So Excited.... First Ever Greenhouse!

I lived in Crossford near Lanark for 15 years but luckily no Bl..dy Midges there. However when we moved to Kilmacolm we suffered them there. There were various reasons we didn't stay in Kilmacolm for more than 18 months. Constant rain and Midges did have a bearing but that said the area is lovely when it's not raining and the Midges aren't about.
Yes the "trimmings" are very expensive. I nearly died when I discovered the cost of staging,. being Scottish! I decided i was not paying those kind of prices and bought 2 of these which work very well for me. I have them up from about October until May, 1 on a section of hard standing and the other on the soil bed. When time comes to plant out the seedlings/take pots out of the greenhouse. I fold down the tables and take them out of the greenhouse not being needed during the summertime. They are plastic coated and not heavy to move and A LOT cheaper and do me.
Just a thought, I have some folding shelving (new). I have 2 and they are green which would go with your greenhouse. My greenhouse is silver. They were given to me as a present by someone who knew I was getting a greenhouse but not a green 1! and mine also came with enough shelving. I was going to sell them on the likes of Gumtree/Ebay when I got round to it....3 years later!
The shelving is very good and importantly strong. If you don't have any and would like to get some and what I have suits then maybe pm me and we can sort something.
The shelving is called Bruno if you want to Google it to see if it would be of use. No worries if not what you want

 

Hi Silu, Kilmalcolm is lovely. I used to have a friend there, and always envied her location!

Thank you so much for the offer of folding shelving. Just last week I would have snapped your hand off to buy them from you, as I love their versatility. Unfortunately I have bought these below with the last of my birthday money, and now have a rather crowded greenhouse. What a pity, because although the shelves are fine, they are not the most robust, and the flexibility of space afforded by folding shelves would have been great. I looked yours online as suggested, and they are a great length too.... as well as the key feature of matching the greenhouse

Panana 2 x Greenhouse Staging Shed Garage Storage Metal Shelving Shelves Racking Unit: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors


Love your idea about the removable table. I agree about the horrendous prices.... it's a bit like buying anything to do with a wedding - price becomes ridiculous!

Thanks again, that was such a kind thought. :spring:

 

I planted lettuce in two seed trays in the greenhouse last week. No idea what to do except follow the instructions on the packet and the great advice from kind folks on here. I took advice from folks here who said lettuce doesn't like to germinate above 15 degrees, and have been putting the trays out from early morning until dusk, then replacing them in the greenhouse for the night. On Sunday I found seedlings! So vey, very, very exciting
Here they are today:

 

I have both the manual opener which came with the greenhouse and the auto one on mine. I just undo the bottom of the auto opener then and lock the manual when a high wind is expected.

 

Ah, what a good idea. I didn't know I could leave both fitted. Perfect!

 

Still having lots of fun in my greenhouse. I have taken a bunch of cuttings, with mixed results. Arenaria and most nemesia are looking healthy, lavender and potentilla doing well, but cannot get fuchsia cuttings to take at all, even from hardy plants.

Cress died. It was too hot, even though I kept it well watered. My lettuce are growing well and have been thinned out. I put the trays out every day for the daylight hours as the greenhouse gets hot (except today as the rain is so heavy I worried they might get damaged). However I am not sure what to do next. Should I put them in separate pots? I can't plant them out as I don't have an area for them and am so overrun by slugs that they couldn't survive.

Greenhouses are brilliant!

 

Forgot to add a photo to show off my first ever lettuces...

 

Have you got any shading on your greenhouse ?
You usually need some this time of year, not all over but perhaps so half the floor is given some less direct sun.
Find this easy to go on and wipe off; available from many places.
Vitax Greenhouse Shading - 500ml | Homebase

Your lettuce can either stay in the tray and you use it young as a cut and come again crop or you can take some and pot them up into 3 or 4" pots if you want to grow them into more hearty plants.
Just keep a keen eye out for aphids, they love them !
Always worth keeping a human safe spray handy.


How are you planting you Fuchsia cuttings, typically they like an open mix, eg 50/50 compost and Perlite or hort. sand and then lightly watered and covered with a poly bag and kept out of direct sunshine for a couple of weeks or more.
These are some of mine, about two weeks old.

 

Hi Ricky, thank you for the valuable information you have taken the time to share with me. I've never heard of that greenhouse shading, but it sounds perfect for my current needs. I hadn't thought about shading so far.

I think I will go half and half on the lettuce, and transplant half to individual pots to see how they fare. This is all new to me, so I'd like to experiment and see what works. I will keep a close eye for aphids. They have been seen around here, so thanks you for the heads up .

Your fuchsia cuttings look great, just what I was hoping for. I potted them in a mix of half and half topsoil and compost, which has clearly been too heavy for them. I watered and put a bag on top for a couple of days, then was worried they would get too damp and took it off. They just lay limply across the soil. I have one which hasn't turned crispy dead, so I will see if it still has a chance and repot .

It's great to get this advice..... all being absorbed!

 

You do need a more open compost mix, perlite, vermiculite much better than soil which can also harbour a lot of nasties etc.

When you take your cuttings, put them into a poly bag filled with water. Seems that can happily stay in there for a couple of hours and actually benefit from it.

As you can see from the pic, give the poly bags over the pots a light shake every day or so but keep them covered two to three weeks + until you see positive growth.

Importantly, when finally removing the bag keep them well shaded and mist them as they are extremely tender and will fry in a few minutes if direct sun catches them.

 

That's good info. I will try again, taking your advice, and see what happens!

 

Lettuces are still providing leaves for salad, but the outer leaves are starting to go yellow now. Haven't had as much time to give them, so maybe they miss me talking to them .

Nemesia cuttings have taken well, and have been repotted. I've now had to move one to an even bigger pot as it is growing very enthusiastically. I have a feeling that this isn't a good idea in October! Does anyone know whether I should prune it or do anything else to slow its growth?


I don't have any plans to try to grow anything over this winter, just keep nurturing the cuttings I have of nemesia, arenaria and lavender (haven't retried fuchsia yet) and overwinter some outdoor plants: geraniums, impatiens, lavender and my herbs.

 

Just read this thread, in its entirety, and I have to say: what a wonderful example of GC friendliness, advice, experience and support!

@Irmemac - your excitement, anticipation, development and ultimate
success were a joy to read.
@CanadianLori and @ricky101 - your advice was superb and not simply for a greenhouse thread. I've learned much ... and I don't even *have* a greenhouse!

For everyone else who added to the thread, some real nuggets of advice

I'll never have a greenhouse, but ... I shall be getting some bubble wrap for my little wooden grow house

 

What a lovely comment, @"M" ! I have had lots of great advice from all the friends here on GC, and you are very good at handing out useful and friendly advice yourself, too! I am grateful for all the valuable advice everyone has taken the time to share with me.

A grow house wrapped in bubble wrap most definitely qualifies as a greenhouse, so I hope you enjoy your fun with that. Please make sure to let everyone know how you get on. I for one love reading your posts.

 

It is now near freezing at night so I've crammed more plants into the greenhouse which has a heater. As you can see, I've disconnected the automatic opener. I want to capture as much heat as possible during sunny days and the trapped air heats up the masses (the 3 gallon plant pots) and so far have only needed the pilot light heat to boost the temperature to 50f. Hopefully I won't have to turn the heater up until next week.

This greenhouse has window film inside and that seems to do great for insulation.