Flat pack greenhouse.

[Alan]

A few weeks ago we bought a flat pack greenhouse online which arrived with many, many, parts, dozens of nuts, bolts, wire clips and screws plus over 20 panes of toughened glass. We could have had the company come and install it for £300 but reckoned we could do it ourselves. The instruction booklet was a bit like an IKEA book with no words and many pages of diagrams. It was a poor quality black and white booklet where it was difficult see how the pieces lay on top of one another and when we went online for the more trickier bits it was simply a pdf of the exact same pages so didn’t help.

We built the frame and assembled the greenhouse without glass then had a local landscaper lad come and build a base out of railway sleepers around 6 large railway sleepers. We get high winds here over the winter months, 60+ mph is not unusual so we needed to have the greenhouse screwed down securely.

We then glazed it which went mostly okay except for a door pane which exploded in my hands as I winkled it into position. Tiny fragments, no cuts on me at all, just a mess to clean up. We ordered a replacement pane which they shipped out at no additional cost. Today I fitted the rain butt.

 

[finnski1]

That's a nice looking set up!

 

[braumeister]

That looks great! You have a wonderful back yard.

 

[REWahoo]

Impressive!

However, inquiring minds want to know...

Today I fitted the rain butt.

You installed a bidet in your greenhouse? Is that a Brit thing or is that something you came up with on your own?

 

[Alan]

When we bought this house we wanted it to be our “forever house”. It has great views of the Cleveland Hills behind us which lead onto the North York Moors National Park. While it has 2 stories the main bedroom downstairs has its own bathroom so when we can’t manage the stairs anymore the 2 rooms and bathroom upstairs will not be needed by us, although a stair lift could easily be added.

The garden at the back was all lawn until a couple of years ago when we had it landscaped to provide raised beds for planting vegetables, plus a wildflower section at the back plus a number of fruit and other trees.

Next month the front lawn will also be landscaped. It is on a steep slope and that will become long raised beds for flowers and shrubs. I’ll attach a photo just now of what the front lawn looks like this minute.

 

[Alan]

Impressive!

However, inquiring minds want to know...



You installed a bidet in your greenhouse? Is that a Brit thing or is that something you came up with on your own?

Should have translated that to rain barrel.

 

[ivinsfan]

That is way cool, is it tall enough for you to stand in? I see some raised veggie, flowers beds..you'll have a great setup there.


You have nice size yard my family is all in greater London and their yards are basically postage stamp size.



I bet it was good to have something to do in the last 10 days.


Even my cousin in Stockton on Tees has a tiny yard, it's a detached house but the yard is small.

 

[Lsbcal]

Very nice Alan. What will you grow in your greenhouse?

 

[Alan]

That is way cool, is it tall enough for you to stand in? I see some raised veggie, flowers beds..you'll have a great setup there.


You have nice size yard my family is all in greater London and their yards are basically postage stamp size.



I bet it was good to have something to do in the last 10 days.


Even my cousin in Stockton on Tees has a tiny yard, it's a detached house but the yard is small.

It is 6x6 and is tall enough for me to stand in but only in the center so a great excuse to stay out. My wife is the gardener and it is her greenhouse although I will benefit from what she grows there.

 

[Alan]

Very nice Alan. What will you grow in your greenhouse?

Tomatoes, bell peppers, chilli peppers and egg plant. Currently got salad greens such as arugula as they grow much faster under glass at this time of year.

In the raised beds are zucchini, various types of beans, mange tous, garlic, spring onions etc

There is also a herb bed with the usual suspects growing there.

 

[street]

WOW! Really nice setup and beautiful yard!

 

[Ronstar]

Very nice! I had no idea that such a nice greenhouse could be ordered as a kit.

 

[Alan]

Very nice! I had no idea that such a nice greenhouse could be ordered as a kit.

Neither did we but with non-essential shops closed for many months and Spring approaching my wife was dead keen.

 

[f35phixer]

Very nice! I had no idea that such a nice greenhouse could be ordered as a kit.

Neither did I! Googled flat pack greenhouses, They aint cheap ;-) But sure looks like a great idea. good job Alan>... Happy Wife Happy LIFE!

Alan, not going with say raised beds, gives you a head start, is that reason you went with building?

 

[Alan]

Neither did I! Googled flat pack greenhouses, They aint cheap ;-) But sure looks like a great idea. good job Alan>... Happy Wife Happy LIFE!

Alan, not going with say raised beds, gives you a head start, is that reason you went with building?

Raised beds is easier to manage as you can sit on the sleepers so it is much easier on the knees. If all the outdoor garden centres had been open we would have bought a regular greenhouse and had it delivered and built.

Building it ourselves was very therapeutic particularly once our son went into hospital a couple of weeks ago. That wasn’t part of the plan, but it has worked out well.

Good friends of ours here, same age, bought the same greenhouse from the same company but paid to have it built. They knew it would save a lot of arguments. Fortunately we work very well together.

 

[gattara]

Really nice, great job on assembly. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Music Lover]

Very nice! I had no idea that such a nice greenhouse could be ordered as a kit.

My siblings and I bought my mother a kit greenhouse (6'x10") a couple decades ago. She added a small space heater for cold spring nights and that allows her to get started a month early which is huge with a growing season of less than 5 months.

 

[Lsbcal]

Alan, why the black cylinder with the spout sitting next to the greenhouse? Question coming from California where we do drip irrigation and have a long growing season.

 

[Alan]

Alan, why the black cylinder with the spout sitting next to the greenhouse? Question coming from California where we do drip irrigation and have a long growing season.

The tall green thing below the edge of the greenhouse is a water barrel and the black cylinder is a drainpipe taking water from the greenhouse gutter into the barrel.

If it works well then we will add one on the other side. We have another 2 rain barrels collecting water from the garage roof. Already this Spring it has been so dry that we used up all the rainwater in our existing 2 barrels.

 

[walkinwood]

"winkled" and "rain butt".. I'm done with my new words for today


Greenhouse looks good!

 

[MichaelB]

Greenhouse does look nice.

I figured rain butt was the consequence of holding the umbrella too far forward in the rain.

 

[fancy free]

what a lovely set-up - i envy that greenhouse!

 

[NW-Bound]

Where I am, this greenhouse would serve as a large air fryer.

 

[goingtotravel]

Lovely greenhouse and yard! I'm a fan of many BBC shows but apparently I need to find a gardening show to get familiar with gardening terms. Would love to use the phrase 'rain butt' in a conversation with my gardening friends.