First greenhouse

Hey everyone

I have just got my first greenhouse Now this may be a stupid question but should I leave the door/window open during the day to circulate the air (especially in this weather!)??
I had a growhouse/cold frame before and had some issues with the plants wilting!
Any help/advice/rules to follow would be a great help

 

A NEW GREENHOUSE

This will open up a new world of growing , when I got in from work and went to check all the seedlings it just has that smell of growing in the air ....

I have a automatic window in the roof but I also have a side window that I keep open during the day & night unless I think we may have a frost.

I never leave the door open when I am not in , just in case the weather changes and stop any cats from sneaking in.

 

With the weather as it is at the moment, you need to open it up completely during the daylight/sunshine hours

 

That's great, thanks to you both

 

I have been using fleece so the seedling dont get scorched with the sun

 

So I can't just put all the pots from all the window sills straight in it? Was hoping to get my kitchen back

 

any old net curtain I have used before

 

What plants (in the pots) are we talking about?

 

Mostly veg (tomatoes, peas, broccoli) and herbs, and a hydrangea

 

All of these should be fine in a cold (unheated) greenhouse, except the Tomatoes which could suffer on a cold night. Ideally you need a minimum temperature of around 10c, although you could cover them with fleece or something at night, but be prepared to bring them in if needs be. Try to protect from strong direct sunlight, especially if they are still quite small

 

Thanks Freddy, I'll start moving them all in and make sure they are protected from the sun

 

It's not just cats, birds may also be inclined to get in through a fully open door and fly around knocking things over (small pots from high level onto seedlings/plants at low level).

Have you got automatic vent openers for the top windows?

Something to watch out for at this time of year in this unusually hot weather is overheating of freshly pricked out small seedlings that could overheat, wilt and possibly die. Covering with a sheet of newspaper or even placing on the floor for a while after transplanting will keep them a bit cooler until they settle down.

Get a Max/Min thermometer and check out temps at various levels.

P.S. What size is it?

 

Its not very big Scrungee, about 1.5m wide, 2m high and a metre deep, I haven't got room for much more! No automatic vents so will be opening it up myself when I'm home.

 

All the more reason to monitor temps as it will get both hotter and colder than a larger greenhouse. Make the most of it by installing some high level shelving/staging to take advantage of the higher temps up there for germinating seeds without getting in the way of stuff growing down below.