Garden Room

Fileyboy - its some way from the house, so I have ruled out taking a gas pipe from the house. I have been thinking about a propane heater, but after thoughts on the propane heater thread I am coming round to the idea of just using electricity.

Kristen - I like the idea of having two seperate buildings. Having visited Kew earlier this year and fallen in love with the Princess of Wales glasshouse, with its 10 seperate climate zones, my original plant was to also have 10 seperate zones. But sadly the neighbours wouldn't sell their gardens.

In your case you have the advantage of yours being attached to the house. They must get quite a bit of heat from the house - but in return add extra insulation to the house. In my case my greenhouse is at the bottom of my garden. I will certainly be using an energy monitoring device, its always useful to have some hard facts. I do like the idea of 4m headroom - though it wouldn't take a Dahlia imperialis. At Hill House in Devon, theirs grows to 18 feet before it flowers.

There are already a few things that I would have done differently now, in respect of more opening vents and more opening windows. In theory if you have enough opening windows you can never have a build up of heat, because the plants are effectively in the open air. I have three small vents at ground level and 4 at the highest level that I could, in addition to all the windows that open, but I should have had more and larger. One disadvantage of a lean-to is that you can't have a roof vent (self opening or manual), because it could leak. I have got 8 electric points and a water tap. An after thought is that I should have had a drain hole - but I may be able to manage that. I specified a low threshhold door opening expecting it to be the lowest possible. But there is an even lower one that is used for wheelchairs etc. I should have had that, as I will be moving stuff in and out.

Pete - you have made a good point about only having extra heat for plants that really need it. I am happy to keep the few of these that I have inside the house, and perhaps just keep the greenhouse frost free.

LongK - I was hoping that you might help with some ideas. I think I will start a thread in the Tropical section. Once I have sorted out the heating, my mind will be free to start the fun part. I was thinking about you today. In search of information on heaters, I went into a local nursery and saw Tacca plants for sale. I have never seen, or even expected to see, them for sale before. However the owner said that they hadn't done well and she thought they might have been chilled before they even reached her nursery. She said they were very difficult plants to look after - is that so? I have always fancied one ever since your introduction. In view of her comments I will wait to get a healthier one later.

 

I'm sure a euro-millions lottery win would sort that ... heck ... you could just buy Kew and move in there!

Although not quite that simple I think? Each opening brings with it a reduction in air-tightness of the building, so when you are heating (rather than cooling) you get some air leakage. Its nice, warmed, air so the "cost" of the leakage is significant (in the grander scheme of things)

So as long as you can get enough cooling in Summer you certainly would not have been better off with more "just in case" openings

I have a threshold on the greenhouse (where the slide rail is for the door) - in fact the slide-rail is in danger of being crushed by the wheels when moving heavy objects in / out. I have some wedge-shaped pieces that I put against either side of the threshold so that there is a little ramp on inside and outside - might that do for you too?

I'm off to chat to builder now about what the thresholds will be like on mine!

Could you partition a bit off? Although I expect you want a conservatory that you can go into in winter and enjoy your plants. Mine fulfills that function in summer, but in winter it is used just to try to keep everything alive! so I'm happy with compromises like that.

I need that thread too! I did ask a similar question a while back in case its a useful starting point:

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/ultimate-conservatory-plants.50216/

Re: heating. Dunno if it is a suitable analogy, but I used the Hartley Botanicals greenhouse heat calculator to estimate the heat requirement for a 10' x 8' greenhouse given an internal temperature of 5C and and external temperature of 0C. I then changed the outside temperature to -5C (i.e. an additional 5C temperature difference) and it doubled the heat requirement. Another 5C differential added as much power again. So a thermostat only capable of 10C hysteresis is going to make a huge difference.

However, I've never seen useful side-by-side figures for actual heating. Something Which? or RHS should do and publish IMHO.

The thought that occurs to be is that if you want to maintain frost-free - lets say 3C - the number of hours in the winter when heat will be called for is "Modest". To maintain 8C (5C higher) needs 2x the power (if my calculation using Hartley Botanicals is valid for that usage) BUT the amount of time in the Winter when the temperature will be below 8C, rather than 3C, is a lot more. So not only will you be using double the power when temperature is below 3C, you will also be using power when it is between 3C and 8C.

