Building a Second Hand Greenhouse

I recently bought a very large second hand greenhouse online, it is 8ft x 12ft in size. I got it I think very cheap at only £80 from a site called preloved. I was shopping around on ebay where much smaller ones were going for well over £100. It was local and I collected already dismantled, which was great for time saving on collection (it never easy going to some one you don't knows house and being there long). This came back to bite me when it came to building again.

I don't do jigsaw puzzles ever, so to have hundreds if not thousands of bits in a pile with no idea how it all went together was very daunting. At this point I was wishing I had dismantled it myself. There are many lessons to be learnt from how I went about this project! If like me you get a greenhouse already dismantled and no instructions on how to rebuild it this is how to do it.

1. Ensure you have in stock extra greenhouse nuts and bolts, the cropped head type are extremely useful later on if you have missed out putting the standard square ones in. They can be slid into the rails after you have already bolted it together. For Cropped head see image below. Also extra glazing clips as you will not have all you need.

2. Sort out all your parts in to piles, each pile containing the same parts. From here you can work out what parts are what and if you have all the required frame. As if its already dismantled on arrival you just do not know its all there. Luckily for me it was.

3. Make sure you have a greenhouse base in place. I did not do this first, I skipped straight to step 4. As i understood it from reading online your greenhouse will be bigger that the stated size by a few inches. So I built my frame first to gage its true size. My base is made up of some old paving slabs that were already in the garden. Most people either use something like this or lays down a concrete either as an entire floor or for just under the frame. Make sure it is level and sturdy as this is what anchors your greenhouse to the ground.

4. Intuition and Common Sense. build your frame starting from the sides. I built my entire frame in half a day without instructions. I found that the greenhouse was designed in a way that makes it simple to erect, parts seemed to me to go on certain place by just taking of consideration. This said I did put things together and then take them apart again as i had done it wrong. If you can have a second pair of hands and another brain you should easily figure it all out! So build your two long sides first and then add your apex's. One you have these in place you can add the roof  and you have a complete frame. Stand in side of it its starts to feel like a greenhouse a little.

5. Put your frame on your base and fix it down. I drilled into my slabs and fixed it down with 4 inch screws. The fixings were one in each corner and several along the sides. so it was well and truly anchored. Only a tornado is going to shift it.

6. Level your frame, it will be a little wonky and sqew in places. To do this take a level and check were its out and adjust your frame by loosening bolts and strong arming it into position. This pays dividends later when you come to glaze it all.

7. Glaze you greenhouse, when i bought my one I knew I was going to be short on glass so I ordered in some 4mm polycarbonate for the roof only so I would have enough glass for the sides. As it turns out even with this I am short as I broke several panes. When glazing, Glaze your roof first as you will have easy access to it while you have no sides on. The glass will be dirty and needs to be cleaned and the best was to do it is with warm water some cleaning product like flash and the big tip.....SAND. Place your payne on a flat surface drop a small blob of sand and scrub your pane with a sponge. It will come up like new. If like my greenhouse you have different sizes of glass take a moment to work out what glass goes where. With my greenhouse the sides needed one small pane and 2 large on the long sides. You will need to clip the glass to the greenhouse and the video below helped me work out how you did it.



When adding glass to the middle and top you will need another clip that the glass hangs on. There are to types and I used both. The first one is prefabricated and useful for the middle panes of glass as it keeps the level of the glass perfect, I think its called a Zclip. This is what it looks like....

And it works like this, you hook it to the bottom pane and sit the upper pane into it.....

For the top pane I found the following clip was best as it is flexible and helps give the best fit......

With all this you can get glazing and you will have it done within no time I promise. If your unfortunate like me the angles apex may be broken so invest in a glasscutter or buy some pre cut to size.

8. Get Growing!

I am sure I will have missed something out but if your doing this project you will work it out. It can be a little daunting at first but you will feel fulfilled by the end with your achievement. I know I am as I have a 12 x 8 greenhouse that has cost me less than £200 and some of my time.

If anyone has any questions regarding there own greenhouse build dont hesitate to ask I may be able to advise a little.

From Sun to Rain

This has been an amazing summer so far, I can not remember such a sunny and warm one since I was a kid in the 90's. It's been brilliant! Even when the rain has come its still been warm and the garden has loved it! On the other hand it has made me rather lazy and many garden jobs have been neglected, my excuse as used by many nationwide "It's Too Hot!" has left me procrastinating. 

The big summer project, the greenhouse has seen little forward momentum for several weeks. My heart sinks at the thought of glazing it all on my own, I don't know why it's just not a job I want to do. If I could afford it this is something I would pay someone to do! 

With the weather being so good my veggie patch had started to produce enough that dinner time is almost all home grown. This has to be the best part of the year and fills me with great satisfaction. My new potatoes were a dinner time sensation! 

The rain has now arrived and I am glad of it, it great to not water the garden. 

Plan for the Future. A Real Greenhouse.

With the demise of my little greenhouse last weekend I have been looking at a future without one. I am not inclined to go and get another of these £15 things again, they are just too lightweight and flimsy.Add to that the limited space they provide they are only good for helping your seedlings along until they get far to big for it. 

I would like or if I am talking to my partner 'I NEED' a greenhouse. I have talked about it in the past but my pleading has always fell on deaf ears, until this week and the 'Great Greenhouse Disaster of 2013'. I did not even bring the subject up, I was so surprised when she said 'you can get a greenhouse for your birthday'. Its my big 3 0 this year so I guess this is a real treat. So with this in my mind I hit the internet and started to look around at what I could have! In my mind I see a beautiful traditional English greenhouse like this.

What we can afford is somewhat far less attractive. My problem is with something as big as a greenhouse in my long and narrow garden, I want something that will be attractive to look at as well as functional. I imagine the above greenhouse is a well in to four digits and well out of my league. The most affordable greenhouse that I would even consider is just short of £300 for a 6" x 8"ft size. Am I being greedy in wanting something bigger? I was told by an old time gardener that if I was going to invest in a greenhouse get the biggest I could afford, as you never have enough space in the end. 

My only other option is to build my own, to the size and style I want. Which I think I could do on a relatively cheap budget. The one issue I face is I am a terrible joiner! TERRIBLE! Cutting wood straight is not my strong point. However my dad is a joiner, he does not know it yet but he will being helping me if I do make it myself. I told my mother so its as good as sorted! Thanks Mum.

Garden Disaster

Yesterday, after making my usual morning walk about the garden and being rather pleased with thingings I went of into town to treat myself to some garden bits and bobs. I was out for a few hours and on my return I came back to this.

My little greenhouse collapsed! As you can see! I arrived home to a note on the door from my neighbour who had been in the garden at the time and heard it all happen. He jumped over the wall and did his best to save my 'babies' (as he called it) from the baking sun by putting as much as he could back into there pots. As you may imagine I was rather gutted upon my return home and I am sure I was swearing like a drunken docker. After my initial grief I jumped in and cleared up the mess and salvaged  as much as I could. The casualty list was not as bad as first thought, I tomato seedling dead, my courgette lost a limb and a few other toms are now on intensive care but look good to recover. The greenhouse was a wreck. 

The cause of the collapse...... Me. Its a cheap greenhouse and I had loaded it with a few bricks to stop the wind from blowing it away, like it did last year. Add to that I potted up my larger tomatoes into large pots and watered them in well, it was all to much for the structure in the end!! There are alot of homeless seedlings right now who will have to live outside and hope Mr Frost has now gone away for the summer.

Yesterday will be forever remembered as the 'Great Greenhouse Disaster of 2013'.