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Greenhouse advice or alternative?
Bettyslad
Posts: 28
in Fruit & veg
Hi I need some advice, I have a large garden that is mainly level before sloping down a hill to a lower flat which is then open to farmland. As a result I get rabbits, field mice and moles and basically having got the main part of the garden finished last summer I now want to focus on the hill and flat, mainly to grow fruit and veg. Due to animals mentioned I thought I would need a greenhouse on the bottom flat, however I would like guidance on this to see if there are any cheaper alternatives. My other concern is we get battered by wind in the winter and my budget isn't large enough to get a rhino greenhouse. I saw a Europa manor greenhouse with toughened glass but not sure if this would be suitable? Any advice would be really appreciated.
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Posts
A greenhouse is only suitable for a relatively small range of fruit and veg but if those are what you want to grow, any greenhouse with toughened glass should be ok. The majority of fruit & veg need to be grown outdoors though and the main problem with those will be rabbits. You could try fencing off your veg patch with wire mesh, making sure you bury the mesh about 20-30 cm down in the soil. It only needs to be 60-100cm tall though as rabbits can't jump very high.
If you decide to get a greenhouse and want to have planting beds inside, best to line those with wire mesh too otherwise vermin will almost certainly burrow in. If you erect a GH on a concrete base and only grow in pots etc you should be OK though.
My polytunnels have stood up to winds over 80mph here in Devon , 10 miles from Atlantic and 750feet up.
You get a lot more tunnel for your money than a greenhouse.
Just a thought.
Excellent point, Hosta. 'Proper' polytunnels are superb but avoid the really cheap ones.
indeed so Bob. Get a professional quality tunnel, not some B&Q / Argos thing.
Any polytunnels to recommend? Would these need digging in to stop rabbits?
Ideally I would like to grow tomatoes, raspberrys, peas, purple broccoli and sprouts
What area are you in Bettyslad? Most of the things you mention (apart from tomatoes) would probably only grow well outside.
Would a large, sturdy fruit cage be an alternative - although perhaps not against moles.
When you say fruit cage, is this a known product or something you would build yourself?
Apologies if I ask dumb questions.
Think this combined with a smaller cold frame may be the way forwards.
Do you get any problems with mice/rabbits eating through the netting or are they not that determined?