Greenhouse & cold frame's

Evening all,
Well tonight instead of talking about having a plan for the start of the season, for us gardeners thats around april time "But" it depends we're you are on the map, some parts of the country (uk) can still be that little bit to cold or even snow still around,
And as todays been snowing like hell here i thought "again of the newer gardener's and things that are worth doing even in weather like we're having now"

Snow,!

Snow on glass ie greenhouse/cold frames, can weigh a lot and a lot of the green houses & cold frames that are used today are light framed metal and its this fact that needs tobe thought about.

The frame with glass in it can weigh a lot "But with snow on it",???? well its not rocket science to work out that this can be to much and the greenhouse can buckle under such weight & the glass crack.

I remove the snow as much as possible but to do this you should never use water, (it can crack the glass)
I use a long pole with a soft brush fitted,

I start at the roof's bottom first glass pane, and then the pane above this one and so on, Until ive got to the greenhouse roof ridge,

your pulling down the snow over the panes you've cleared, but it's about the same weight going over each pane of glass each time,

If you take your time and do not put pressure on the brush, and work from standing on the ground (its safer than using steps) you'll soon get the hang of this snow clearing,

If however you have the greenhouse heated? then the snow should melt by its self.
But again a word of warning!
If you have a greenhouse thats been unheated and you decide to remove the roof full of snow bt heating the inside using a heater? You should think about the heat and how it reacts with the light metal framed greenhouses,
the heat can cause the metal to expand very slightly and this again can cause the glass to break, It's the opposit re-action the the greenhouse getting hot in the boiling sun, but in this case the glass also is hot at the same time as the frames hot and so the glass as a norm stays as one piece.
But i feel the snow's better off the glass rather than building up all the time.

You've heard the one about the snow flake that broke the greenhouses back???
No, ?
Me too ive never heard that one

Goodnight & good gardening to you all.

 

That is fair comment Moonraker, though a light " inch " of snow will act as an insulator, so a blessing rather than a problem.

 

I've got about 6 ins on the roof of mine at the moment and dont feel the need to move it.

 

Didn't the restraining order say you weren't allowed to do that again Pete?

 

Reached 12c in mine this afternoon.

 

Next frost forecast Tuesday here's hoping it aint as low as the last few days,the window sills are getting full now need to start putting more stuff outside in the greenhouse.