Greenhouse in shade

Evening all.

I'm thinking of building a greenhouse. Except it wont really be for sun loving plants like tomatoes.

What I want is somewhere to start seeds off, and get cuttings to establish, without occupying every spare windowsill in the house.

I guess what I'm after, is somewhere sheltered from the worst of the weather.

But, as I haven't really grown that many plants from seed, and even less from cuttings, I'm not sure what sort of conditions they really need from the 'vulnerable' stage, to being ready to go out to their final position in the garden.

The location I have in mind is right near the back door of the house, but the spot in question gets virtually no direct sunlight. By mid summer, the spot will get a max of about an hour of direct sunlight. The rest of the time its in the shadow of either my house, or the big church next door.

If I build it there, will that be a good spot for raising plants from seed/cuttings, or would I be wasting time, money and effort?

 

I can't really help (so why bother to reply at all, I hear you say! ), but I do have one thought.

I've found that sometimes a 'traditionally sited' greenhouse - like mine - just gets too hot. When I've perhaps run out of space, I've occasionally noticed that seeds which have had to 'take their chances' in my north-facing cold frame have actually germinated more quickly than those in the greenhouse - a similar thing I've noticed too with cuttings.

Of course, it may depend on the type of seeds you wish to grow, and indeed the plants from which you wish to take cuttings, however, for the little bit of extra warmth, there's always the seed tray cover, the 'bottomless plastic lemonade bottle' or clear poly-bag option. I would think (certainly with cuttings) that a lack of direct sunlight could be a positive advantage - less transpiration, no 'pressure' to grow (daft expression, but you know what I mean!) and, if it gets too chilly in your new greenhouse, well there are plenty of ways to heat it. In all, I reckon seeds and cuttings would appreciate a stable environment more than being 'cooked' one minute and chilled the next.

Just a thought.

 

Number of factors to consider I think.

Early in the year there isn't much light anyway, and that tends to make seedlings "leggy" - more so if they are on a windowsill than a greenhouse, but in a greenhouse they are often not warm enough as well as having low light levels (its fine for Sweetpeas and Onions started early, but not so good if you want to bring on Tomatoes really early)

South facing can be too hot / bright ...

I have a West facing conservatory. The sun is not on it until 11am or so ... idea if I am a bit idle in the morning getting out there to "open up" etc. :thumb: Also water splashed on the leaves has evaporated before the sun gets onto it and burns the leaves.

I also have a free-standing greenhouse. Its much colder then the (also) unheated conservatory - which has the benefit of a concrete floor covered with slabs, and the heat-sink of the house-wall at the back.

But its too cold early in the year (if it were heated it would be ideal ...)

So early in the year I raise seedlings on a long-and-narrow windowsill propagator which takes 1/4 sized seed trays. I find them ideal as I can get about 50 seedlings in each, or split them in two for 2 x 25 or even sometimes 3 x 15 (I use a high-faff method and hand place each seed in neat little rows! to give each seedling space to develop, particularly if the seed is of a decent size)

What you need most for seed is some bottom heat. For anything that wants warmth to germinate you can stick it in the airing cupboard until the point of germination, and then move it to the light, so that works in place of having a greenhouse that is toasty warm :thumb:. For anything else some bottom heat is ideal

Cuttings will like bottom heat too. They don't need much in the way of light. They need to not dry out (e.g. cover with plastic bag) whilst they are getting some roots grown to enable them to draw up water by themselves.

A bench with under-soil warming cables and a thermostat will be best. You could go the full hog and get some misting units too (they seem to be expensive though, dunno why?, they have a sensor ("Electronic leaf") that detects when it has dried out and turns the misting sprayers on momentarily)

Next up is light. This year, for the first time, I have used a growing light. Some things responded really well to that, and I suspect that the other things benefited even if it was not obvious to me (I should have kept one-from-each-batch in "Normal" conditions to then compare side-by-side.)

So ... instead of a conservatory / greenhouse which will give you good light, (but not that great early in the year, and it will need heat in the early months too), you could create an artificially lit growing box / "room". Have a look on the Cannabis growing forums, there is a wealth!! of information there, and that's where I learn all I know on the matter. I use a liquid feed called "Canna" for my grown-under-lights plants, and that seems pretty amazing too. (My lights came from 3C's Hydroponics)