in them which are thriving, the biggest difference with these plastic blow away's and my glasshouse which is on an allotment is that the plastic does get a lot of condensation which requires serious monitoring and much opening and closing of the flaps to reduce. I stop them from blowing over by forsaking the bottom most shelf for growing purposes and laying a bag of sand or heavy compost to weigh the greenhouse down this has seen them through some very rough winds in the past.
Hi, me and my child are going to make one of these plastic bottles ones. We have been saving bottles for months now and will hopefully start it in the summer.
Does these replies relate to the plastic bottle ones as well? And the heater?
Dove, you have given me an idea! I cannot get those plastic greenhouses to stay put, even though they are tied, roped down weighted etc. The best thing for them is to lay them on their backs and use as a cold frame, zip uppermost, make some drainholes in plastic, brill.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Posts
oh and i live in south east london.
Those little plastic greenhouse are good as a halfway house between the window sill and the garden. They're not heatable for tender plants but offer shelter from the wind and a few degrees of warmth for plants.
In the sticks near Peterborough
No it won't be the same as a conventional greenhouse but they are so useful to those of us who are unable to have the 'real' thing for various reasons. I have three of them of various sizes so quite a little village. At the moment growing in them are broad beans. runner beans, sweet corn, mini sweet corn, cucumbers, sweet peas, cosmos,sun flowers, cornflower, honesty, lupins and tender fushia I use them to start off the aforesaid plants which will eventually go out into the garden and allotment. You have to be careful of temperature and not forget to open up the front before you go to work as they can get very hot inside and then close them at night before the temperature drops. As others have said make sure you secure it to something in case it blows away with all your precious seedlings.
Hi Forester. when you open it up - do you open it all the way up or just part way to get some air in ?
I open mine all the way up. Can get seriously hot in there otherwise.
I open them all the way up, same as Cairnsie as they are on a south facing wall. If the forecast is for lashing rain with total cloud cover I would perhaps open them part way but as a general rule it would be all the way.
I use a mini-greenhouse more in the way I would use a cold-frame - they don't function as a greenhouse because they are too small which allows much greater fluctuations of temperature - I have them open all the way during the day and just closed up on cold nights.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I have two which are full at the moment and as has been said they can get very hot in full sun so I have to open and close them to suit the conditions, at night if the temperature is set to drop below 5 or 6 degrees I either fleece them or put a plastic cover over them. I do have tomato plants in them which are thriving, the biggest difference with these plastic blow away's and my glasshouse which is on an allotment is that the plastic does get a lot of condensation which requires serious monitoring and much opening and closing of the flaps to reduce. I stop them from blowing over by forsaking the bottom most shelf for growing purposes and laying a bag of sand or heavy compost to weigh the greenhouse down this has seen them through some very rough winds in the past.
Hi, me and my child are going to make one of these plastic bottles ones. We have been saving bottles for months now and will hopefully start it in the summer.
Does these replies relate to the plastic bottle ones as well? And the heater?
Dove, you have given me an idea! I cannot get those plastic greenhouses to stay put, even though they are tied, roped down weighted etc. The best thing for them is to lay them on their backs and use as a cold frame, zip uppermost, make some drainholes in plastic, brill.