Overwintering GH or garage ?

Its getting to that time of the year again , I normally throw most things into the GH to overwinter but after last year losses I think maybe the garage is possibly slightly better ? The garage is wood - steel roof - wood floor off the ground and large do you think it will be any better than the cold greenhouse for overwinter mainly salvias possible cannas and others of that ilk ?

Wood should hold any warmth better that the GH whether they be any difference in the depth of winter I am not so sure ?

Suppose to freeze over weekend but warm up a bit Wednesday onwards not sure whether to push my luck and leave the Ensete and Salvia confertiflora with a fleece on

 

I use a garage but its a lean to on the side of the house, its not very light in there but I put anything still in leaf close to the door end which I leave open most days.

I do think a shed or garage is better if the greenhouse is not heated, cannas die down anyway and I cut off all the top growth once they are fairly dry same with potted gingers.
I think Salvias would probably be ok with similar treatment.
Not had great success with Ensete as I think they need to tick over through winter, the drying off idea has never worked for me either.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't get too cold in this snap we are forecast as I still have everything outside and not really able to move much of it ATM.

 

Garage is on it own free standing . I do bring the ensete in the house and put it in a cupboard after drying off , it does start growing again overwinter probably cause its in the house its white as a ghost when I pull it back out . It did survive a quite hard ish frost last year

Salvia are normally fine in the GH last year I lost every single one. Canna are a bit hit and miss overwintering might put them in a large pot and cover with a deep layer of compost this year.

 

Good you get the Ensete to survive, I cant understand you losing cannas as I just dry the pots off then cut off the top growth and store them in their pots in the garage, I dont tip them out until new growth is about 6ins high the following spring, the new growth is a magnet for early aphids.
I try to encourage most of my overwintering stuff to go dormant, so in the garage it stays at a more constant temperature than the greenhouse, I also ventilate when the temperatures are above zero, even on cold windy days which are often better than mild wet days.

Having said that, you might get a few damaged leaves over the weekend but I'm hoping its not bad enough to kill anything.

 

It depends on the greenhouse, mine has two walls, one of them is the wall of a new utility room at the side of my kitchen. Also the glass is double glazed and doesn't go right down to the floor. My cacti are in there but last winter I put succulents and some shrubs like Coprosma etc in there too and they were fine.

However, a free standing gh with glass to the floor would be too cold.

My garage has been turned into a pottery-making shed and although it is free standing it is built of concrete bricks and has a concrete floor, the garage door space is bricked up and has a large window and both the outside windows are double glazed, so it's all right in there for Fuchsias and such things.

What I'm saying is it depends on the type of garage and gh etc. and on what plants you want to put in there.

 

Is your GH just glass glazing ? could you cover part or all of it with bubble film which does seem to keep the frost out and keep them off the cold floor with some wood or polystyrene etc.

Find come Spring many such plants get going so much better / earlier in the greenhouse.

Know folk who put things in the extenal garage have many losses overwinter.

Also finding some of the plants we bring in to overwinter are lost not so much to the cold but to things like vineweevil and root mealy bug when you tip out their pots.
Tend now to give such plants a root treatment as we bring them in to try and catch such critters.

 

GH is full sheet glazing / toughened glass must admit I am far to lazy to bubble wrap it. Polystyrene on the floor a good idea . I do have a bed inside the GH I may be able to make a large cold frame inside the GH or just throw a roll of bubble wrap on top

 

This cold floor thing is something I've never understood, the ground is actually a heat source IMO on frosty nights.
Admittedly if we had perma-frost in the UK things would be different.
Warmth actually comes up from the ground, the frost comes from the air above.
I'm too lazy to even try bubble wrapping mine.

 

I have a full glass greenhouse but have put polystyrene insulation boards all round the bottom 2 feet. The boards are quite expensive but an 8 by 4 board goes quite a way. I had bubble lined above the boards but find it a hassle to fit and remove, so I'm thinking of getting polycarb which I'll hold in place with some crop head bolts and little plastic supports that I've 3d printed.

 

Fitted 10mm twinwall polycarb to our greenhouse when we used to keep a lot of orchids and some local footballers kept breaking the glass !
Good move as apart from withstanding the balls it really retains the heat and feels a lot safer to be around.
10mm actually fits most typical alluminium glazing bars using those wire clips.
The downsides are you do not get a fully clear view though it, if that matters, and over the years you can get some condensation and moss etc inside the ends of the sheets.

Also used some 3D spacers when extending our greenhouse/glazing, we have an Ender3.
However as Ademission said, use a lighter colour filament as he found the black can absorb too much heat and warp.

 

Hubs made a wooded frame within our greenhouse, and every Winter we fix full lengths of bubble wrap to it.making a fully enclosed area inside.. We also use a lot of polystyrene sheets on the staging and behind the wrap on the bottom half of the greenhouse too. Our Fuchsias are always stored in our large lean to coldframe and so far we have never lost one. We also have big rolls of fleece on standby too for extra protection when needed.

 

Oh I'm going to add the polycarb inside as secondary glazing - I think replacing the glass would be quite a job too.

 

That's dedication for you, sleeping with your plants to keep them warm!