Growing peppers and tomatoes in small plastic greenhouse

Hi,

Do you think one of this cheap plastic greenhouses will give me any kind of edge growing peppers and tomatoes?

I was thinking tomatoes and peppers need a bit more warmth than other stuff I grow so it might help a bit, and also it would protect the plants from pests.

I don't have space for a proper greenhouse so I could place one of these in the sunniest corner of my garden.

But then I also suspect I might be wasting my time.

What do you think?

 

I think a great idea , the xtra warmth and out of the wind will really help them you could do a little test and leave one plant out and see what happens but I can tell you now the ones in your mini greenhouse will be cropping earlier and with more fruit as well , in the past I had a plastic sheet with a bamboo cane running along the top worked just as well , just remember when it gets warmer to leave open during sunny days to let the insects in to pollinate plus it may get to hot !!

Spruce

 

Oh great, thanks a lot Spruce

 

I think the problem is that with the zip-up door closed the plants cook when the sun comes out, and with them open they only offer protection if the wind is coming from round-the-back.

They offer protection from the wind at night, when zipped up, but will give you no insulation at all, so the temperature inside will quickly fall to be the same as outside. Tomato & Pepper plants ideally need a minimum temperature of 10C, so it will be some time (end of May-ish) before you could plant them.

They also have the nickname "blowaway" because that's what they tend to do when the wind catches them! so make sure you anchor it down well.

The one in your picture is too low for Tomatoes - the "4 tier" ones are better suited to that.

Personally I think the money would be better spent saving up for a greenhouse. But that depends on you having enough space for one of course ...

 

Thanks Kirsten, I share your concerns but I don't have space for a proper greenhouse. I will sleep on this fora bit.

 

Been looking around and found this:

http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wc...ay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=461849

Base dimensions are not much bigger than the plastic zippy one.

 

I used a 4 tier plastic greenhouse to grow tomatoes last summer. I hadn't planned to do this but a neighbour had a few spare plants and offered them to me. The plants I had been growing on had in there had been planted out by then so just popped a grow bag in the bottom and planted them.

It actually lends itself quite well to growing tomatoes as bamboo canes can be tied to the middle shelf support. Obviously all the shelves need to come out as my plants reached the top after a few months. Just to echo Kristen's concerns though, put some bricks or something heavy at the bottom to help with stability. I learnt this the hard way - resulting in 240 plug plants coming crashing to the ground!

 

You'd get more for your money getting a second hand one off eBay; plenty of stories of people getting one from "just around the corner" on Freecycle or the like.

My 12 x 8 was off eBay for less than the price of that one - obviously not brand new though and had to drive to collect it, dismantle, and re-assemble (but that does at least allow photographing everything to make reconstruction straightforwards ) Does need some DIY skills though - but erecting one from a flat pack will need that too.

Your earlier photo has a reinforced plastic cover (a sort of "mesh" within the plastic). I wonder how much that effects light transmission, compared to glass? Glass is definitely a good choice (assuming no footballs or hooligans chucking stones - but there is toughened glass for that situation)

 

Yeah I keep an eye on freecycle but smaller greenhouses don't seem to come up much. Will create a customised search thingy on eBay. The one I posted in quite expensive I suppose. Glass is definitely the way to go I agree.

 

I think its probably about normal for a new one. My eBay searches for Greenhouses ran for over a year (on two separate occasions ) before I found a suitable one, and I was prepared to travel quite a long way, so Fingers-Crossed for you on that one

 

Thanks Kirsten

 

I grew peppers and chillies in a blow away last year and they did ok. As people have said weigh it down also with the rain last year it sat on top and caused it to sag which eventually ripped the cover. I am currently building my own wooden one.

Rusty

 

Pics!

 

You being selective about which posts you read Freddy? !!!

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/new-grow-house.50296/

 

My bad