Blog from a greenhouse builder

Plymouth - postponed - van conks out on M6

25/9/2012

My van chugged to a halt on the M6 on the way to build a greenhouse on walls I’d already built in Plymouth.

Green Bug van gets rescued by the AA and returned home with a full load.

The whole country is plagued with storms and 70 flood warnings are in still in place today the news states. My customer said they were experiencing regular heavy rain there too so perhaps it wouldn’t have been possible to seal up all the glass in this weather anyway.

I’ll reload the van and return in 2 weeks- hoping that the van will have been repaired by then!

0 Comments

Halifax - it’s green up north

21/9/2012

0 Comments

I got some lovely sunny photos of this beautiful garden before I started digging out. Lush green lawn, vibrant plants - I deleted them by mistake! The “before” photos are supposed to look worse than the “after” though - look at this mud! - so perhaps it’s just as well.

It was a cold, wet week here and I worked until 10pm most nights getting home late Friday. This one is on a gentle slope but there are 3 extra courses below ground that you don’t see and the flags to the rear of the greenhouse have a number of steps which took a bit more work. The grass will re-cover in a few weeks though and it will look great again.

This is one of the 11.5ft by 16.5ft with porch and cold-frames but Stephen asked for a raised bed inside and flags to the sides and rear as well to keep the area accessible - and great for siting pots on.

We’ve gone for a buff-coloured clay hand-made brick which matches the stone you find in Yorkshire.

Hard work this one - but worth it. It’ll look great (but I would say that eh!).

0 Comments

BACK TO MALDON - 8FT X 12FT

13/9/2012

0 Comments

This is such a well thought-out greenhouse - and I can’t take credit for that.

Shirley told me she wanted a doorway and path you could use in a wheelchair, a raised bed inside, cold frames down both sides of the greenhouse (and heh that just sounds greedy doesn’t it but it balances the structure really well and you could use it to store all those plastic pots over the winter etc. when you not hardening off summer plants) - oh and of course the cat flap in the rear wall. I loved that. Shirley cleverly thought - what if one of her cats gets trapped in there and needs to get out (the flap is set to one way only). I’m impressed.

Shirley had seen aluminium greenhouses for £32k (walls / base not included) - this one cost 20% of that and it includes everything you see. Not the cat obviously...

Traditional skills with modern materials - (that’s what Shirley said - honest). The finials are hand lathed from 4x4 redwood and the joints cut with saw and hand chisel. Just like the old days but with modern tanalised timber and clever paint - breathable poly-carbonate coatings.