I suspect it may be possible to hazard a guess at it using some degree-days published data from the Met-office?

 

If they were cheap it may be worth grabbing one. That's what I did with mine. Flowering sized Tacca can be as much as fifty quid in bloom!

That will do no long term harm, just knock back/finish off any blooms that were forming.

Yes and no. They love moisture when in growth, but not wet. Lots of heat, but avoid the strongest sun (mine had morning and evening sun). LOTS of humidity!! They need a lot of space too.

 

LongK - thanks for the info on Tacca. I have found one or two places that sell the seeds. I did try this year with no luck. But I think I upset the tray with several small containers of seed, and threw the whole lot away.

 

I'm trying this year ... wish me luck, eh?!!

 

I've come to the conclusion that it's probably better to buy seeds for this from the far east/India. Better odds as far as them being fresh?

Good luck!

 

Yes - Good luck Kristen, I think I will try again this year.

You are quite right LongK, freshness seems to be very important for tropical seeds. Also I would be tempted to buy from someone with a very small range of seeds offered, or better still there are people on e-bay that constantly change what they sell as they only seem to sell stuff in season.
Its like a resturant, the shorter the menu the more likely it is to be fresh.

 

I found these Tacca seeds earlier in Oz.

Claim to be fresh hand pollinated seeds - one of them is a new listing.

 

Thanks LongK. I have never hear of Auctiva before - but had a look on e-bay and seen lots of Tacca seeds from Thailand. Also I saw rhizomes for sale.

I recently bought some rhizomes from Jungle Seeds and they said to plant them immediately and not to keep them till spring. All 8 are growing happily in my light box. But I am not sure if I could handle a Tacca rhizome at this time of year.

 

It's an Ebay store host Peter. See this post.

 

An update. Within a couple of days of its completion, my Garden Room was filled with overwintering plants. I am even stacking pots on top of other pots - as the room is already too small.


Every morning there is heavy condensation. But this is nothing to do with the building, per se, as it was just the same in my previous summer house. I think its a result of the pots having been outside and been waterlogged with the autumn rain, then bought inside where the water is now trying to escape. The main condensation is on the roof, so I have had to position the pots so that I can get access to every part of the roof. Every morning I go through a ritual of wiping the water off with a sponge into a container, that its wedged in. I can remove up to a pint of water a day. I am also practicing 'extreme hygiene'; that is to say removing every single fallen leaf or spent bloom, so that there is nothing for mould to grow on or for slugs to eat. I saw a program on the TV some time ago about a couple who had a collection of hundreds of Hostas and not a single hole in any leaf. They said they did this by 'extreme hygiene' leaving no dead material for the slugs to feed on.

I have decided to heat the Room to 10C. It's going to cost a bit, but I will never find out what the effect is if I don't try. I understand that most plants will keep growing , albeit slowly, at this temperature. So far, its looking good. Only the Iochromas and Erythrina are losing their leaves - but I believe they are both deciduous. Everything else looks very green, and I am sure I can see new growth shoots on some plants.


Salvia' Amistad' is flowering better that it did outside.


Its was a lousy year for Brugmansias outside. But I now have more buds that I have had all season.


A pink Brug, grown from seed. Last year this was a deep pink, but this year all my Brugs are pale colours. I am sure the heat, or lack of it, effects the colour.


'Hurstwood Elinor' never flowered outside all year but now has three flowers.


Tibouchina has been in my sitting room (for the warmth) but the flower buds kept falling off. Its flowered today just 24 hours after being moved into the Garden Room. I think the house was too dry, whilst the Garden Room is close to 100% humidity.

 

I'm very jealous Peter! Especially of the Tibouchina.

Which Iochroma? Mine (I. australis) are still in leaf, even the ones in the ground.

 

LongK - I have several. Blue and white australe (which I gather is now an Eriolarynx), three cyanea colours and a coccinea. They are all losing their leaves and I think yours will too. Mine might have started earlier because they were hit by a frost before my Garden Room had been completed. Looking at the literature, they seem to be described as deciduous - as opposed to Brugmansia, which I think is only deciduous below a certain temperature.